How Often Do You Hit the Sweet Spot? (Deprecated)

[saevel25]

3 minutes ago, lastings said:

so...   Do we think we are doing a better job of answering the OP's questions by arguing over semantics, trying to understand his intent and moving forward? 

This is a pretty good response already given to the OP,

Yes, the proper definition of sweet spot matters. The OP, a 15 handicap claimed he hit the sweet spot 72% of the time. That is a faulty number by the definition of what he thought a sweet spot is.

I probably make about 30-36 full swings a round. Depending on how I play the par 5's or how aggressive I get on short par 4's. Of those, I think I hit the sweet spot about 1-2 times a round if I even get that.

[nevets88]

Is there such a thing as nGIR for the sweet spot? Like if you hit it within 5mm of the sweet spot, you're good?

[Golfingdad]

11 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Yes, the proper definition of sweet spot matters. The OP, a 15 handicap claimed he hit the sweet spot 72% of the time. That is a faulty number by the definition of what he thought a sweet spot is.

Actually, I think it's a faulty number by the definition of what WE are telling him the sweet spot is, not by what he thinks it is.  When you say you hit the sweet sopt 1-2 times per round, that's clearly going off the actual definition, not OPs.  I think @lastings probably guessed correctly about what definition the OP was likely using.  Sure that number could still be faulty, though.  If you go by that definition, then I'd still say I probably only hit it maybe 50-60% of the time??  Wild guess, I dunno.

[Lihu]

9 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Is there such a thing as nGIR for the sweet spot? Like if you hit it within 5mm of the sweet spot, you're good?

I can picture the Trackman or Foresite face plot indicating "Sweet!", "You're really close", "You're close" or "Nah, hit it again" 

Edited October 23, 2017 by Lihu

[Midpack]

This has been a most telling thread. I acknowledged that I should have said “solid strikes” instead of “sweet spot” or “center” days ago, yet some want to continue to beat the horse (even though I’m sure many knew what I meant to say).

For the third time. I misused the precise definition of sweet spot.

That said, how many ads from established, well known club makers and reviewers have you seen claiming their “new” clubs had “a larger sweet spot?” Or reviews/articles by reputable leading golf media with “hit more shots dead center” in the title or tag line? Somehow I don’t think they’re talking about 6-8% of the time.

I hope you’ve also mercilessly corrected them too...

That said, thanks to those who took my original clumsy post as intended.

Edited October 23, 2017 by Midpack

[saevel25]

28 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Sure that number could still be faulty, though.  If you go by that definition, then I'd still say I probably only hit it maybe 50-60% of the time??  Wild guess, I dunno.

Not sure about that. He's a 15 handicap and you're a 5.5. By his definition you should have a larger number in the sweet-spot category. The primary assumption being that your long game is better than his.

[Lihu]

4 minutes ago, Midpack said:

This has been a most telling thread. I acknowledged that I should have said “solid strikes” instead of “sweet spot” or “center” days ago, yet some want to continue to beat the horse (even though I’m sure many knew what I meant to say).

For the third time. I misused the precise definition of sweet spot.

That said, how many ads from established, well known club makers have you seen claiming their clubs had “a larger sweet spot?” Or reviews/articles by reputable leading golf media with “hit more shots dead center” in the title or tag line? Somehow I don’t think they’re talking about 6-8% of the time.

I hope you’ve also mercilessly corrected them too...

At least, I didn't mean to be offensive about this, it was more just as you said "Beating the dead horse."

The intent at least from my part was more in humor, where I had to respond to @Groucho Valentine's post which was pretty funny.

Then I saw the post from @lastings, noting that the thread title should probably be changed to avoid further confusion.

Sorry if it sounded mean spirited, because that was not the intent.

[Marty2019]

2 hours ago, Midpack said:

This has been a most telling thread. I acknowledged that I should have said “solid strikes” instead of “sweet spot” or “center” days ago, yet some want to continue to beat the horse (even though I’m sure many knew what I meant to say).

For the third time. I misused the precise definition of sweet spot.

That said, how many ads from established, well known club makers and reviewers have you seen claiming their “new” clubs had “a larger sweet spot?” Or reviews/articles by reputable leading golf media with “hit more shots dead center” in the title or tag line? Somehow I don’t think they’re talking about 6-8% of the time.

I hope you’ve also mercilessly corrected them too...

That said, thanks to those who took my original clumsy post as intended.

I know you've lost control of the discussion, but still, it's an interesting question.  Although some people seem to be saying one has to be "highly skilled" to even tell if you've hit the sweet spot, which kind of closes the discussion.  That's kind of irritating. 

But like I said before, perhaps it would have been better to ask, "How often do you THINK you've hit the sweet spot?"  Then there are no wrong answers.  Because then I don't have to say I actually hit the sweet spot, just that I THINK I hit the sweet spot.  And no one can tell me I didn't think that. 

I think I hit the sweet spot 3 or 4 times per round, but it is also possible that my definition of "sweet spot" is looser than other people's definition. 

Then there are other people in this thread who are alleging that if you hit the sweet spot the ball will fly way over your target.  I find it hard to believe that golf clubs would be designed so that if you make a perfect strike on the perfect spot, the ball will unexpectedly fly the green.  That doesn't seem like good golf club design. 

The whole thread is kind of irritating, to tell the truth.  I appreciate your starting it.  I think it was a good question, even if phrased a little wrong. 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2017 by Marty2019

[billchao]

3 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

I think @lastings probably guessed correctly about what definition the OP was likely using.  Sure that number could still be faulty, though.  If you go by that definition, then I'd still say I probably only hit it maybe 50-60% of the time??  Wild guess, I dunno.

I think the whole thread gets pretty subjective that way and the information you'd get out of it would be fairly useless. Different people feel and observe contact differently. I'm a tough critic on my own game. On Saturday I shot my best round of the year and I feel like I thinned or toed (or both) every shot. The strikes just didn't have that feel I'm looking for in a well struck shot, but I hit them solid enough to play well by my standards. I might have hit three good strikes all day - notice I wrote "strikes", not "shots".

The clubs you play matter, too. GI and SGI clubs (as well as higher MOI clubs like a driver) will do a better job of masking off-center contact. So at the end of the day, @Midpack is a 15 that feels he hits the ball solid 70% of the time. I'm a 15 and I feel I hit the ball solid <10% of the time (and, ironically, that I'm a pretty good iron player for my level). What does that really say about our games other than the fact that we evaluate things differently?

53 minutes ago, Marty2019 said:

Then there are other people in this thread who are alleging that if you hit the sweet spot the ball will fly way over your target.  I find it hard to believe that golf clubs would be designed so that if you make a perfect strike on the perfect spot, the ball will unexpectedly fly the green.  That doesn't seem like good golf club design.

I don't think anybody said that. From what I read, people said that pure contact will result in a ball that goes 5-10 yards farther than expected because most of us are playing our lengths based on our ballstriking ability, which is mostly off-center.

Clubs are designed to reduce the ball speed lost on off-center strikes, but you're going to get maximum club-to-ball energy transfer from a strike on the sweet spot.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, Midpack said:

This has been a most telling thread. I acknowledged that I should have said “solid strikes” instead of “sweet spot” or “center” days ago, yet some want to continue to beat the horse (even though I’m sure many knew what I meant to say).

It's still in the topic title, and some people don't read every post when they make their post, or they're responding to a post that makes a point that isn't the one you'd make, or some other things.

How about this… I'll lock this topic and create a new one which defines the two terms and has polls so everyone can vote. Good?

There you go.

Agreeing on definitions can be important.