Favorite Face Control drills

I’m always on a quest to improve my face control, especially with my driver. What is everyone’s favorite Face control drills they like to work on?

A couple I’m working on now,

  1. Gate drill. Start with 1/4 swing and hit the ball through a gate (2 feet wide) 3-5 feet in front of me. If successful, move up to 1/2, 3/4, and full swing. If I miss two in a row, I move back a size.

  2. Open or close the face at address and seeing away. Observe and record start line and shot curve in relation to aim line

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Not so much a drill as a lab experiment. I’ll hit balls with open/square/closed club face and open/square/closed stance. With open stance, I’ll also throw in open shoulder/closed shoulder.

I’ll do this a couple sessions at the start of each season to get a sense of which combination fits how I feel. After a couple sessions, I have a pretty good idea of what I’m going with for the season.

I realize this may seem a bit scattershot, but it helps set me on path to most functional setup/swing year after year.

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Pool noodle or alignment stick 3-5 feet in front of the ball.

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Not sure if it’s a face control drill, per se, but I’m having success doing the ‘dry eraser marker on the back of the ball’ test. Ghetto impact tape, basically. And more consistent results than foot spray on the clubface, for me.

I see where the ink marks are, get a consensus after a few, and then try to compensate. Just a simple swing thought, e.g., “hit the toe”, let my body figure out how to do that while still swinging at the target, and see what changes.

This (2nd article) is an interesting pre-round warm up routine. It strikes me as very purposeful and efficient.