Sweet Spot Shifts - Fade vs. Draw

[iacas]

Here's something most people don't think about : the sweet spot on your club moves.

The "sweet spot" is technically the projection of the center of gravity at a location on the clubface perpendicular to the line of motion. While the golf ball is on the clubface, this line of motion is fairly linear. If the point at which the ball first and last makes contact is on the sweet spot, the shot feels good because there's no twisting.

The center of gravity is never on the clubface - rather it's located behind the clubface somewhere.

So consider this example. This is a simplified, exaggerated overhead view of a draw and a fade. 15 and 30° are the angles so (within a little margin of error) these balls will end up at the target:



This clearly demonstrates that the "sweet spot" moves based on the shot shape. On a draw, the sweet spot is closer to the toe. On a fade, the sweet spot is closer to the heel.

The simplified part you can figure out. The "exaggerated" part is because I doubt any irons have a CG as deep as shown here - which means that in reality the sweet spot shifts a few millimeters or so. Likely not enough to worry about, but it will come into play with fairway woods, drivers, some hybrids... and your putter, if you cut across the ball at all... It still won't be much, but it'll be a lot more than with your irons.

[DBeane]

Thats some Mac O'Grady shit right there....and I mean that in a good way.

[iacas]

Thats some Mac O'Grady shit right there....and I mean that in a good way.

Thanks.

If you think about it, too, a lot of faders address the ball off the heel and a lot of drawers address the ball off the toe a little. I'm talking about with their drivers primarily... but think of Zach Johnson. Addresses the ball off the toe because he draws the ball. Technically, with a driver, he will want to hit the ball out towards the toe just a little. And if anyone's going to talk about the gear effect, that comes into play when you miss FURTHER out (or further in) than the "adjusted sweet spot lines" I've drawn. The club won't twist - and you won't get any gear effect - if you hit the ball inline with the CG.

[Shanks A Million]

I find that I hit my driver slightly on the toe. When I hit a draw, it's much more solid feeling than a fade. I guess that is why.

[Bullitt5339]

Well, now what my instructor is having me do with my driver makes more sense. I had (sometimes still do) a pretty good fade which has the habit of turning into a monster slice sometimes. My instructor has been having me address the ball differently lately, which has me lining up with the ball on the very outside toe of the driver. This has turned my fade/slice into straight or a slight draw with no other changes.

[iacas]

Well, now what my instructor is having me do with my driver makes more sense. I had (sometimes still do) a pretty good fade which has the habit of turning into a monster slice sometimes. My instructor has been having me address the ball differently lately, which has me lining up with the ball on the very outside toe of the driver. This has turned my fade/slice into straight or a slight draw with no other changes.

That may be related, but more likely he's just trying to get you to swing OUT to the ball rather than in and across it. It's an old "quick fix" solution, but it isn't really quite the same as what I'm discussing here. Even with a driver I'm talking about a few millimeters of difference.