Iron Club Face At Address

[Deryck Griffith]

Slighty open. 1. Becuase I want the face to be slighty open at contact and 2. Because it gives me the confidence (visually) to go aggressively at the ball without fear of hooking it.

[Deryck Griffith]

are you guys hitting slight drwas with the open face or do you do it to hit a straight ball?

I can play either shot if necessary (fade or draw) but normally, when I go at it hard with an open face, I produce a 3-4 yard draw. However, some times, it can change. For example, I hadn't played or practiced for a while before this past Saturday when I played a round and that morning on the range before I played, I was consistently hitting 2 yard fades. So, instead of "figthing it," or trying to change or adjust my swing path or change how I address the ball with my clubface, I just played the fade during the entire round and threw down a great score.

[$2 Nassau]

This is one of those truly enlightening threads I find every so often. I have always lined up with the clubface square. I hit the range this afternoon and tried lining up with the clubface slightly open. The majority of my shots were straight or slight draws with much better contact. I did have the occasional straight push. I think my mind tries to really square up the clubface if it starts that way, but having it slightly open and coming into the inside of the ball really seemed to be easier. I hit a lot more shots dead center of the sweet spot. I can't wait to see how this continues.

Same here, big difference. I've always tried to line it up square...combine that with my tendancy to set up with a closed stance(something I'm also working to correct) and things can get ugly.

[chef35ca]

Square to slightly closed. With the amount of left approaches last night i think i'll start fanning it open a bit.

[cutshot878]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iacas

None

Slightly open - where I intend to return the clubface at impact.

Slightly open but I feel this makes me take the club back more outside. When I place a water bottle 16 inches directly behind the ball, I will usually nick the bottle with the club when I take the club back.  I have a stocky build so I guess I need to take it back more outside. I would prefer to have it square at address (and take it back more inside, missing the water bottle) but I don't hit it as solidly. Reluctantly, if I'm looking for a somewhat straight shot I open the face a little. It's usually a slight push but I prefer this to a big overcooked hook that a square (and especially closed) clubface seems to produce.  If I need a hook I'll leave it square or slightly closed but because of my build I get kind of cramped up and restricted to a 3/4 swing when I take it back inside.

[Mr. Desmond]

Slightly open

Wasn't always that way...

[McGolf-Doggie]

This is one of those truly enlightening threads I find every so often. I have always lined up with the clubface square. I hit the range this afternoon and tried lining up with the clubface slightly open. The majority of my shots were straight or slight draws with much better contact. I did have the occasional straight push. I think my mind tries to really square up the clubface if it starts that way, but having it slightly open and coming into the inside of the ball really seemed to be easier. I hit a lot more shots dead center of the sweet spot. I can't wait to see how this continues.

Same here as far as irons 8-5 are concerned. Wish I'd read this a while ago, but I had to find out the hard way. ... after a committing lot of ugly hooks.

I have an inside out swing to begin with, so that just amplified the issue and complicated the process of diagnosing the fix, which needed to be more in my grip than anywhere else.

I didn't like — in fact I hated the feel at first — and I'm still getting used to it. ... Getting used to the feel of a club gripped so that it's slightly open at address has been extremely difficult, as the weight of the toe feels so much lighter and less powerful in my hands at the top of the backswing and in the downswing (why, I have no idea; it seems counter intuitive, but I'll be a "stupid monkey" on that, and just not worry about it since the fix works, and that's all that matters).

So everything now feels a lot lighter but less powerful, however the results in terms of accuracy and eliminating the hook are more desirable.

If not monitored carefully, though, my hands and fingers just find unconscious ways of gripping it closed to get back to that old feel that they like but which produces hooks, or long draws that roll way past their intended endpoints.

[Always an 80]

Former PGA pro friend gave me a lesson. Made me open the face. ALOT!! Told me to get around on it. It worked. Now I am just slightly open and everything works. So at least slightly open.