What part of the ball do you aim at?

[dchoye]

I know this may be a silly question. But in my golfing career , I discovered I have aimed few inches in front of the ball, the middle of the ball , and the back of the ball At various times and different days when I play golf and they all have worked So I don't have a "right" answer But I suspect subconsciously I'm looking a spot where I think my swing will bottom out. Anyone have thoughts about this subject ?

[32quattro]

Could you be more specific ? Putting/Irons/Wedges/Woods/Driver Setup/Impact Full swing/Chip Draw/Fade/Straight Shot

[Nytar]

lol, don't let him rattle you with TMFI. Rick Shiels on youtube is a good place to start. he keeps things a bit more simple then some pros spitting out 15 thousand things you are trying to keep straight. or you will do like I did the other day on the course and have every bit of information flood in trying to make adjustments and corrections.

if you want a very simple answer for the typical shots (full) you want the bottom of your arc to be shallow behind the ball starting up when hitting a driver.

for irons, bottom of the arc should be a few inches (about 2ish) in front of the ball. thats where you want to see a divot. (this is for most people but I tend to be a "picker" or a "sweeper" and don't usually have a divot but am slowly working on it.) lay a small object in front of the ball like a broken tee or the like. something that aint gonna damage the club or hurt someone. place it a couple inches in front of the ball and work on bottoming there and making that object move. the ball just gets in the way is all.

those other shots he mentioned are something else requiring stance and swing adjustments. but get these two down first or you will flood your brain and over think every swing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CAmK1TTN-8 (3 key points)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1CGjXw_tSc (perfect golf strike)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFbkkOzA2-Y (if you are having issues with topping)

[iacas]

I don't particularly look at anything. Just "down."

[mvmac]

I don't particularly look at anything. Just "down."

Same here.

[saevel25]

Same here.

Ditto

[dchoye]

Thanks. My eyes have been getting too specific in my long game Today I was swinging well by focusing on the bottom of the swing somewhere in front of the ball and seeing the "whole ball". From the tee box and teeing up I was hitting well focusing on the back of the ball What cause some trouble was aiming top of the ball and at 6 o'clock. Works for certain shots but can lead to bad habits topping and shanks for me

[tgynther]

I started to aim the about one inch in front of the ball. It makes easier to focus on steady head thing during backswing if I have aiming point. Previously I just looked the ball without any specific point and it caused lot of unnecessary head movement (with other faults which moves my head too)

[isukgolf]

After a couple of beers, its the one in the middle ... :-P I think I sort of just look at ball ...

[Gunther]

I look at a mark on the back of the ball, either the logo or my mark, depending on what is available.

[Patch]

If anything I look at the turf in front of the ball, and I am not even sure if I do that. I never think about it. I hit all my long, and middle iron just a bit on the thin side. My shorter iron I don't hit as thin, but I don't take much of a divot with them either. I just give the turf a shorter hair cut with my shorter sticks.  I play most of my rounds in the desert southwest and quite a few of those courses are not user friendly when comes to taking divots. This is also a carry over when I play on softer fairways. I lose a little distance doing this I suppose, but it is what I do.

I suppose my impact spot on the ball is the lower left/center, rear quadrant due to my inside out swing path. I don't consciously look at that spot on the ball though. The ball is just there, and gets in the way of my club face.

[RayG]

look at the front of the ball for irons, wedges, chips, etc... But for Driver, I will try and watch the club hit the bottom half of the back of the ball. This kind of helps to keep my head back behind the ball and prevent getting out in front and overcompensating with a nasty snap hook.

[dchoye]

Update. instead of being ball specific I been more focus on where my shaft is in front on the ball I think this is where my "swish" for my normal iron shots and fairway wood shots This generally gives my a draw pattern. On teed up ball I line up my shaft and focus on the back of the ball. What helps to me is to ink a dot on the rear of the ball My swing doesn't change tempo but I tend to "straighten " my draw and hit a high shot. With my driver I been finding that my eyes need to move with my swing motion so I look at the inside edge of the ball at 6 o'clock This keeps my eyes moving with my motion. For some reason I find that if my eyes is focus on either back of ball or a spot in front of the ball, my clubhead speed is less than when my eyes move laterally with my drive

[vangator]

I keep picking my head up, so I am somewhere down the fairway. :-) I pick a spot just in front of the ball to aim at but in my swing I concentrate on a spot on the inside back of the ball. Really helps my tempo. The club will hit within a dimple or so of the back of the ball though.