I consistently hit my irons about a half inch off center toward the toe. I have tried moving closer to the ball to no avail. Should I just get the lie adjusted on my irons or is there something else I should try first?
Lie angle shouldn’t change where you strike the ball… Adam young drills are good here, working to hit the heel so you can recall the feeling of hitting the heel if you start hitting it toe side…
Do you play longer or shorter clubs? I’m just trying to think if lie could be the culprit.
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My irons are 1/2 inch or 1 inch longer than standard.
it could be your posture and/or downswing path. Go to the range, get 2 large buckets. and some Dr Scholl foot spray. Spray the face of your 5 or 6 iron. put ball in middle of your stance. feet together, knees bent, arms hanging, proper spine tilt…hopefully you are at a point you know the drill…start with a series of 1/2 swings, 50% power and just hit the ball. Everone today use alignment stix, back in the day we just dropped a 3i to give us alignment and swingpath.See where your contact point is. When you can get it to where u want the mark to be spread your feet slowly apart and increase the turn & backswing keeping the ballmark on the clubface where u want it to be 50% power. When you get comfy, by that time you’ll have beat out a whole bucket. Use the second bucket to increase power and, spreading your feet out to your normal address point. Then keep using the spray as you build to about 85% power looking at face hits. Always keep some power in reserve. It could be lie, but unless you are like a 6’4" dude I would bet it’s swing path and no matter where you move… your body and brain are ingrained to your current swingpath.
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draw a line on club face with magic marker ½" from center on heel side. Try & hit that line for a few practice sessions.
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If your irons play long, it’s probably worth getting your lie angle looked at, just in case… you can do it yourself by putting masking tape on the bottom of the club and hitting some balls off a mat. If the tape only comes off on the toe, you need to get them a little more upright.
This isn’t a perfect test, but probably worth trying.
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My opinion may differ from the others a bit, but I believe that consistently off-center strikes are more likely to be a swing problem than an equipment problem. Now I have no idea why this is happening, that would be the province of a good instructor who can see you swinging. One possibility is that your rotation stalls, you extend both legs, your hips move closer to the target line, your shoulders move upward as your legs extend, taking them further from the ball itself, and voila, toe-centered strikes. Classic goat-humping.
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For me toe hits indicate swing trouble. I start with setup and posture and then make sure I am turning more than swaying and getting my hands less active. You could look at adding some lead tape to the head too and see if that helps. If the club is too light generally players will miss on the toe. You can add a strip (1-2g) at a time and see if the strike starts becoming centered.
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Thanks everyone. This is why I posed the question—to determine if I have a swing problem or a club fit problem. The thing is, I’m hitting the irons pretty consistently, just out toward the toe. You’ve given me some ideas of things to talk about with my pro.
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If you have access to a Foresight simulator it will tell you what your lie angle is when you strike the ball.
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Old thread, but bumped to point out that a better form of finding your dynamic lie, than an impact board, is the ink on the ball test. It’s going to feel incredibly ghetto, but it works.
Briefly, take a golf ball, and draw a line straight up and down on it with a dry-erase marker (or Sharpie). You want to make a pole-to-pole straight line of longitude on the ball. Set the ball on the turf, with the longitude line straight up and down, facing your club. Take a regular strike at the ball, then look at your clubface.
Straight up and down lines? Good. Lines tilted towards toe? Club too upright, flatten it. Lines toward heel? Club too flat, bend it upright. Really noticeable in the short irons if your club set’s lies are consistently off.
The problem with the impact board is that people can unconsciously change their swing, so as not to smack the board like they would turf.
https://ping.com/en-us/blogs/proving-grounds/does-lie-tape-lie
Interesting article from Ping regarding all of this.
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