How do you precisely measure opening the club face?

[brg1875]

Hi all,

I've been a lurker in this forum for a while now but decided to finally join and post. I recently stumbled on the "SCOR Method" (http://www.scorgolf.com/content/SCOR-Method.pdf) which I found pretty useful and I have incorporated it into my game although I'm having trouble getting consistent distances by "opening the club face a little."

Per the PDF "Understand, however, that managing the exact amount that you open the face of your wedge should be as precise as managing the exact amount you grip down." This is my big question, how do you precisely measure opening the club face?

[DaveP043]

I just took a quick read, and I think you could do it in much the same way you "precisely control" the amount you grip down, by marking your grip with a sharpie.  First, mark your normal grip position, say the back (away form the hole) side of your top thumb.  Then put a second mark to the left of the first one (for a right handed golfer), that would be your reference spot for the "open clubface" position.

Also, welcome to TST, I hope you enjoy it here.  I'm a neighbor of yours, here in Reston VA.  Where do you play your golf?

Edited March 1, 2016 by DaveP043

[brg1875]

Thanks for the feedback. I figured marking it would make the most sense too although when I first tried this I noticed my hands/fingers don't end up in the exact same spot every time but to the point if I'm just trying to open it up a little bit that makes sense.

As far as where I play, mostly on the Maryland side. Oak Creek Club, Lake Presidential, Timbers at Troy and Cross Creek are usually my go to's.

[Club Rat]

1 hour ago, brg1875 said:

This is my big question, how do you precisely measure opening the club face?

As @DaveP043 mentioned, I would "mark the center of the thumb" at various positions on the grip with dots, then make notes of the locations and build your data base/yardage.

Also, opening the club face only has a few positions that have any effects. Not to mention changing target line, stance, swing path, etc.

And, shots will vary under many conditions. @mvmac has a thread which you may find interesting and benefit - "How to "Flight" Your Wedges and Short Irons"

ps. Dave's a great guy to golf with, I highly recommend hooking up to golf with him.

[Patch]

An old timer in golf forums a couple of decades ago talked about this. It was the first time I ever heard of the "1/8" rule" as he called it. 

You could mark your club shaft/grip circumference in 1/8" increments. As I recall you practiced opening/closing your club face in those increments before taking your final grip. It was a trial and error sort of thing, with the markings being guide lines. After practicing this, the golfer would develope a visual pattern of how much,  open/closed they wanted the club face to be for a particular shot. It could be used with all clubs, which he also considered the final part of fine tuning one's impact position. 

In addition, the golfer could also fine tune their grip on the club, with out adjusting the club face to get a proper impact with the ball. 

Not sure this helps with OP's question but is what came to my mind when I read the post. 

 

[Tee2Trees]

Ping Dylagrip offers this but they stopped making them in the 1980s!

[brg1875]

Perfect, thanks for the feedback guys. When I get home I'm going to mark 1/8" increments for now and then hit the range to see how many yards each increment shaves off.

 

@Tee2Trees

I just googled and found some DylaGrip knock offs which would be perfect for measuring but I think I'll stick with the sharpie for now and see how that works. 

[Dan42nepa]

Very interesting.

[natureboy]

I just measure how many lines on the pattern of my grips equal .5 or 1 inch and make adjustments that way.

As far as the open question, I think Niklaus once said something along the lines of, "I never saw a really good player who had the face square at address."

Edited April 16, 2016 by natureboy

[Phil McGleno]

2 hours ago, natureboy said:

As far as the open question, I think Niklaus once said something along the lines of, "I never saw a really good player who had the face square at address."

That is because no good player hits the ball straight.

[natureboy]

5 hours ago, Phil McGleno said:

That is because no good player hits the ball straight.

Or Nicklaus' comment that he never saw a really good player who had the face square at address reflects the fact that in a good impact position the hips and shoulders are more open than they were at address so it's a good hedge against a snap hook.

[billchao]

Do people really do this? Considering the amount of things that can vary from one shot to another, is being able to control the exact amount you open your clubface at address (or choke down on the club, for that matter) really that important?

[Ernest Jones]

10 minutes ago, billchao said:

Do people really do this? Considering the amount of things that can vary from one shot to another, is being able to control the exact amount you open your clubface at address (or choke down on the club, for that matter) really that important?

First I've ever heard of the opening and closing the clubface to control distance. I understand how it can work, I guess.

I've always tried to control distance the same way I would if I was tossing my car keys to someone. Look at the person and toss them the keys.

[billchao]

12 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

I've always tried to control distance the same way I would if I was tossing my car keys to someone. Look at the person and toss them the keys.

Same here. I know my partial wedge distances, but if we are talking about nGIR territory, I just pick a spot to land and try to hit it to that spot.

The only time I open the club is to change the trajectory.

[brg1875]

You would actually be surprised after a little bit of practice it can be pretty accurate. For example my A Wedge on average goes 115 and if I find myself at 105 instead of muscling up on my 52* (100 yards on average) I have been opening my club face two dashes on my grip and I can hit a smooth, consistent full shot with my A Wedge I hit it ~105 yards. Even in between that for 110 yards if I choke down 1" that takes about 5 yards off of my A wedge leaving me with a nice even 110 (on average).

 

 

[iacas]

17 hours ago, natureboy said:

Or Nicklaus' comment that he never saw a really good player who had the face square at address reflects the fact that in a good impact position the hips and shoulders are more open than they were at address so it's a good hedge against a snap hook.

What does that have to do with anything? Your shoulders can be open with the face pointing left, right, or straight.

[Ernest Jones]

17 hours ago, brg1875 said:

You would actually be surprised after a little bit of practice it can be pretty accurate. For example my A Wedge on average goes 115 and if I find myself at 105 instead of muscling up on my 52* (100 yards on average) I have been opening my club face two dashes on my grip and I can hit a smooth, consistent full shot with my A Wedge I hit it ~105 yards. Even in between that for 110 yards if I choke down 1" that takes about 5 yards off of my A wedge leaving me with a nice even 110 (on average).

 

 

Oh, I have no doubt that it can work. If you have a 52-56-60 wedge set-up and you can reliably tweak the setups to add or remove 1-2 degrees of loft to each one, I guess it's like having a 50-51-52-53-54-55-56-57-58-59-60-61-62 wedge setup. 

I assume any loft tweaking requires some aim adjustments as you are turning the face left and right to remove or add loft.