I’m sure you have all heard the old adage “face sends it, path bends it”. This refers to the club face controlling the start direction of the ball and the club path controlling the curvature of the ball in the air. In relation to the target line, an open club face at impact will start the ball for a right handed golfer and left for a left handed golfer. A closed club face will start the ball left for a right handed golfer and right for a left handed golfer. An in-to-out club path will promote a draw curve of the ball while an out-to-in club path will promote a fade (sometimes slice if excessive enough) curve of the ball.
Club Face Control
Today, I have two things for you that have really helped me in my practice and training. First: controlling the club face. Dr. Scholl’s foot spray on the club face is my number one favorite way to train controlling the club face. This is the first step in identifying your tendencies and why you might be starting the ball in one direction. For example, if the ball is starting right at a hard angle off your clubface (I don’t want to say the S-word), you could seed HOW that might be happening. Usually, you will see a clear ball mark towards the heel of your club. Sometimes, you might see a mark towards the toe of your club and it could shoot off right, but this is less common. Using this spray, I would recommend going through about 10 shots and seeing where you might be hitting most of the time then you can make a plan on how to address your end goal. Below, you can see how I was intentionally trying to hit the ball further away from the heel of my driver, as that was my problem area.
Club Path Control
There are a number of ways that you could train club path control. My personal favorite is actually using something like a shoe box next to the ball. The advantage of the box, compared to something like a clubhead cover or an alignment stick, is the combined height and length of the box. To set up, you will want to place the box next to the golf ball, with the ball being about in the middle of the length of the box. The closer the box is to the ball, the harder this drill will be. Then, to start off, you will want to take slower swings. Should you hit the box before the ball, then you are most likely swinging out-to-in and imparting a fade spin onto the golf ball. If you hit the box after the ball, then you are likely swinging in-to-out and imparting a draw spin on the ball. The primary goal of this drill is to avoid the box, both on the way to the ball and post impact. This can help you control the club path, the curvature of your ball, and overall shot dispersion. Its almost impossible to hit a straight shot, but this drill can help you get close to that!
Go ahead and give each of these two drills a try and you will notice a different in your strike as well as your ball flight path. Feel free to leave a comment or question, I’d love to see what you all think!
Mark Roberts Golf 