Divots pointing right dilemna...advice needed please!

[Allanxyz]

Hello all, hoping for some advice...

My iron game isn't looking too pretty at the moment... last year I had a few lessons, pro told me that I had a one plane swing and should look to make divots pointing left (I'm a right hander)... giving a very very slight fade. Ok, I have an early release and don't normally take divots when on the course.

Seemed to work fine and reduced my handicap (although my iron shots were never that terrible, driving tips he gave helped a lot).

So now to the problem, had a custom fitting to get some new irons (reward for breaking 10) and the trackman showed my swing path was out to in (although pro said I wasn't coming over the top) and club face open... I guess meanng fairly straight but this educed my confidence a little in the technique... also thsi technique doesn't work so well when the ball is above your feet... ball goes left anyway and you're roughly hitting left doesn't feel so good.

Started to pull quite a few left so started to try and take a straight divot... been doing that for a while but my iron play is not great...

I guess I could go back to the pro and explain the situation, any other advice though? Does anyone else use this divot going left technique?

 

[JustOne]

We swing in an arc.... after you hit the ball your club head would be coming back to the inside, so your divots should be pointing a little to the left because the divot comes AFTER you hit the ball.

Here you go.... a bit like this.....

If you are pulling the ball left, first things first, make sure your shoulders aren't aiming there :thup:

 

[Region3]

The divot is (should be!) after the ball has been struck so the club will be returning to the inside (ie. left) anyway, unless you're massively in to out.

Were you hitting the ball ok before the Trackman fitting?
If I had problems with my shots I might use the divots to try and figure out what was going wrong, but if I'm hitting the ball well and it's going where I want it to then the divots could look like a noughts and crosses game for all I care.

If the ball goes left when it's above your feet the easy answer is aim right a little?

 

[Curls]

If you have an early release and skim the ball much of the time maybe you've just started releasing at a slightly different moment, have you videoed yourself?

You've just got new irons, possible that the shafts are different enough to your old set to make you try to release earlier/later in order to make good contact. What were the old ones?

 

[One Planer]

Where is the ball in your stance?

 

[Foxholer]

While not obsessed with them, divots can tell you some valuable info. A divot pointing slightly left seems fine to me - especially if it is shallow/just a scrape. I'm wanting mine small and to point slightly right, but with a left arc

Seems like the Trackman numbers are simply confirming what your flight was showing you - depending what 'face open' meant, and what the angle of attack was. While getting the numbers can help, they can also distract and even bamboozle unless interpreted properly.

As an aside, I'm always amused (I'd say puzzled, but we are talking about Golf so 'puzzle' is constant) that folk 'reward' their achievement by changing the combination that produced the achievement in the first place! I've seen a new Driver used for the prize for Longest Drive more than once!

 

[Allanxyz]

First of all thanks for the replies, some interestign stuff to think about. Sorry for the misleading thread name... as you all picked up, my issue was about divots pointing left of target...rather than as the thread name suggests... right of target.

If you are pulling the ball left, first things first, make sure your shoulders aren't aiming there

Thanks for the diagram, this makes sense, but you read so much about divots should be straight etc. I’ll definitely have a look at where my shoulders are pointing…

The divot is (should be!) after the ball has been struck so the club will be returning to the inside (ie. left) anyway, unless you're massively in to out.

Were you hitting the ball ok before the Trackman fitting?
If I had problems with my shots I might use the divots to try and figure out what was going wrong, but if I'm hitting the ball well and it's going where I want it to then the divots could look like a noughts and crosses game for all I care.

I was hitting the ball pretty good yes… it was a hard decision to decide to go for new clubs and as Foxholer points out… this is of course crazy, why reward yourself with new clubs only to discard the ones that go you there… but they are (were) nice and shiney!
Yes if I’m hitting good then divots are irrelevant, but this was one of the swing thoughts from the pro, divot pointing to left of target… with practice swing to take a divot well in front of the ball and over to the left… I guess to promote swinging across the body on follow through.

If the ball goes left when it's above your feet the easy answer is aim right a little?

Aiming to the right is definitely the way I do things… but psychologically, you know the ball will go left, and my swing thought is, make a divot pointing left… it’s hard for me to cope with that.. I guess it’s a case of building the confidence…

If you have an early release and skim the ball much of the time maybe you've just started releasing at a slightly different moment, have you videoed yourself?

You've just got new irons, possible that the shafts are different enough to your old set to make you try to release earlier/later in order to make good contact. What were the old ones?

Old shafts were rifle 5.5, could be that this is an issue, but I’ve always tended to have my fair share of thins… maybe a subtle differences is causing the issue… I’m not sure it is down to the irons though… my first round with them was an 80, which is very good for me…

Where is the ball in your stance?

Depends on the iron, but I’d say pretty central… I wouldn’t say it was too far forward in the stance…

Seems like the Trackman numbers are simply confirming what your flight was showing you - depending what 'face open' meant, and what the angle of attack was. While getting the numbers can help, they can also distract and even bamboozle unless interpreted properly.

Yes, and I guess this is what the pro was getting me to aim for… I guess the issue is here…when I look at the diagram from JustOne, this makes good sense… but when you figure in that my face to path was open (sorry, guess this is what I meant by “face open”), and my path was out to in… then the diagram changes slightly and I’m hitting across the ball rather than through it…

 

[Curls]

Interesting. I'm the opposite to you (or at least was), I have a very flat swing and late release, very handsy through impact. If my timing is off I block the ball straight out right and if my tempo is in my hands turn over to produce a nice draw with the exact same swing plane. For me its getting that release right, everyones different your late release might suit you perfectly. What I'm getting at is with new irons you might take a while to adjust to them and get to the consistency you used to have with the old ones. A subtle difference in shaft flex or kick point may have you subconsciously changing your tempo through impact ever so slightly. As I say, the difference between a lovely gentle fade and a horrid pull is a fraction of a second, try not to be too hard on yourself and get up the range and get used to the irons.

Could be saying something you already know but there's two types of practice, technical and target, maybe focus on the target and try to forget what you're doing with your plane, divot etc. Send the ball to the pin. You might find your tempo will come back all on its own.

 

[Allanxyz]

Interesting. I'm the opposite to you (or at least was), I have a very flat swing and late release, very handsy through impact. If my timing is off I block the ball straight out right and if my tempo is in my hands turn over to produce a nice draw with the exact same swing plane. For me its getting that release right, everyones different your late release might suit you perfectly. What I'm getting at is with new irons you might take a while to adjust to them and get to the consistency you used to have with the old ones. A subtle difference in shaft flex or kick point may have you subconsciously changing your tempo through impact ever so slightly. As I say, the difference between a lovely gentle fade and a horrid pull is a fraction of a second, try not to be too hard on yourself and get up the range and get used to the irons.

Could be saying something you already know but there's two types of practice, technical and target, maybe focus on the target and try to forget what you're doing with your plane, divot etc. Send the ball to the pin. You might find your tempo will come back all on its own.

Thanks for the sound advice Curls... You're right, there isn't much of difference in technique between the perfect shot and a not so nice one... I'll see how I get on for the rest of the year and hopefully things will pick up... It wouldn't be golf if it all went perfectly for more than two holes!