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How Often Do you Hit the Sweet Spot? Solid Contact?


iacas
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Quality of Contact  

51 members have voted

  1. 1. How many times out of 10 (nearest number) do you hit the ball "solidly"? (See definition in first post)

    • 0
      2
    • 1
      0
    • 2
      1
    • 3
      3
    • 4
      6
    • 5
      6
    • 6
      10
    • 7
      9
    • 8
      8
    • 9
      6
    • 10
      0
  2. 2. How many times out of 10 (nearest number) do you hit the ball on "the sweet spot"? (See definition in first post)

    • 0
      24
    • 1
      14
    • 2
      4
    • 3
      0
    • 4
      2
    • 5
      0
    • 6
      5
    • 7
      1
    • 8
      1
    • 9
      0
    • 10
      0


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  • Administrator

The definitions are:

Sweet Spot - Only the best contact. The kind that makes your loins sing. The kind you can't imagine hitting much better. The kind that produces virtually no twisting. It's not "solid but a little on the toe" or "half a groove thin." It's just about perfect. If the Rules of Golf define virtual certainty as about 95%+, then "sweet spot" means you're virtually certain it can't get any better.

Solid Contact - A shot that flies pretty much like the other "good" shots. Tops, shanks, thins, fats… they're out the window, as are shots more than 1/3" to 1/2" from the sweet spot. Solid contact feels good, and you'll take them all day, but they're not the purest it can get.


As for me, I voted…

9 for solid contact, and 1 for sweet spot.

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
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I voted 0 out of 10 for sweet spot - my guess is maybe 3% on hitting the actual sweet spot. Thinking of this weekend, I remember about 5 shots where I truly felt like I pured it. Out of roughly 180 shots, that's about 2.7%.

I put 6 of 10 for solid contact. I think I'm about 7 of 10 for solid contact with a 7 iron through lob wedge, 6 out of 10 for solid contact with a 6 iron - 3 wood, and 5.5 out of 10 for solid contact with a driver. I do have days where I'm 9 of 10, but I also have days where I'm 4 out of 10. I might be closer to 7 out of 10 on this, though. 6 out of 10 feels low, but the more I think about it, that seems about right.

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I voted 0 for the sweet spot, 5 for solid contact.

I can feel off-center shots, but they often go nearly as far with the JPX 850's - considered SGI irons. The clean contact shots tend to get more height. I have had rounds where most of my iron shots were clean, but on average, 5 out of 10 seems right.

Based on the description above, I hit the sweet spot very rarely on the course, but I really don't know.

Now that I read @DeadMan's post (who plays at 5.1), I'm starting to feel like I'm full of  @#!@.

Jon

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Voted 4 out of 10 for solid, 1 for sweet spot as that is the lowest number on the poll. Zero cannot be true although I am pretty sure closer to zero (%) than 1 (10%). One thing I am pretty sure I have hit it at least once in the last 12-13 years or so...:-)

 

Edited by GolfLug

Vishal S.

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10 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

Voted 4 out of 10 for solid, 1 for sweet spot as that is the lowest number on the poll. Zero cannot be true although I am pretty sure closer to zero (%) than 1 (10%). One thing I am pretty sure I have hit it at least once in the last 12-13 years or so...:-)

You could vote 0 if that number is closer to the percentage than 1. That's why there's a "0" option.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
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I voted 4 and 0.

I wasn't sure how I wanted to vote solid contact. By the definition of within 1/2" of center, I'm usually with that margin on my normal strikes, so I was going to say 6. By the standard of the shots feeling good, I was going to say 3, but that may be because I typically strike the ball just a hair thin or towards the toe and I hate the feeling of both of those shots. However, they fly well, hold greens, and nobody other than me usually can tell that I missed it, so I split the difference (sort of) and voted 4.

Pure contact is definitely closer to 0 than 1.

Bill

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The only time I can hit solidly is on the range, and not that often. Voted 0/0

I’m not happy with the on course flight and direction.

Edited by Lihu

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1 hour ago, iacas said:

You could vote 0 if that number is closer to the percentage than 1. That's why there's a "0" option.

Done. I hit only one shot all day yesterday that felt pure. 5i on the 181 yard par 3 on the back nine. Funny I missed green by 3 yards as wind held it from drawing in and then failed to get up and down.. drat.

Vishal S.

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4 for solid, 1 for sweet.

I was having trouble with iron shots toward the toe, so I started lining up in the second quadrant of the clubface (about 3/8" toward the heel). This has improved the number of solid hits - I may need to get my iron shafts extended a bit during winter regrip.

 

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I voted 8 for solid.  Solid contact has always been a big strength of mine, unlike hitting it where I planned...

I voted 1 for sweet spot.  That might be a tad generous, but you figure I'm hitting ~36 full swing shots per round.  No, I'm not playing sub-par, it's just I'm not hitting 3 full swing shots on any par 4.  I might punch out of jail or pitch on from nGIR, but I'm still only taking two full swings.  So I only have to average 1.8 really nutted shots per round to come in at 5% and round to 1/10.  I think I can honestly say I pure 2 shots a round...

