Does anyone look "in front" of the ball instead of at it?

[RayG]

I've been looking not at a spot in front of the ball but the front of the ball itself. It helped me promote hitting 'down' on the ball. I was a 'swiper' and was losing control since the ball would run out without any spin. my yardages on carry distance were good but the ball would not stop. I started looking at the front of the ball and was able to get the spin I wanted to stop or limit the run out.

[Kieran123]

this thread made me think about what I focus on when I am set up.

I realized I don't think about any particular spot on the ball what so ever.

I am thinking about where I want the ball to land ( ie. picture of target in my head, be it green or fairway )

[Deeman3009]

I have had a ton of good fortune doing nothing more than focusing on keeping my hands in front of the club head through impact.  It promotes a sound swing that keeps you from flipping and lets you turn your hands over easily.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Deeman3009

I have had a ton of good fortune doing nothing more than focusing on keeping my hands in front of the club head through impact.  It promotes a sound swing that keeps you from flipping and lets you turn your hands over easily.

This is the opposite with your Driver though, right?

[Zeph]

I used to have a swing where my eyes trailed back with the clubhead and stayed there, behind the ball. You can safely say I rarely hit the ball first. There was of course other elements in there, but for me, where I look makes a big difference.

[Precis1on]

A good drill to help flipping is to play the ball off your front foot, but set up like you would be normally (club in the center of your stance). Swing as you normally would making flush contact with the ball. The only way to consistently do this is to not flip.

After you can do that, move the ball back and continue to visualize hitting the ball off your front foot.

Brian Manzella's "Confessions of a Former Flipper" is a nice watch if you need more help with flipping.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Precis1on

Brian Manzella's "Confessions of a Former Flipper" is a nice watch if you need more help with flipping.

There's been some hubbub lately due to the fact that he's since decided that the stuff he was teaching recently isn't right either, and now you can have "too much lag." Y'know, because that's a big problem we see all the time, too much lag... Anyway, I think that video's getting completely remade with his "new" information (regardless of whether that information is new to everyone or just him).

[Precis1on]

Originally Posted by iacas

There's been some hubbub lately due to the fact that he's since decided that the stuff he was teaching recently isn't right either, and now you can have "too much lag." Y'know, because that's a big problem we see all the time, too much lag... Anyway, I think that video's getting completely remade with his "new" information (regardless of whether that information is new to everyone or just him).

I would like this whole "Too much lag" thing. Gimme!

[sean_miller]

There might be too much, "hackers trying to delay impact in order to add lag and create awesome power".

[B-Con]

Your goal isn't to hit the the ground at the ball, it's the hit the ground after the ball. And your goal isn't to hit any part of the ball you can actually see (unless you look at the very back of it), it's to hit some point of the ball beneath what you're looking at. There's nothing wrong with looking at the spot you actually want to hit. You can look at the ground and say, "I need to hit here", or you can look at the top of the ball and say. "I need to hit through the ball somewhere beneath where my eyes are focused, but not too close to the ground." It's similar to basketball: Many advise that you look at the back of the rim, not the front. The back of the rim is actually a viable target, the front still requires you shoot for something you're not looking at. I look at the ground. Maybe it's not a very "pure" technique, but it's very helpful and it's technically sound.

[iacas]

This is an "aiming point" concept from The Golfing Machine.

If you look at a spot, say, 4" in front of the golf ball and from the top of the backswing try to deliver your hands on a straight line to that point, well, that's what an "aiming point" is.

Bobby Clampett is all about the aiming point, btw. :-)

[mlanger]

I do this when my ball contact is off. Works for me. Never read it anywhere though.

Originally Posted by Precis1on

A good drill to help flipping is to play the ball off your front foot, but set up like you would be normally (club in the center of your stance). Swing as you normally would making flush contact with the ball. The only way to consistently do this is to not flip.

After you can do that, move the ball back and continue to visualize hitting the ball off your front foot.

Brian Manzella's "Confessions of a Former Flipper" is a nice watch if you need more help with flipping.

[anotherday]

I started to use an imaginary strip after the ball pointing toward my target and it has helped me stop driving the club into the ground after hitting the ball (and breaking my hand in the process). It has worked great. And my hand is happy.

[swalker]

I started doing this at the beginning of spring this year and my contact improved but I could not stop pulling the ball dead left (Im a righty). I was wondering if anyone else experienced the "pull shot" while doing this and if you fixed it, what did you do to fix it.

[Wallstreet]

Half of the summer I have had a problem with sweeping my irons.  I would hit some thin shots or hit push shots from not shifting my weight forward.  The biggest thing that helped me correct that (in my mind) was to keep my head over top the ball at impact.  When i did or thought that i was hitting much more down on the ball and taking bigger divots and making much better contact.  The difference between the first swing and my small change was literally a club difference in distance with my irons.

[swalker]

Originally Posted by Wallstreet

Half of the summer I have had a problem with sweeping my irons.  I would hit some thin shots or hit push shots from not shifting my weight forward.  The biggest thing that helped me correct that (in my mind) was to keep my head over top the ball at impact.  When i did or thought that i was hitting much more down on the ball and taking bigger divots and making much better contact.  The difference between the first swing and my small change was literally a club difference in distance with my irons.

did your accuracy improve as well?

[Wallstreet]

Originally Posted by swalker

did your accuracy improve as well?

Yes it did.  It stopped me from pushing the ball which was my biggest problem this year.

[RJ32S]

Looking at the front of the ball is a great way to lower flight trajectory in the wind... It will promote a de-lofted club at impact...