Best drills to make sure you hit the ball in the center of the clubface

[busterblue2]

A big part of hitting the ball far is to hit it on the center of the clubface.  Studies have shown that missing the center of the clubface by even just 1/2 inch can result in the loss of 5% of your center face hit distance, which for a 100 mph swing speed would result in a loss of 12 yards in distance for a driver.

What are some of the best drills to improve hitting the ball on the center of the clubface?

[The Gill]

Get a cheap blade 6 or 7 demo iron...

The reality of it is, your swing mechanics are going to dictate a lot of how consistently you find the center of the club face. The rest is practice.

[JackLee]

I don't know that you need drills.  I just use body/eye coordination, and I seem to always hit center of clubface.

A problem that some players have is that they look up before impact, and may also come out of there posture before impact.

[B-Con]

1) Learn the components of a good swing. 2) When you don't hit the center of the clubface, figure out which swing principle you violated. Maybe [url=http://thesandtrap.com/forum/thread/36669/maintaining-the-flying-wedge]iacas's drill on holding the flying wedge[/url] would help? The purpose of the drill seems to be to emphasize impact position.

[Kieran123]

Originally Posted by JackLee

I don't know that you need drills.  I just use body/eye coordination, and I seem to always hit center of clubface.

A problem that some players have is that they look up before impact, and may also come out of there posture before impact.

I doubt that you always hit the center. Tiger does not always hit the center.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by busterblue2

A big part of hitting the ball far is to hit it on the center of the clubface.  Studies have shown that missing the center of the clubface by even just 1/2 inch can result in the loss of 5% of your center face hit distance, which for a 100 mph swing speed would result in a loss of 12 yards in distance for a driver.

What are some of the best drills to improve hitting the ball on the center of the clubface?

1.) apply piece of impact tape on the club face

2.) hit balls

[jamo]

Do you have any videos? Different misses on the face are a result of different problems.

[zeg]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

1.) apply piece of impact tape on the club face

2.) hit balls

What he said.  If you aren't certain about when you hit the spot you're aiming for, all the drills in the world won't help you find it.  You need accurate feedback.

[saevel25]

Yep, impact tape is key... if you don't want to spen a ton of money on impact tape, use masking tape. The ball will tear the tape a bit were you hit it ;)

[colin007]

Originally Posted by saevel25

Yep, impact tape is key... if you don't want to spen a ton of money on impact tape, use masking tape. The ball will tear the tape a bit were you hit it ;)

great suggesion bro, i need to remember that for the next time i go out.  impact tape is a rip off.  im poor.

[Zeph]

Masking tape can be used as a cheap mans impact tape.

[busterblue2]

I get that you have to know whether you consistently hit left of center/right of center/high/low etc.  Will have to remember to do that next time to see where my ball strike pattern is.

Using tape is great - I heard about and have used an even cheaper way to see where on the clubface I hit the ball - I use a dry erase marker and put a dot on the back of the ball.  The dry erase mark leaves a temporary imprint on the clubface and is easy to wipe off after each shot.

[johnthejoiner]

Originally Posted by busterblue2

A big part of hitting the ball far is to hit it on the center of the clubface.  Studies have shown that missing the center of the clubface by even just 1/2 inch can result in the loss of 5% of your center face hit distance, which for a 100 mph swing speed would result in a loss of 12 yards in distance for a driver.

What are some of the best drills to improve hitting the ball on the center of the clubface?

Not so much a drill but something i do with my driver.

Tee up your ball and address it and if your club has a central marking on the top you would automatically set that point up on what looks like the center of the ball, now what to do is keep the driver in the exact shaft angle and somehow look at your ball position to driver face from behind, you will see that the central marking is almost pointing to  inside of the ball "the left of the ball when standing behind". What i do now is when i address the ball my central marking is sitting at what looks like the 1 O'Clock position, im not saying this is how it should be done but it works for me and i never hit it off the toe

[saevel25]

THe issue with the dry erase marker for me is that its hard to center the ball were your club first meets the ball.. in my opinion

[JackLee]

Originally Posted by Kieran123

I doubt that you always hit the center. Tiger does not always hit the center.

You are right.  I expect that some of my impacts are slightly off center, but certainly not enough to affect my score on any hole.

If you define center as not being even one millimeter off, then I don't think anyone could do that consistently.

[hacker100]

Duct tape works great. You can use the same piece by just rotating it so the score lines are 90 degrees or flip it so the fresh side is at the bottom. The only problem is impact tape just confirms what I already know. Shot after shot in the identical same place-exactly between dead center and where the score lines end towards the hosel.

[Th3R00st3r]

I have recently been using masking tape in my drills sessions into the net in my backyard. I was hitting on the heel and the masking tape proved it. Now that I setup 1.5-2" back further, I am hitting the center of the club face and the misses are not too far off center. it provides instant feedback on where you are hitting it and if you can get it to an average of consistency, then you'll be better off.

[The Tin Man]

I second practicing with an old blade.