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Ball-Striking

If the middle of your clubfaces are starting to wear or discolour, then you are a good ball striker.
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Is that so? I ask because I have new clubs and they have that new club shean on them so you can see the wear on them pretty easy, if you know what I mean. Well mine are wearing really nicely, but if you were hitting the ball badly how would they wear? Like what would it look like? To be clear, mine are wearing in an upside down V shape that looks like I am finding the right part of the club.
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I would say your doing something right, upside down V's going up the middle of the face look good to me.
 
I'm probably way wrong, but to me a good ball striker finds the sweet spot most of the time. Doesn't matter where it goes imo. If it goes nowhere near where you wanted then obviously you have other issues, but if you return the sweet spot to the ball at impact then you're <u>striking</u> it well.

I must be rubbish because the last time I heard a ball fizz off my club was about 20 years ago when I'd put a 'smiley' in a balata ball.
 
I've always wondered what the term ball-striking means to be honest.

Like when Johnny Miller said that Ian Poulter is "not a good ball striker".. What does that even mean? He's on the PGA tour so clearly he must compress the ball properly! Especially considering Ian Poulter then replied by showing that he was top of the G.I.R stats on tour, which I guess is a pretty good measure of how consistent and accurate you hit it!

On a seperate note though when I heard that Miller said that I kind of thought he might be onto something, as I just always seem to think that the way Poulters ball spins when it hits the green is really odd. Its probably just me seeing something that isnt there but it seems to kind of bounce around from side to side all of the time... Take a look next time you see him play and tell me if I'm mad or not!
 
Good post - a very interesting topic. As you say the term is usd a lot. I think between them the posts on here have identified what for me are the key elements of good ball striking and it's effects.

Clean contact with the ball before the turf to compress it.
Timing to hit the ball when the swing speed is at its greatest on the right plane and the right line.
Hitting the middle of the club.
Hitting it straight and in the right direction.
Ball flight is penetrating.
Reaction of the ball when it lands. If you stand by a green in pro tournanment even the long irons seem to be fizzing when they land and pull up quickly.

If you do all the the above consistently nearly all the time then I think you are a good ball striker. And if you are doing that you are probably playing off less than 5.

To see what good ball striking is you really have to watch seriously good players hitting balls. Like at the range at a tour event.

I remember seeing a close up of one of Olazabal's clubs and the area of wear was about the size and shape of a 5p piece.

A well struck ball can go straight left or right but for me that isn't good ball striking. The ball has to go where it's meant to go. Isn't that what golf is about?
 
I don't really know how you define good ball striking but for what it's worth my view is that good ball striking has the following characteristics...

- The ball comes out of the middle of the club
- The ball goes in the direction it is intended
- The ball is hit first followed by the turf creating a small divot
- With irons, I would generally expect a greater amount of backspin than a less well struck ball
- The ball fizzes of the clubface and you don't feel it

Very occasionally I get all the these but I would class myself as a good ball striker. I hit the ball well, it goes in the direction I want it to for the most part but there is room for improvement.
 
Been working really hard on getting much more on top of the ball and compressing down this winter in a bid to stop that destructive lift I have in my swing. When it is on and I'm turning through impact and not sliding, you can really hear that fizz and you hit ball first particularly off a range mat. On the course I am getting ball and then turf although on Monday the divots were much deeper than I would have liked but the contact was still good.

My direction issues are coming from sliding the hips too quick and hitting weak cuts or getting trapped behind the ball and having to use the hands and hitting snappy hooks. Both are more timing and tempo issues now. As I said elsewhere, tiny steps forward and it isn't the finished article but when I'm getting it right it is a lovely feeling
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Can someone translate this for me? Sorry Homer but I haven't got a Scooby Doo what you are on about :D
 
I am not, and never will be a good ball striker. It is something I would like to be. I tend to thin, fat and toe poke my way around the golf course.

I did middle an 8i last weekend. First time ever. It went 165 yards. Trouble is, I only wanted 145, so it went in the woods. Felt nice though.
 
Been working really hard on getting much more on top of the ball and compressing down this winter in a bid to stop that destructive lift I have in my swing. When it is on and I'm turning through impact and not sliding, you can really hear that fizz and you hit ball first particularly off a range mat. On the course I am getting ball and then turf although on Monday the divots were much deeper than I would have liked but the contact was still good.

My direction issues are coming from sliding the hips too quick and hitting weak cuts or getting trapped behind the ball and having to use the hands and hitting snappy hooks. Both are more timing and tempo issues now. As I said elsewhere, tiny steps forward and it isn't the finished article but when I'm getting it right it is a lovely feeling
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Can someone translate this for me? Sorry Homer but I haven't got a Scooby Doo what you are on about :D
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Basically, rather than hitting down on the ball through impact he comes up out of the shot too early resulting in a thin slappy shot to the right, a lot of people are guilty of this, myself included.

If you're timing is off and your arms get out of sync with your body you are forced to use you're arms\wrists to compensate. Using your wrists invariably results in a snap hook. If you don't rotate your hips through impact you leave yourself no space to get through the ball and end up again with a slappy shot to the right. Again, something a lot of people are guilty of.

Simples :D
 
Is it someone that can get the ball airborne with relative ease and get the required said distance out of the club they have in there hand........Or is it a players ability to be able to play any shot they like with any given club in any situation.....
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You don't have to be able to shape the ball, or play incredible 'touch' shots to be a good ball striker. The contact has to be clean and powerful enough for the shot you are playing.

If you regularly hit fat/thin/off centered weak shots that don't even get airborne then you are not a good ball striker... just like me :(
 
Surely all professionals are good ball strikers, they don't fat and thin their way round a course...do they?

Still unsure what separates the 'good' from the 'great'and whether this has a direct correlation with success. :D
 
If i may!.................
I have us all confussssssed now havent i?... :eek: :D :D :D :D :D
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Na, there is no right answer mate. I am going to carry on believing what you and I said at the top of the post.

I think you can be a good ball striker but still have a swing fault that makes you wayward.

I am not working on striking the ball, I am working on getting it to where I want it. Now that does mean I need a clean strike but more than that it means getting to my mark, keeping my arms strate and feeling like I am throughing the club down range.


I check my club face alot and more then not I hit the center, well a little towards the shaft where the sweet spot is.
 
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