Impact location?

[jjfcpa]

I know you can put foot spray or impact tape on your clubs to see where you impact the club, but I was wondering if there was something you can use during a round to see your impact location.  Anyone know of any products or way to determine this.

 

My driver has so many impact marks on it that can't be washed off that I generally can't tell.  Wedges are normally pretty easy to see because you'll probably have some grass imbedded in the impact location, but I'm more concerned with irons, hybrids, and woods.

[RHenderson]

Yes foot spray, keep a can in your bag, spray the face before you hit your shot, allow to dry a few minutes, works great.

  

[jjfcpa]

Just now, RHenderson said:

Yes foot spray, keep a can in your bag, spray the face before you hit your shot, allow to dry a few minutes, works great.

  

 

Not exactly what I was looking for.  I was hoping there was an alternative to that... perhaps a commercial product.  Foot spray seems a little messy, but if that's all there is... 

[RHenderson]

Not messy at all, you can control how much you use and if applied and allowed to dry, it will last the round. Been used as a training aid for years, wipes right off. Sorry if it's not what your looking for, but we use it on the greens, fairways, great reuse of a specialized product. 

Edited September 23, 2021 by RHenderson

[Ger21]

1 hour ago, jjfcpa said:

My driver has so many impact marks on it that can't be washed off that I generally can't tell.

 

Wipe the face with acetone, and it should take the marks off. Just keep it away from any paint.

[turles20]

Use a dry erase marker and put a dot on the back of the ball. When you hit the mark will transfer to the club. Just wipe off the club after you inspect it and clean the ball between holes. Doesn't work so great on clubs with black faces though...

[Stuart_G]

2 hours ago, jjfcpa said:

 

Not exactly what I was looking for.  I was hoping there was an alternative to that... perhaps a commercial product.  Foot spray seems a little messy, but if that's all there is... 

 

It's just the easiest, cheapest, and most convenient (and cleans off very easily).

 

You can always get impact stickers to use:

https://www.golfworks.com/oversized-driver-impact-decals/p/gw1042v/

https://www.golfworks.com/oversized-iron-impact-decals/p/gw1041v/

 

You may not care (and that's fine), but just for the sake of full disclosure, realize that putting anything on the face during a round makes the club non-conforming.

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Stuart_G

[bobfoster]

This is probably minor, and may not apply, but RoG Section 4.a.3:

 

(3) Deliberately Changing Club’s Performance Characteristics During Round. A player must not make a stroke with a club whose performance characteristics he or she deliberately changed during the round (including while play is stopped under Rule 5.7a):
By using an adjustable feature or physically changing the club (except when allowed to repair damage under Rule 4.1a(2)), or

By applying any substance to the clubhead (other than in cleaning it) to affect how it performs in making a stroke.

 

Now you obviously wouldn't use foot spray to "deliberately" change performance, but intent is always difficult to discern. I've never used foot spray, but, would doing so affect the interaction between the clubface and the ball?

 

Just saying that spraying a club with any substance during a round (might) be a little iffy. You have to be careful about anything that affects performance in any way.

 

Simply because doing so could be used (by someone else) for nefarious purposes (e.g., applying a substance to the face of a wedge that would make it tacky - overriding the effects of the groove rules and increasing spin).

 

Just thought I'd mention this for your consideration. Probably meaningless. But personally I wouldn't spray a club with anything during a round that would be entered into GHIN, or during a tournament. 

Edited September 23, 2021 by bobfoster

[jvincent]

15 minutes ago, turles20 said:

Use a dry erase marker and put a dot on the back of the ball. When you hit the mark will transfer to the club. Just wipe off the club after you inspect it and clean the ball between holes. Doesn't work so great on clubs with black faces though...

 

@jjfcpa I was going to recommend this. I've been using a sharpie to cover the number on my ball as my mark for years.

 

The bonus is that when you tee the ball up so that you hit the dot you will see the transfer mark on the face of the club. For a sharpie you need to re-apply the dot every couple of holes for it to transfer but the dry erase will do the same thing.

 

I had a caddie once who was also a teaching pro that noticed what I was doing and said he was going to start using that with his students.

[ChipNRun]

1 hour ago, jjfcpa said:

 

My driver has so many impact marks on it that can't be washed off that I generally can't tell.

 

Some of the marks on the driver face are traces of plastic from the cover of the ball. If you soak the clubhead briefly in warm water, this will help float off the ball debris.

