Does Freddie Couples hit his irons, wedges, and driver off the toe?!

[BGoodman]

Not trying to do a click bait title here, because I am genuinely confused by this one and would love some other GolfWRXers to chime in.

 

I was just recently passing the time by watching the YouTube highlights of Freddie at the 2017 Mitsubishi Champions Tour event, Final round. At the 4:04 mark, you can see a closeup of Freddie's wedge, and a distinct, dime-shaped wear mark on the toe-side. I was surprised. Now, I know that many pros hit their wedges off on the toe to increase spin (I've heard Koepka say as much), so maybe I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was.

 

Flash forward a few days, and I'm googling Fred Couples photos to see what clubs he had played throughout the years, and I begin to come across a number of photos that also show the same dime-shaped wear mark on the toe-side of his irons! I also come across another photo that shows him right before impact (or just at impact, hard to tell) with his driver and that is also on the toe-side of the face.

 

What to make of this? Does Fred Couples, one of the sweetest swingers on tour and a major winner, hit the ball off of the toe of his clubs? How has he managed to be so successful with off-center hits? Are these pictures misleading, and am I going down a dead-end rabbit hole?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Socrates]

You are seeing things. For many years-decades, it has been said Freddie hit every shot on the sweet spot. Obviously this isn’t true, but if you every were to pick a player that hit the sweet spot nearly every time, it would be him.

[gators78]

He's renowned for his ballstriking, so I'd guess if the wear marks are on the toe (which they certainly appear to be, at least for the short irons) it was on purpose.

[Ri_Redneck]

Seeing that Couples can have any clubs he wants, isn't it conceivable that he may have had the heads designed so that the SS is in the spot where he tends to hit most of his shots.

Incidentally, I tend to miss toward the toe on my woods and prefer to hotmelt them in the toe area to make them feel better at impact. Is it actually moving the SS? I would think it is, slightly, because I tend to use at least 12-15 gms of hotmelt and the feel at impact is far more solid>

 

BT

[mocokid]

pic 2, just prior to impact and it looks like from that cam angle it's a toe job, it's not. pic 1, that wear is in the center, not sure what you are looking at. No way he hits it off the toe.

[pheenomz4774]

The 3rd pick doesn't even look like a wear spot because it would go out to the toe but seems to stop exactly where the grooves stop.

[oikos1]

If I had to pick a place for short pitches and chips to live on the face of the club, it would favor towards the toe. Way more touch and control to be found there.

[Ben Berube]

You guys are hilarious. Why wouldn’t anyone hit off the toe or heel side? He draws the ball. He plays J36 irons and have a bigger cavity and for someone who draws the hosel can be a issue. So playing out more the toe will elevate any possible shanks, which if anyone remembers The Northen Trust when he was about to win and shanked it right into the woods on 18 / second shot?? Plenty of Pros have inside or outside wear like this and seriously love how some of you are so blind to even know this let alone believe its possible. Go look at someone who cuts the ball only and they will have inner wear.

[b.helts]

Fred definitely hits his wedges off the toe. I asked him about it and he told me it was to deaden the hit a bit and take some spin off the full swings.

 

Fred buttons everything about 8 and down. Every time. In the dozen or so rounds I played with him I saw him mishit 1 shot. It was a 5 iron that he hit a touch heavy that came up about 10 yards short of the pin on the front of the green. That was the worst struck shot I saw him it.

[gettingthere]

 

I read an interview, or maybe it was his book? And he remarks that it’s hilarious the career he’s had for someone that “slaps it off the toe.” Since I read that, I’ve done the same thing as the author of this post; searching for photos of him hitting off the toe.

The photos clearly show wear marks toward the toe. And even more wild, is Ecco has been advertising in my instagram—the photo of Freddie sitting in a beach chair with a wedge—and it clearly, CLEARLY has a toe wear mark. And a DG spinner shaft, and the goofy Golf Pride wrap grip with blue and white lines. Everything about the club in this photo is shocking. I would even challenge that it’s his club.

 

 

[milesgiles]

He was certainly a fader on the regular tour, did he change his swing?

[verderraul]

 

[Hawkeye77]

I’ll have what he’s having!

[hurley999s]

The wedges I understand - can deaden the shot. And he usually takes a “fuller” swing at them so it probably helps him with distance control and prevent nuking one over the back of the green.

If his mid/long irons look like that, I’ve got nothing ??‍♂️

[brew4eagle]

Doesn't really matter where you hit it as long as you hit it there repeatedly. Not that I'm anywhere near Freddy's level (obviously), but I repeatedly hit towards the toe and it doesn't affect distance much at all, and more importantly my carry distances are repeatable.

[MK7Golf21]

Lol, that is a lob wedge and those marks are from specialty shots/opening the face.

[brew4eagle]

You completely missed my point

[Soloman1]

Monte Scheinblum and I had a conversation about this a few years ago our similar marks on the toe of wedges.

[glk]

 

[MK7Golf21]

I got your point, it’s because your a higher handicap. Ever have a shot that you hit dead on the screws and it flew 10 yards farther than normal from the tee box or fairway? That’s called hitting the sweet spot, pros do this on almost all shots. Go to a tournament and listen to their impact and flight. If they have a club face miss it’s generally balancing out their natural ball flight from gear effect.

[MK7Golf21]

Oh and Abraham ancer is a crazy good ball striker especially for a little guy, saw him in person at bmw

[brew4eagle]

Nope, I've never hit the sweet spot.

[xmanhockey7]

It’s not uncommon to see a player who typically hits fades to hit the ball more off the toe and vise versa. Pretty good player I know (successful-ish on mini tours) hits a YUGE draw and has work out the heel of all his irons. First time I saw him hit outside i thought he shanked it. Nope. Pushed it 20 yards off the heel to have it come screaming back to the target.

[SNIPERBBB]

I hit fades all the time hitting off the toe. Not intentional usually. Its my slight mishit. I cant hit a fade off the heel unless I left the face massively open that it was a miracle it wasnt off the hosel.

[aenemated]

Those grips are Winn Dry-Tac Wrap midsize. Quite a few photos of him on-course playing them ... but also found quite few with GolfPride wraps (all reportedly from 2019).

Given he plays without a glove, it'd make sense he'd use those - maybe in hotter locations? They really are great and tacky - I switched to Winns last year (though I prefer the Excel model) and totally prefer them over GolfPride wraps as my hands tend to get pretty sweaty here in Southern CA.

[MK7Golf21]

They are also using fresh wedges at like every tournament they play for more spin, Tiger has them replaced every week. When I get a fresh set of vokeys, I'm getting crazy spin around the greens for a good month. With how frequently they change wedges and irons nowadays you don't really see wear marks on pro clubs anymore.

[indianagolf2]

There was a segment golf channel from a tour player hit the wedges off toe

[indianagolf2]

Paul azinger golf channel short game

[MPStrat]

The lady pro who manages a course I frequent has played with Freddie a number of times and claims he hits everything off the toe, not just wedges. I'm not saying it's true, because I've never asked him and it seems very odd.

[Big GG]

On 6/10/2020 at 3:11 PM, MPStrat said:

The lady pro who manages a course I frequent has played with Freddie a number of times and claims he hits everything off the toe, not just wedges. I'm not saying it's true, because I've never asked him and it seems very odd.

She would be correct. He does hit towards the toe with every club.