Open club face

[RobbOnTheRock]

So i managed to find a pro with an indoor simulator who will be staying here over the winter.

I had a lesson last night and the pro said my club face was wide open at address.

When he got me to adjust the face until it was square to his eye it looked very closed (when referenced to the leading edge), but the top of the club looked as if it was perpendicular to the target (at address).

So my question is, are golf clubs designed to have the top of the club perpendicular to the target when the leading edge is square.

I swear I was amazed with how opentheface was compared to where I was aiming.....

So was this a one off with shape of my 7 iron or should this be applied to all clubs.

What do you aim with top of the club or the leading edge!

Cheers
Andy

 

[DaveM]

With the leading edge square to the target. The top edge will look open as it is not parrall to the leading edge. But slopes down from toe to heel. You probable will find the top edge will be square to the swing path in the backswing though.

Oh forgot to ask do you hit your iron down the line, or with a big slice. That will show if you are square or open at contact.

 

[CMAC]

definitly line up square with the leading edge. If you want to practice where your face is pointing stick a pencil or straw on the face with blu-tak and you'll see where it 'points', obviously dont hit a ball with that on it.

 

[RobbOnTheRock]

That's what I thought, I'm just worried about blindly following this tip, since my iron shots are off to the right, but I'm not slicing them, I push or pull them but don't really slice them.

I think to convince myself I'm going to stick a tee onto the club face with blue tack to see where the face is pointing to get a better idea of what's going on.

Cheers

 

[RobbOnTheRock]

Thanks gentsx for the advice.

 

[USER1999]

That's what I thought, I'm just worried about blindly following this tip, since my iron shots are off to the right, but I'm not slicing them, I push or pull them but don't really slice them.

I think to convince myself I'm going to stick a tee onto the club face with blue tack to see where the face is pointing to get a better idea of what's going on.

Cheers

Direction is to do with club face angle, spin is to do with swing path. Clearly at impact your club face is open, so the ball goes off to the right.

 

[RobbOnTheRock]

Yeah, ok, so I guess aiming with the club face a bit closed is a fudge is it?

 

[Monty_Brown]

You might not feel that the open face is affecting your shots, but your golf swing will make all kinds of weird and wonderful compensations that you're not aware of to compensate for problems with the set-up, so it's better to get this right under the pro's guidance and then build the swing from there.

 

[Monty_Brown]

Yeah, ok, so I guess aiming with the club face a bit closed is a fudge is it?

As an emergency measure mid-way through a round if things are going waaay right, I have done this on occasions in the distant past, but no, it's not a particularly good long-term solution! Get the set-up right and the rest of the swing is easier to learn....