Club head alignment at address & impact?

[Wooky]

I am having a few issues at the moment with wayward shots.
I tried something today which seems to have sorted it out, but I am not sure if I am doing the right thing?

I find that if I align my body to the left of target & align the club face square or slightly open at address, I cannot get a comfortable grip (my grip becomes overly strong) I also get inconstant shot shapes.

But, if I align my body as usual to the left of the target & then take a neutral (ish) grip the club face naturally points left (closed) at address, but by the time I have made my swing at the point of impact the clubface is pretty much square as I am getting a lovely high straight ball flight.

This got my wondering, I can't find much info about this on the net.
I always thought that you should set up with everything square at address?
But thinking about it, given that you transfer weight onto the front foot on the downswing & naturally arch your spine away from the target wouldn't this have the effect of opening the clubface at impact?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Maninblack4612]

Recently I spent a lot of time watching closely the senior pros hitting 4, 5 & 6 irons at the 18th at Close House. There was no relation whatsoever between feet alignment & shot shape or the direction in which the ball went. If you're hitting it straight & consistently that's all that matters.

 

[UlyssesSky]

It's less about alignment than about club face and swing path (or rather face-to-path-relationship).

If the ball starts straight at the target, this means the face is square to the target line (i.e. open to where your body is aligned). If it does NOT curve in any direction, this means the face is also square to your swing path, which means, with your body aligned to the left, your swing path must be going to the right (in to out) in a way that neutralizes your alignment (i.e. if you're aligned 5* to the left with your body, your swing path must be 5* in to out with a face square to the target line to produce a shot that starts straight at the target and doesn't curve).

What kind of shot(-shape) are you trying to get?

 

[Wooky]

What kind of shot(-shape) are you trying to get?

Straight would be nice!
I can hit a nice draw with the driver pretty much on demand just by manipulating the shaft position.
My usual driver & 3 wood shots are good, high & straight (ish)
I am pretty good with my wedges & other irons up to a 5 iron.
Where I struggle is with my hybrids.
My bad shot with these is a hook.
I have compensated in the past by standing with a very open stance / strong grip & cutting the ball.
That works ok (ish) but it's not correct & feels horrible, it also tends to produce a lower than expected ball flight.

 

[delc]

I am having a few issues at the moment with wayward shots.
I tried something today which seems to have sorted it out, but I am not sure if I am doing the right thing?

I find that if I align my body to the left of target & align the club face square or slightly open at address, I cannot get a comfortable grip (my grip becomes overly strong) I also get inconstant shot shapes.

But, if I align my body as usual to the left of the target & then take a neutral (ish) grip the club face naturally points left (closed) at address, but by the time I have made my swing at the point of impact the clubface is pretty much square as I am getting a lovely high straight ball flight.

This got my wondering, I can't find much info about this on the net.
I always thought that you should set up with everything square at address?
But thinking about it, given that you transfer weight onto the front foot on the downswing & naturally arch your spine away from the target wouldn't this have the effect of opening the clubface at impact?
Any help would be appreciated.

I am regarded as a relatively straight hitter. One thing I am always careful about is aligning my club face straight down the target line. I pick a spot a few feet ahead that I want the ball to pass over and make sure that the club face is pointing at it. Then line up the rest of me relative to that.

 

[UlyssesSky]

I have compensated in the past by standing with a very open stance / strong grip & cutting the ball.

I'm not sure I understand how that works...?

A hook comes from a club face that is (too) closed relative to the swing path. A strong grip leads to an even more closed clubface, which would reinforce your hook...


Edit:

Here's an article that shows the how face/path and flight are related.

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instruction/2012-12/sean-foley-law-of-the-draw?mbid=social_facebook

A draw comes from an in-to-out swing path, with a clubface that is closed to the path but open to the target line. If the face is too closed (e.g. neutral or even closed to the target line) you will hit a hook.

To fight that hook you have to have the face more open. If you want to hit it straight instead of a draw you need to move the swing-path to the left as well (what you are doing by aligning yourself left of target).

 

[One Planer]

I am having a few issues at the moment with wayward shots.
I tried something today which seems to have sorted it out, but I am not sure if I am doing the right thing?

I find that if I align my body to the left of target & align the club face square or slightly open at address, I cannot get a comfortable grip (my grip becomes overly strong) I also get inconstant shot shapes.

But, if I align my body as usual to the left of the target & then take a neutral (ish) grip the club face naturally points left (closed) at address, but by the time I have made my swing at the point of impact the clubface is pretty much square as I am getting a lovely high straight ball flight.

This got my wondering, I can't find much info about this on the net.
I always thought that you should set up with everything square at address?
But thinking about it, given that you transfer weight onto the front foot on the downswing & naturally arch your spine away from the target wouldn't this have the effect of opening the clubface at impact?
Any help would be appreciated.

So, you're effectively playing a constant push?

Personally, I align square to my target, but have a strong (....ish) grip.

With my stock swing, the ball starts right of my target, then draws back to it.

If I play a weaker grip, I get the push, but no draw.

From how you describe your set up, I'm guessing your bad shot is a pull or heavy fade/slice?

 

[garyinderry]

[video=youtube;vzHDVouIIWA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzHDVouIIWA[/video]


Probably something similar to this. Holding the club off.

 

[the_coach]

I find that if I align my body to the left of target & align the club face square or slightly open at address, I cannot get a comfortable grip (my grip becomes overly strong) I also get inconstant shot shapes.

But, if I align my body as usual to the left of the target & then take a neutral (ish) grip the club face naturally points left (closed) at address,

whatever you are doing your alignments/grip have lead very possibly to some compensatory swing motions to get club face angle at strike in some condition that will move the ball in the direction of target.
or vice-versa swing motion movements have caused the body & grip alignments to be able to get ball somewhere around target.

so if you keep doing this you'll always pretty much get the same results - what if anything you do about this kinda depends if you happy mostly with the results, or not.

one thing that strikes me about what you've written which is worth some consideration is the order in which set-up is happening, which is likely to give some issues.

what I mean by that is, the real important bit of any shot is aim, as it's a target game.
best ways would be to seek an aim line from behind the ball as the first step in any shot.

then on stepping to the side of the ball, it's real important that first off the face angle is aligned to your target aim line you've already identified (whether that's having to aim the face allowing for expected shot curvature or not) (the face is the only thing that strikes the ball)

then form the hold on the handle while keeping the face angle to the target aim line.
then arrange shoulders/chest/hips/ lastly stance width & feet lined up.

step in aligning feet body first, then taking grip, finally aiming the face, usually doesn't work out so good to play consistently to an expected target, especially so if it is combined with taking aim only at the side of the ball.

as to why, my take through experience of watching higher index players in play doing it this ways is that it most often times leads to them being aimed not to where they think they are - sometimes because of this the unconscious mind steps in at some point in the swing motion with a 'correction movement' - as there's a last instinct to swing to where the ball should be going, & as that's not where the aim or original intention of the swing path intention, there's some real funky shot results that occur in direction & contact.

but even if that last gasp instinct change with the motion doesn't happen & there's a reasonable swing motion put on the ball, so a pretty decent strike, it often ends up traveling not in the expected direction so there's a bunch of missed targets going on during play.

 

[shortstuff]

These are typical issues that can be resolved with a lesson on grip, posture and alignment with your local pro. Just one lesson will save you a lot of angst.