Where's the sweet spot?

[shortstop20]

From what I've read and been told the sweet spot on most of the newer drivers is in the middle(horizontally) and a little above center vertically. If a person was to mishit the ball with the driver, would they be better off having their misses be a little closer to the heel vs. towards the toe? Sergio purposely hits his driver a little towards the heel I know.

Where's the sweet spot on my Titleist 975J? To me it feels best directly in the middle(horizontally) and in the center vertically or just a touch above center.

Seems to me the sweet spot on most irons is just a tad inside center(towards the heel, say an 1/8"?) and on the lower portion of the face obviously.

Thoughts?

[Big_M]

on my driver I don't know and don't care... it's VERY near the center and that's where I try to hit. I didn't even know I could miss the sweetspot until I started drinking too much in the scramble I played in yesterday.

[michaeljames92]

Why would sergio purposely hit towards the heel of his driver?

[DavidFehertysBike]

Im not sure about the specifics of driver sweetspots, but its been my general belief that the lower on the face i strike the ball the more backspin it will have. I try to strike about a half ball up from the center of the club face with my driver. This works well with my 905R, but im curious how it will work with the 909d2 i recently ordered...it looks like it has a much more shallow face than the 905r.

[blackxpress]

I once read a little booklet on the myths of golf which was written by some famous club builder (can't remember which one). In the book he said the whole idea of sweet spot is a bit of a myth. According to him, every club has a sweet spot but the idea that one club has a bigger sweet spot than another is a bit of a myth. The sweet spot is more a factor of the laws of physics than it is something that can be manipulated in the manufacturing process. As he explained it, the sweet spot is simply the dead center of the club face which, by definition is very tiny regardless of how large the face is. What do you guys thing about that?

With my driver I've experimented with trying to hit the ball higher and lower on the face and have pretty much concluded that I get my best results when I hit it dead center.

[chspeed]

A "sweet spot" in a golf club is the location on the clubface where the force of the ball hitting back on the club is best offset by the forward swing motion. In other words, it's the spot in which the club will twist the least on impact. There have been a ton of studies on sweet spots that try to calculate yardage loss when you miss the sweet spot, but it depends on the club.

Every club has its own sweet spot. Driver Manufacturers usually try to designate the location of the spot on the clubface with some markings. Putter manufacturers usually put a line behind the spot.

Sweet spot in sports refers to an area, not some tiny "spot". Some clubs have larger areas of acceptable performance than others - and thus claim larger sweet spots. Perimeter weighting, invented by Karsten (Ping), substantially changed the size of the sweet spot on golf clubs.

[iacas]

  chspeed said:

Sweet spot in sports refers to an area, not some tiny "spot". Some clubs have larger areas of acceptable performance than others - and thus claim larger sweet spots. Perimeter weighting, invented by Karsten (Ping), substantially changed the size of the sweet spot on golf clubs.

That's how it's commonly referred to, yes - an area of "acceptable performance."

However, technically, the sweet spot is literally a point on the clubface, and its precise location is determined by the center of gravity.

[cigarnut81]

The sweet spot is a point on the face that intersects perfectly with the vertical & horizontal centers of gravity inside the clubhead. It is the size of the tip of a needle.

[chspeed]

Iacas and Cigarnut81,

"sweet spot" is not a scientific term like center of gravity (and is actually more closely related to the the center of oscillation (or center of percussion), than to center of gravity.

In terms of it's size, the center of oscillation is described as an equation. There is no "size".

Here's a difficult to understand explanation from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_oscillation :)

[bogeyhitter25]

It's higher than the center of the face (vertically). If you watch any good driver's swing slowed down you'll notice he hits it up on the face. This leads to a higher launch angle (more carry), and less spin (more roll).

[cigarnut81]

  chspeed said:

Iacas and Cigarnut81,

I did not say it was a scientific term. I just stated the facts about it's location in a golf club head. I am correct as I have done the research. If you trust wikipedia for anything then I pity you.

[MiniMoe]

The sweet spot is always in the center of the club. That gives you the best overall distance on the most consistent basis. However, if I hit my driver a little on the toe and a little high in the face, the ball goes a little farther.....on occasion. It will not carry as far, but it rolls a lot more. Why??? Probably because it has less spin. Granted, it is not nearly as consistent as hitting the ball in the middle of the club, but if I'm feeling frisky, I try to hit that little spot and when I do... BAM

[TheNatural]

I asked her but she wont tell.

[shortstop20]

  TheNatural said:

I asked her but she wont tell.

  bogeyhitter25 said:

It's higher than the center of the face (vertically). If you watch any good driver's swing slowed down you'll notice he hits it up on the face. This leads to a higher launch angle (more carry), and less spin (more roll).

That's what I think too, just looking for other opinions though too.

[cigarnut81]

This question has already been answered!

[chspeed]

Cigarnut,

I was just pointing you to Wikipedia as a reference. Please point me to your research. I'd be curious. I won't have trouble understanding it, as I studied (and taught) quite a bit of physics.

By the way, no need to pity me. You can pity my golf game - but otherwise I'm OK :)

[Leftygolfer]

I know for me that my best drives are about an 1/2 inch about center. That is where I get the best trajectory, distance, roll, sound, everything. I think that is true for many drivers and would say many of the tour pros who can actually hit it everytime do hit it there with a very level path through impact or slightly upward strike to minimize backspin.

[shortstop20]

  cigarnut81 said:

This question has already been answered!

I apologize for asking for other people's thoughts, I will defer to your ASTOUNDINZG and VAST knowledge about EVERYTHING from now on. Didn't realize you owned TST.