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

[Moleman]

Delighted I stumbled across this thread as it describes completely what ive been doing the last few months, I've actually joined the forum in order to reply so welcome to my first ever post! ;-) Been playing 3 years now and probably been playing my best golf recently with just a couple of simple swing thoughts and NO technical thoughts at all, been very liberating and natural however there are a few niggling faults that I can't shake and I wonder if this swing thought is a cause.. My Swing Setup, 1. I setup over the ball with the intent to swing smoothly and as powerfully as i can without losing my balance.. 2. I then 'see' a point just on the target side of the ball. 3. I make a normal athletic golf swing making sure my hands reach that point at or even before impact. 4. I also try to swing out to the target rather than think about the ball My bad shot has ALWAYS been fat and since i started swing this way a few months ago my irons are much more solid and my fat shot has all but disapeared. When i do catch the odd one fat i notice that the ground is merely brushed before the ball rather than a monster divot... Pros: I hit my irons WAAY more solidly and have probably added 15-20 yards to my avergae iron distances Cons: Bad shot is now a fairly hefty full and i hook the crap out of my driver.. Really want to make this work as I've never been hitting the ball as solidly before, any advice or tips on how I can cut out the pull shot and also how can I make this swing work better with the woods.. Thanks :-)

[Patch]

I focus in front of the ball most of the time with my irons. There are a few situations where the lie of the ball might make me change my focal point, but not very often.

I like to hit the ball a little on the thin side, and focusing in front of the ball allows me to contact the ball first.

[Lihu]

My Swing Setup,

1. I setup over the ball with the intent to swing smoothly and as powerfully as i can without losing my balance..

2. I then 'see' a point just on the target side of the ball.

3. I make a normal athletic golf swing making sure my hands reach that point at or even before impact.

4. I also try to swing out to the target rather than think about the ball

Welcome to this site.

I do this as well. Sometimes, I focus on a dimple on the ball, but this seems the easiest while on the fairway. Deep rough, it's harder to use this method for me, so I focus on a dimple on the ball.

[vangator]

Nope. I focus on a dimple on the ball.

[georgep]

I have tried focusing on a spot 4-6" in front of the ball as an "emergency fix" on the course. It can help. But as a normal course of action, I like looking at the front of the ball. I try to imagine that I'm driving a nail down and through the ball so that it exits below the equator of the ball after skewering the ball on the nail. I use that image with irons and hybrids. With the driver I want the nail to exit just above the equator of the ball.

[Hammer 4]

Nope. I focus on a dimple on the ball.

IIRC, there was a question on the GC, and someone said pro's look at a dimple on the back of the ball, and they focus on that and don't let their eyes wonder. They said most am's move their eyes around to much. I never thought anything about this, but last night at the range, I gave it a try. To be fair, before doing that, I looked at the ball in general, i.e. not focusing on any one given spot. After about 12 hits with a 9i and 7i, to my surprise, I hit a good percentage of them well, still, I couldn't absolutely say that it worked.

[vangator]

IIRC, there was a question on the GC, and someone said pro's look at a dimple on the back of the ball, and they focus on that and don't let their eyes wonder. They said most am's move their eyes around to much. I never thought anything about this, but last night at the range, I gave it a try. To be fair, before doing that, I looked at the ball in general, i.e. not focusing on any one given spot. After about 12 hits with a 9i and 7i, to my surprise, I hit a good percentage of them well, still, I couldn't absolutely say that it worked.

I used to even put a dot on the inside read quadrant of the ball and zero in on that. It would help on the tee box but not on the fairway, so with that and laziness, I stopped marking the ball. It's good to know the pros also concentrate on a dimple. BTW, that's yet another swing thought to keep track of. :-(

[rehmwa]

I spent quite a long time letting my eyes just go out of focus before taking a swing.  At the time, it seemed to be a positive habit.  I 'think' I got a lot better contact during that phase.

I'm not sure now if I even do that or not.  I assume I got whatever benefit I could from it though.

Used to do a lot of range practice with eyes closed too - amazing what I got from that too.

lots of learning opportunities

hoping this year to just think less about swing thoughts and replace it with visualizing the ball flight instead....

[Club Rat]

My focus is different on the tee and hitting a fairway shot.

On the tee with driver, I place the ball where the brand name is centered at 3 o'clock position.

This sets my focus on seeing the entire ball.

If I want to hit a fade, I'll then position the brand name centered at the top of the ball.

This sets my focus on seeing the top, which changes my attack angle.

Also I tee the ball lower.

With fairway thoughts, my focus is making a good swing and not concerned with changing focus point.

It still set on centered at 3 o'clock position.

Club Rat

[The Recreational Golfer]

I do when I putt. It takes the hit out of the stroke.

[dsc123]

I do this when I am struggling to make good contact. Whenever I play with a terrible golfer I tell them to try this and almost every time it makes a huge difference.