How important is vision to ball contact?

[fersman4]

So what do you all think: do you think vision focus has a significant impact on ball contact precision, or do you think it's primarily a muscle memory thing? Or is it half and half? Another way to ask this quesiton is: how much do you focus on your ball during the swing (on a 1 to 10 scale I'd say I'm a 3).

First, I'm working with evolvr.com on my swing, so I'm not looking for any new swing thoughts or practice drills to muddy the waters.

Anyway I'm not really very atheletic, and my eye-hand coordination naturally leaves a lot to be desired. In general I would say that my ball-striking suffers greatly from poor contact. This last round when I didn't hit fat or thin due to path issues (that's what I'm working on with evolvr), I tended to hit it off center, losing distance and sending the ball off in the wrong direction. This is nothing new...it's always been like this.

I would say that I am rather lazy with my vision focus. My brain is working hard trying to make sure my body is doing the things my instructor is telling me to do. Most of the time during the swing and impact my eyes aren't focused on anything really, like the ball just happens to be in my field of view, as does the grass surrounding the ball. I'm relying almost entirely upon my body's muscle memory to get the clubface to the ball. But because a mishit is an inch off center in any direction, it gets me wondering whether I should be striving for more precision with the help of vision focus, not just improved muscle memory.

[iacas]

I think that when you're changing path issues (and note that just because you're working on Key #4 doesn't mean you won't still need to work on #1-#3), contact can vary quite easily because of how intertwined the two are. After all, Key #4 is "Diagonal Sweetspot Path" - you're changing where the path of the sweetspot travels, and thus, affecting where the sweetspot is at any given time in the swing (in particular right around impact).

I don't even really look at the golf ball during my swing. It's just kind of there. I'm looking down, but not really looking AT the ball.

[fersman4]

Thanks for the response. One less thing to worry about. I was at the range today practicing what I'm supposed to practice and as my path stabilized (still needs work) so did my contact. I guess you know what you're talking about :D

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by fersman4

Thanks for the response. One less thing to worry about. I was at the range today practicing what I'm supposed to practice and as my path stabilized (still needs work) so did my contact. I guess you know what you're talking about :D

lol.

I stare down my ball like I'm in a WBC Heavyweight fight. Although, you'd be surprised how hard it is to hit a ball blindfolded. A few buddies of mine and I tried this after some drinks one night next to the course that my buddy manages. That didn't work out so well for a 2012 Cadillac CTS 4 in the driveway... which belonged to the last guy who tried this, which resulted in shattering his rear passenger side window. Besides the point, but funny nonetheless.

[Ernest Jones]

Originally Posted by Spyder

lol.

I stare down my ball like I'm in a WBC Heavyweight fight.

LOL, me too! I scowl and everything!

Originally Posted by Spyder

Although, you'd be surprised how hard it is to hit a ball blindfolded. A few buddies of mine and I tried this after some drinks one night next to the course that my buddy manages. That didn't work out so well for a 2012 Cadillac CTS 4 in the driveway... which belonged to the last guy who tried this, which resulted in shattering his rear passenger side window. Besides the point, but funny nonetheless.

Sure it was the blinfolds that made it difficult?

[geauxforbroke]

I've read a lot of theories on where to focus during a shot. For me personally, I feel like I'm looking through the ball to where I want to strike the ground just in front of where the ball is making contact with the ground.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Ernest Jones

Sure it was the blindfolds that made it difficult?

Obviously, yes. What else could it be!?

We somehow got on the topic of a Jean Claude Van Dam movie where he was catching fish blindfolded and someone brought up that a true golf master should be able to hit a ball blindfolded. That resulted in 7 idiots, including myself, failing miserably