Hitting the 4:00 position of the ball

[KwSipp]

Imaging your club contacting the rear quadrant of the ball is a good way to hang on to the lag angle on the downswing but honestly this is something you would tell a hc mainly because you most often see hc's hitting over the top slices. The main technique you would use to achieve this feat is a slight arm/hand drop on the downswing, flat lead wrist, cuped trail wrist, and a good release of the club right before impact.

[iacas]

If 6:00 is the closest time to you and 3:00 is considered 'the back of the ball', the club face will hit the ball somewhere around 330.

I still call B.S. on that one. Look at SwingVision - the club hits the back of the ball squarely. The end.

Leadbetter has 430 written on his practice balls at championsgate, Orlando.

Because it's a good mental picture. Doesn't mean it's reality. Last time I checked, literally swinging in a barrel was probably against the Rules of Golf, too.

[RC]

Agree with the previous post by Icaras... if you did hit it at 4:30, with the club square to your swing direction, it would be a push. If the club was pointed at the target, or closed from 4:30, it would definitely create a hook. Maybe a mental image is what one needs if they are coming over the top, but not if down the line.

[Fourputt]

How bout tryin to just hit the back of the ball n hit it in the right direction,sometimes people think way too much.

You're my kind of player.... If I tried to analyze and employ everything that I see posted in this part of the forum, I'd be so tied in knots that I couldn't make swing. I'd swing like Charles Barkley.

[starchuk]

I still call B.S. on that one. Look at SwingVision - the club hits the back of the ball squarely. The end.

Look at swing vision? they have never shown an angle that will give you the look you are trying to tell me. Your information is inaccurate... no, its flat out wrong. If the club hit the back of the ball at 3:00 with a square clubface you would not hit it straight. Iacas, this being your site, you should know this, or refrain from posting the wrong information. If you are trying to hit the back of the ball from the top of your golf swing, you'll make every golf teacher in your area very happy - and make them more money. THis is the WRong idea to have. Your hands should have an aiming point in FRONT of the ball. Isn't there an "impact zone" discussion here? If the hands are going in front of the ball, the face will hit just past 3:00, with hopefully a somewhat open clubface, and when the ball finally leaves the face, the club is square. This site has frowned upon the correct information as discussed in the golfing machine, so if people here are looking for a quick tip that will get them nowhere, Iacas seems to be your guy to help you on your journey of never getting better. "the end"

[starchuk]

if you did hit it at 4:30, with the club square to your swing direction, it would be a push. If the club was pointed at the target, or closed from 4:30, it would definitely create a hook. Maybe a mental image is what one needs if they are coming over the top, but not if down the line.

Square to what? your path or your target line? what is square to swing direction? Square face to the target line with in inside swing path will give you a push DRAW. hitting at 430 with a face square to your target with the same path gives you a hook. I hope that some readers here will think twice before accepting this information as correct. It is so far from the truth.

[iacas]

Look at swing vision? they have never shown an angle that will give you the look you are trying to tell me.

I've seen several shots of the ball meeting the clubface. No way in heck the clubface is contacting the ball 15 degrees from the back. Look them up yourself.

Your information is inaccurate... no, its flat out wrong. Iacas, this being your site, you should know this, or refrain from posting the wrong information.

I would say the same to you (except the part about "this being your site").

If you are trying to hit the back of the ball from the top of your golf swing, you'll make every golf teacher in your area very happy - and make them more money. This is the WRong idea to have.

We're not talking about the idea or mental picture here. For that, 4:30 might be a perfectly acceptable swing thought.

I'm talking about reality, and in reality, you don't contact the ball at 3:30. No way, no how. 3:30 is 15 degrees, and people simply don't make contact there. No good players, anyway.

Square face to the target line with in inside swing path will give you a push DRAW. hitting at 430 with a face square to your target with the same path gives you a hook.

Two things:

1) Nobody hits the ball at 4:30. I don't care where the clubface is pointed, if you're coming at the ball from 45 degrees inside, something is WAY ****ED UP in your swing. 2) It's physically impossible to hit the ball at 4:30 with your clubface square to the target line. Go ahead and draw that diagram where you take a relatively straight line (clubface) and have it touch the tangent of something at 45 degrees. Only way you could hit a ball at 4:30 with a clubface square to the target is to hit the ball with the toe of your club, not the clubface. Again, you seem to be confusing the mental image of where to swing from to produce a good swing with the reality of where the clubface actually contacts the ball. It ain't 3:30 in reality, and it's nowhere near 4:30.

[starchuk]

who says the club hits the ball at 430? the clubface does not contact it here but this is the line that the hands should be directed towards.

EVERY good striker hits it after 3:00. Talking about it any other way is absurd.

[iacas]

who says the club hits the ball at 430?

You implied that at least some people do - or even can - when you said "hitting at 430 with a face square to your target with the same path gives you a hook."

4:00 or 4:30 may work for some as a mental picture, and since that's the original topic, the discussion pretty much ends there. If anyone wants discuss where the club actually contacts the ball, please start a new topic.