Hitting Ball on Sweetspot of Clubface

By Kim Jeong-kyoo
Korea Times Golf Columnist

Recreational golfers fail to produce huge tee shots as they don’t hit the ball solidly on the sweetspot of the clubface. The four types of off-center contacts of the clubface to the ball with the driver include 1) off the top of the clubhead, 2) on the bottom of the clubhead, 3) on the toe of the clubhead and 4) on the heel of the clubhead. To enjoy hitting your driver far down onto the fairway, you need to know why these faults happen and how to cure them.

Shots hit off the top of the clubhead result mostly from the reverse weight shift and reverse pivot position at the top. Wrongly transferring your bodyweight to the left toward the target during the backswing in an overexertion to keep your head steady forces you to lift the club up on too upright a swing plane. That causes you to swing down the club on a plane that is equally steep. You will hit the ball off the top edge of the clubface.

To fix this problem, make a more level shoulder turn so your hips rotate level. That facilitates natural, correct weight shift to the right, encouraging you to take the club away from the ball low to the ground, which in turn enables you to deliver the clubhead to the ball on a shallow path.

To learn to make a level turn of your shoulders that promotes correct weight shift to the right and proper swing plane on the forward swing, assume your normal address position and place a clubshaft across your chest. Then, turn as if you are making a backswing, transferring the majority of your bodyweight to the right. Focus on keeping the clubshaft horizontal to the ground as it was at address and over your right knee at the completion of your turn. That helps improve your weight shift, eliminating those pop-ups that leave nasty scrapes on the top of the driver.

Another reason to hit the ball off the top is teeing the ball too high. A simple way to correct this fault is to tee the ball low so about half of the ball is shown above the top edge of the clubhead.

Hitting the ball low on the bottom of the clubface can be caused by bad posture at address. Failing to keep your posture consistent throughout the swing or allowing your body to rise at any stage of your downswing causes the clubface to contact the ball on its bottom.

To fix this problem, set up properly so you can feel a tight tension on the small of your back. Assuming the address, protrude your rear out behind your heel line so you can get the roundness out of your back. That helps keep your posture stable throughout the swing, enabling you to maintain your hip bend from start to finish.

To further ensure for consistent posture during the entire swing keep your chin up at address so its tip is pointing to a spot just behind the ball, not toward your chest. Then, focus on turning your left shoulder under your chin going back, and your right shoulder under your chin coming through.

Hitting the ball off the heel stems from a faulty swing path through the ball. Swinging the club back on a path that is too far inside the ball-target line necessitates compensation on the downswing. That forces you to throw the club outside the ball-target line at the start of the downswing. When that happens, the heel of the club works farther away from you at impact than it was at address, causing heeled shots.

Also, losing your balance through the ball and dipping your body toward the ball cause contact of the clubface to the ball off its heel.

Similarly, placing the majority of your bodyweight poorly on the heels of your feet at address causes you to hit the ball off the heel of the clubface.

What has to be done first to fix this problem is to understand that the more you take the club back inside the ball-target line on the backswing, the more you tend to cast it out and over on the downswing. Move the clubhead straight on the takeaway lest you should throw the club outside the ball-target line on the downswing.

Also to prevent dipping your body during the downswing, focus on keeping your head steady. You are allowed to move your head laterally a bit, but you need to avoid letting it move up and down too much.

To set your bodyweight properly at address you need to place it on the inside balls of your feet. That promotes an athletic position, encouraging you to swing in balance so you can hit the ball on the sweetspot of the clubface.

By placing your bodyweight correctly on the inside balls of your feet you can also stop hitting on the toe side of the clubhead. Poor weight distribution on the toes of your feet at address causes you to hit the ball off the toe.

Poor contact of the ball off the heel of the clubface results from an excessive effort to swing the club back straight along the ball-target line rather than on an arc around your body. Trying to take the club too much straight away from the ball causes your swing to get too much straight up and down. You will swing the club up with your arms and hands only without shoulder turn, allowing the upper parts of your arms to be separated from the sides of your chest. When that happens, you will get the clubhead to work on a path that is from outside to in, hitting the ball off its toe.

To fix this problem you need to get your club to move around your body on the backswing. To this end, keep the upper part of your left arm firmly pressed against the side of your chest and then turn your back to the target. You will swing around your body on a more rounded arc on the backswing, delivering the clubhead to the ball from inside the ball-target line and thus hitting the ball on the sweetspot of the clubface.