Hitting on the toe

[cruzthepug]

I seems lately that my mis-hits are on the toe. I was just fitted for a new set of Ping irons and was at the range yesterday and my mis-hits were still on the toe. Even when I setup at address with the ball on the heel, I still manage to have toe hits.

Any drills or pointers to help with this?

Thanks in advance.

[SpacklersEdge]

Sounds like a problem I had.  When i got to see some video of my swing, i found I was "pulling back" from the ball with my left shoulder during the downswing.  Try taking some swings making sure you don't stand up at all, and feel like you are still pointing your shoulders right of the target line at impact.

[bunkerputt]

I had this problem and fixed it completely.  Hitting off the toe is caused by one thing:  your left shoulder socket is further away from the ball at impact than it was at address.  Half the time, this is a balance issue.  Weight on the toes will cause it to fall towards the heels on the downswing.  You have to setup balanced and swing in balance every single time.  The other half the time it's caused by early rotation of the shoulders.  By the time the club gets down to the ball the left shoulder is already opening up too much and is pulled across the line and away from the ball.  You really don't want your shoulder line (drawn through the shoulder sockets) too open at impact.  It's alright for your body to have the appearance of openness at the upper torso, but you need to let your scapula slide forward on the downswing so that the left arm doesn't get pulled along with the body.  That's where a lot of the confusion comes in.  In order to do this, you need to slide a bit more at the start of the downswing so the early rotation of the hips doesn't rotate the shoulders.  You also need to allow the stretch in the left side to happen and let the legs and hips pull the shoulders into the downswing.  That will get the shoulders squared up, get the club approaching from the inside, and eliminate toe hits.

[SpacklersEdge]

He said it a lot better than I did :)

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

I had this problem and fixed it completely.  Hitting off the toe is caused by one thing:  your left shoulder socket is further away from the ball at impact than it was at address.  Half the time, this is a balance issue.  Weight on the toes will cause it to fall towards the heels on the downswing.  You have to setup balanced and swing in balance every single time.  The other half the time it's caused by early rotation of the shoulders.  By the time the club gets down to the ball the left shoulder is already opening up too much and is pulled across the line and away from the ball.  You really don't want your shoulder line (drawn through the shoulder sockets) too open at impact.  It's alright for your body to have the appearance of openness at the upper torso, but you need to let your scapula slide forward on the downswing so that the left arm doesn't get pulled along with the body.  That's where a lot of the confusion comes in.  In order to do this, you need to slide a bit more at the start of the downswing so the early rotation of the hips doesn't rotate the shoulders.  You also need to allow the stretch in the left side to happen and let the legs and hips pull the shoulders into the downswing.  That will get the shoulders squared up, get the club approaching from the inside, and eliminate toe hits.

[cruzthepug]

Thanks, that makes perfet sense. I start working on that.

[iacas]

Lowering the handle (swinging left) will tend to produce shots towards the toe. Practice raising the handle through impact with your weight far enough forward.