Playing with a closed club face

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rob_golf1

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Are there any professional golfers that play with a closed club face whilst they swing and make impact with the ball.

I played with a closed club face for a while and used to get very good distances, (e.g 135-140 with an 8i). Since taking up lessons with my pro, he has got me opening this club face up so that it is square with my body and my waist at the 9 o'clock position of the swing. (if this makes sense??)

He says that it will give me more consistent shots, but a few weeks of practicing this and I am yet to see any benefits at all, I am loosing a lot of distance and topping the ball an awful lot.

What is interesting is that I have tried this new swing path with my fairway wood and hybrid, and I actually hit these a lot better, but I have lost so much distance with the irons, probably around 25%!

I am just wondering whether it would be deemed 'correct' to carry on playing with a closed club face, as I was enjoying the game a lot more.

Advice welcome :)
 
Depends on where your shots were going with the closed club face. I used to have an awfully closed club face. As you say it was great for distance. But it got to the stage where I could no longer control where the ball would end up as I was hooking and hooking it more and more.

So I was told to open my grip to make the club face more neutral. Which I did. And now I have lost about 10 to 15 yards with each club and I have a nasty slice. ;)

To be honest I'd say if you are enjoying it, you are getting good distance and you are hitting a good percentage of fairways then don't worry too much about it. As the danger is you then spend time and effort trying to remodel a swing, but for what reward? Don't get too hung up on trying to have the perfect swing if the one you have works and you don't intend to be a pro.

But on the other hand if you are drawing a lot of balls vast distances into the rough with little consistency then listen to what the man says. Better to be 100 yards down the fairway than 120 in the rough.
 
Hacker Khan said:
Depends on where your shots were going with the closed club face. I used to have an awfully closed club face. As you say it was great for distance. But it got to the stage where I could no longer control where the ball would end up as I was hooking and hooking it more and more.

So I was told to open my grip to make the club face more neutral. Which I did. And now I have lost about 10 to 15 yards with each club and I have a nasty slice. ;)

To be honest I'd say if you are enjoying it, you are getting good distance and you are hitting a good percentage of fairways then don't worry too much about it. As the danger is you then spend time and effort trying to remodel a swing, but for what reward? Don't get too hung up on trying to have the perfect swing if the one you have works and you don't intend to be a pro.

But on the other hand if you are drawing a lot of balls vast distances into the rough with little consistency then listen to what the man says. Better to be 100 yards down the fairway than 120 in the rough.
Click to expand...

It's a difficult one really, as of course I want to get better, but I just cant really see the benefits of the new neutral club head position in the swing. Stuck in limbo.....
 
Closed at address? Closed at impact? Closed to the target? Closed to the path?


Sorry... I feel like james.
 
Whatever works for you, but beware! Golf is a game of angles and neutral is always the best option. There is no doubt you will hit fairway woods and hybrids much better without a closed face. Irons are more forgiving and you may get away with it a little more. However, if you want my personal opinion, stick with what the pro taught you. In the long term you will be a better golfer. If you have doubts go back and see him, it may be something else that needs attention.
If you hit with a closed face, you will probably hit long, low and left. You will adjust to compensate and you may get away with it, but you will be much less consistent. That's because you are messing with the angles. Think for a minute about why they build the club the way they do and ask your self if a closed face is so good, why don't they build them with a closed face? Play the club the way it was made and you won't go far wrong.
Please don't make the mistake I made. Too strong a grip, which results in messing with the angles, resulted in a 5 shot increase in handicap in 3 years. Something, thankfully I managed to reverse this year, by going back to neutral. The problem is it takes ages because neutral doesn't feel right anymore.
 
rob_golf1 said:
It's a difficult one really, as of course I want to get better, but I just cant really see the benefits of the new neutral club head position in the swing. Stuck in limbo.....
Click to expand...


80% of the first part of the ball flight is dictated by the angle of the face at impact. If it is closed to the target at impact the ball will always start left.
 
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I would love to say that the new swing etc, is filling me with confidence, but it really isn't! I agree with what Sweep says, sticking with it, but I just hope it will work in the long run....

Paul-Casey-Swing-Squence-Golf-Tip.jpg

The second stage of this image is one part that my pro told me to focus on, keeping the club square when its at this point.
 
Basic rule is that if you have a bad grip, bad alignment etc you have to have a flaw in your swing to counteract it.

Best to get everything right to start with.

Fuzzy Zoeller used to hood his iron shots.
 
Zac Johnson strong grip and closed club face at top of back swing has to hold it off to keep it from closing further at impact, Dustin Johnson take a look how close his face is at the top of his swing again he has to effectively open it up on the way down to be square at impact.

These guys have immense natural talent to do what they do. Us amateurs IMO need to make sure we do all we can to get it right without flaws if possible to make it easier for us.
 
I play with a slightly closed face at address but still hit a fade as I have a tendency to open slightly on the downswing. It might not be text book but getting a lot more consistent with every range session so sticking with it. I dont think there is a right or wrong at address or on the back/down swings, its at impact that counts. If I try and force the club head on the down swing I tend to get it all wrong so I just swing au natural so less to think about.

I still suck though :(
 
Worth noting that if the toe of the club is vertical when you are in that halfway back position, then the club-face is actually (slightly) open. If taken back absolutely square, toe will be pointing slightly away from you at that point.

This might help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk8_Q6L1Lz4

Note the comment at about 1:30 and the 'compensation' comment that DfT mentioned. Also the 'it has to feel strange', though if that persists, you can over-correct.

3/4 swings to start with should ingrain the feeling.
 
I'd much rather hook than slice. Courses seem to be much more forgiving to hooks, my course having a lot of OOB rights & dogleg lefts, putting slicers at a major disadvantage.

I aim for a slightly closed face at impact with slightly in-out swing path, which gives me a decent draw every time. A perfectly square face would be nice, but I'm nowhere the standard to do it consistently, particularly with the longer clubs.
 
RollinThunder said:
I'd much rather hook than slice. Courses seem to be much more forgiving to hooks, my course having a lot of OOB rights & dogleg lefts, putting slicers at a major disadvantage.

I aim for a slightly closed face at impact with slightly in-out swing path, which gives me a decent draw every time. A perfectly square face would be nice, but I'm nowhere the standard to do it consistently, particularly with the longer clubs.
Click to expand...


Face has to be open to the target to draw the ball, it starts right. It is only closed to the path.
 
I would think that having a closed clubface is going to cause problems squaring everything at impact. I have a number of flaws and step by step working to address these to get something as neutral and simple as possible. If you are having problems why not go back to your pro and ask for more help or for him to go over any drills he gave you
 
Foxholer said:
Worth noting that if the toe of the club is vertical when you are in that halfway back position, then the club-face is actually (slightly) open. If taken back absolutely square, toe will be pointing slightly away from you at that point.

This might help. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk8_Q6L1Lz4

Note the comment at about 1:30 and the 'compensation' comment that DfT mentioned. Also the 'it has to feel strange', though if that persists, you can over-correct.

3/4 swings to start with should ingrain the feeling.
Click to expand...

Good vid that, showing how the closed face person tries to swing out more to stop the 'left' shot... but invariably is just adding to their problems... and hooks one off the planet if they don't keep that face open.

personally I have no issue with a slightly stronger grip and a clubface that points just a little down when parallel to the ground (in line with your spine angle), but any more than that and you're going too far off the beaten track IMO.
 
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