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12 hours ago, iacas said:

The definitions are:

Sweet Spot - Only the best contact. The kind that makes your loins sing. The kind you can't imagine hitting much better. The kind that produces virtually no twisting. It's not "solid but a little on the toe" or "half a groove thin." It's just about perfect. If the Rules of Golf define virtual certainty as about 95%+, then "sweet spot" means you're virtually certain it can't get any better.

Solid Contact - A shot that flies pretty much like the other "good" shots. Tops, shanks, thins, fats… they're out the window, as are shots more than 1/3" to 1/2" from the sweet spot. Solid contact feels good, and you'll take them all day, but they're not the purest it can get.


As for me, I voted…

9 for solid contact, and 1 for sweet spot.

I voted 4 and 0, not based on the definitions you provided,  but based on your vote (9 and 1), and how I would compare my game to yours.   I think if you hit a solid shot 9 out of 10 times, then I should say I hit that kind of shot 4 out of 10 times.   I believe you would define "sweet spot" as much much smaller and more elusive than I would, but we have to agree on a definition, so taking your definition, which is really, "a spot you hit 1 out of 10 times," then I should say less than that.  So I said 0. 

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I picked zero out of 10 for hitting the sweet spot. I am not confident enough to claim that I can hit the sweet spot 10% of the time. I might say closer to 4-5%.

I picked 9 out of 10 for hitting a solid shot. I might catch a shot on the toe (outside that 1/3 to 1/2 distance) from time to time. To me, solid contact doesn't necessarily mean a good turn out. I've hit some really well struck pulls, or really good struck push cuts before. I've had some pretty nasty toe draws that have turned out really good.

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15 hours ago, JonMA1 said:

Now that I read @DeadMan's post (who plays at 5.1), I'm starting to feel like I'm full of  @#!@.

I was being harsh on myself, partially because my last round sucked. I definitely have rounds where I'm hitting it solidly 9/10 or close to 10/10 on this scale (i.e., only one or two badly struck shots).

Also, my badly struck shots probably end up in a better place than yours. If I don't hit it solidly, I'll generally come up 30 yards short but still advance the ball quite a bit. Or it will be a bit off target. But still playable and okay for a lot of golfers. I don't know how many times I've hit a poorly struck shot and had other people say that it's a good shot.

None of that is meant to be a put down, by the way. A huge difference between higher and lower handicappers is how bad their bad shots are.

-- Daniel

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15 hours ago, GolfLug said:

Voted 4 out of 10 for solid, 1 for sweet spot as that is the lowest number on the poll. Zero cannot be true although I am pretty sure closer to zero (%) than 1 (10%). One thing I am pretty sure I have hit it at least once in the last 12-13 years or so...:-)

 

 

15 hours ago, iacas said:

You could vote 0 if that number is closer to the percentage than 1. That's why there's a "0" option.

A few days ago we’re told in no uncertain terms “The sweet spot is very very small. Technically speaking it’s a point. Not an area.” and that 6-8% “sweet spot” is about right for pros and scratch players. And then we’re given a “sweet spot” poll where the options are in 10% increments (e.g. 0%, 10%, 20%,...100%)? 

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1 hour ago, Midpack said:

A few days ago we’re told in no uncertain terms “The sweet spot is very very small. Technically speaking it’s a point. Not an area.” and that 6-8% “sweet spot” is about right for pros and scratch players. And then we’re given a “sweet spot” poll where the options are in 10% increments (e.g. 0%, 10%, 20%,...100%)? 

Yup. Same options as for “solid.” Gotta provide options for the delusional. ;-)

It’s two poll questions, with definitions.

But seriously, though, the real answers come in the comments, and it would have been impractical to create a poll with about 30 options.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
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1 hour ago, DeadMan said:

I was being harsh on myself, partially because my last round sucked. I definitely have rounds where I'm hitting it solidly 9/10 or close to 10/10 on this scale (i.e., only one or two badly struck shots).

Also, my badly struck shots probably end up in a better place than yours. If I don't hit it solidly, I'll generally come up 30 yards short but still advance the ball quite a bit. Or it will be a bit off target. But still playable and okay for a lot of golfers. I don't know how many times I've hit a poorly struck shot and had other people say that it's a good shot.

None of that is meant to be a put down, by the way. A huge difference between higher and lower handicappers is how bad their bad shots are.

Not taken as a put down in the least. I couldn’t agree more.

Still, there is likely some unintentional exaggeration in my part.:beer:

Jon

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4-5 on solid contact for me. Probably 7-8 on the range since there's so much more time to groove the swing.

If I hit the sweet spot, it's probably just luck. I don't have that kind of control or ability to do everything perfectly where it wasn't just a fortunate accident. :)

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