Ball Impact Analysis

[Kurt73]

I went and hit a bucket of balls for lunch today. I notice about 70% of my ball impact on my PW was near the end of the club head and low. If you are looking at the club face, have of the ball mark on the line and the other half on the smooth part near the end of the club. The other 30% on closer to the middle of the club head but very low. Any thoughts?

[zeg]

My main thought is.. wow, all my irons look like that. There's a lot of wear out near the toe, right on the toe end of the grooves. Very little nearer to the heel than center. That can't be good. I'll be interested to see the replies here.

My thought is that it's gotta eat some distance because the club will be unbalanced so you'll waste power torquing the club instead of pushing the ball. Probably would contribute to sidespin as well, so all in all it can't be good....

[cigarnut81]

My first impression would be that you are striking up on ball to produce those marks low on the face. As to the toe hits there are too many causes to help you with them all. I would first have your lies checked and then try to stand a little closer to the ball or line the ball up at address on the heel. Sergio lines the ball up on the heel because when he releases his hips it pulls the club closer to his body.

[thumper07]

its hard for someone to diagnoe without video but dear god i wish i could hit the ball on the toe, i'm a chronic heeler.

-matt

[whoathere]

It could be a lot of things... a few that come to mind would be head movement (looking up), standing too far away from the ball... standing up a little bit, or not keeping your spine angle.. maybe an outside to inside swing path... could be many things.

What is your typical ball flight(if you don't have a video..)???

[Kurt73]

I was only using the PW since I was working on my short game. Most of my shots where high and straight but only went 80-95 yards on a full swing. When I hit it in the sweet spot I was hitting 100-120 yards. All of my shots went high and straight with an exception of a few that went right of target. No slices at all.

[zeg]

I swear, you have stolen my golf swing. That is exactly how I hit the ball.

[misty_mountainhop]

Lots of things might give that impact pattern. Where do your divots point? If they're left of target I'd reckon you have an out-to-in attack, hence the toe impact. You want the impact centred to slightly heel biased ideally. Difficult to discuss without seeing your swing...

[Kurt73]

Well the tips show some improvements. It really kept me from jerking the club down on my downswing and I made better contact. Impact was closer to the center then before but I think I slight adjustment with my feet will solve that problem. I did seem to push the ball right more then usual but I might of been late on squaring the club head at impact because of trying to maintain a even tempo. Thanks for the tips!

[rangerat]

Try hitting with your feet together or at least very close. This is a drill that may help with your problem. It promotes proper weight shift.

[Kurt73]

thanks everyone for the help

[Petden]

This is midly off topic, but still related. I have a question about the trajectory of my PW. I am comfortable with my PW so I try to crank them, and most of the time they are straight however the take off is wierd. On a solid contact it starts off very low, as if it is a punch shot, for the first, 30-40 yards, then it propells itself very high into the sky, reaching normal PW height. Is this normal? They average around 140 yards. I was told this trajectory happens because of how fast i swing with that club (the person was no expert, just the average joe).