[Stuart_G]

18 minutes ago, bobfoster said:

Now you obviously wouldn't use foot spray to "deliberately" change performance, but intent is always difficult to discern. I've never used foot spray, but, would doing so affect the interaction between the clubface and the ball?

 

Just saying that spraying a club with any substance during a round (might) be a little iffy. You have to be careful about anything that affects performance in any way.

 

It's more than iffy.  Putting something on to judge the quality of impact would definitely qualify "for the purpose of assisting the player in making a stroke".   Which is frowned upon just as much as changing the characteristics of the club.

 

But as long as it's a casual round, I doubt anyone will care.

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Jamie_Tee]

The dry mark pen will be the best solution for a casual round.  I'd try to do this sort of stuff on the range though and practice other elements of "scoring" on the course.  

[Brausch24]

I agree with the foot spray, even if you aren't looking to use it.. still both useful and simple. Cheers.

[Roejye]

Another vote for foot spray here. I don't know if you are close to a Golf Galaxy or Dick's Sporting Goods but they sell a product in their training aid area that is specifically made for the purpose of seeing your impact location. I don't think it's actually foot spray.

[cgasucks]

I use foot spray on my clubs when I practice, but I also used duct tape.

[jjfcpa]

I definitely don't want to use anything that affects performance because I don't want to make improper judgements about my performance.  

 

This is just for casual rounds and self-improvement.  

 

While I use impact tape at home in my hitting bay, it doesn't really explain what's happening on the course.  I find hitting balls off turf to be quite different than hitting off a mat.

[jjfcpa]

1 hour ago, Roejye said:

Another vote for foot spray here. I don't know if you are close to a Golf Galaxy or Dick's Sporting Goods but they sell a product in their training aid area that is specifically made for the purpose of seeing your impact location. I don't think it's actually foot spray.

 

I've got one right across the street from my office and I'll be checking that out today.

[dubbelbogey]

You can also "paint" the clubface with a dry erase marker and the ball will leave an imprint mark.

 

This is just an alternative to putting the dry-erase mark on the ball, and is something you can for balls already in play on the hole.

[lefthack]

My M3 face keeps a perfect ball imprint that wipes clean with a wet thumb. It's almost like a feature.

[dsmil]

Does foot spray affect spin rates at all?

[jjfcpa]

2 hours ago, dsmil said:

Does foot spray affect spin rates at all?

Not sure about foot spray, but I would have to think that the impact tape would.

[jvincent]

3 hours ago, dsmil said:

Does foot spray affect spin rates at all?

Any foreign material on the fact is going to impact spin.

[denkea]

Dry erase marker won't work on irons.  That is if you take a divot.  Club face hits the ball.  Mark is transferred from the ball to the club face.  Club continues downward to take a divot.  Divot wipes the dry erase off the club face.  

[Howard_Jones]

20 hours ago, jvincent said:

 

@jjfcpa I was going to recommend this. I've been using a sharpie to cover the number on my ball as my mark for years.

 

The bonus is that when you tee the ball up so that you hit the dot you will see the transfer mark on the face of the club. For a sharpie you need to re-apply the dot every couple of holes for it to transfer but the dry erase will do the same thing.

 

I had a caddie once who was also a teaching pro that noticed what I was doing and said he was going to start using that with his students.

A Sharpie or a whiteboard pen/dry erase marker is the best since it does NOT change anything (spin, launch, by a different friction on the face etc), but its NOT legal in a round that counts, even if it made no difference for the performance of the club. For a "private round" to try things out real life its the best, and what i used during fitting in my studio. Just make a DOT in the ball you align against the face, and let this DOT be on the equator line on the tee or what ever you use.

[jvincent]

58 minutes ago, Howard_Jones said:

A Sharpie or a whiteboard pen/dry erase marker is the best since it does NOT change anything (spin, launch, by a different friction on the face etc), but its NOT legal in a round that counts, even if it made no difference for the performance of the club. For a "private round" to try things out real life its the best, and what i used during fitting in my studio. Just make a DOT in the ball you align against the face, and let this DOT be on the equator line on the tee or what ever you use.

Curious, what would be illegal?

 

I'm allowed to mark my ball and there is no restriction to how I place the ball on a tee.

[Stuart_G]

15 minutes ago, jvincent said:

Curious, what would be illegal?

 

I'll take a crack.

 

Putting a mark on the ball with the intent of transferring that mark onto the face of the club for the specific reason of monitoring the face impact location - thereby potentially assisting you in making subsequent strikes during the round.

 

Just my interpretation, not an official or validated one.

 

With random marks or random placement of the ball on the tee, there is no intent to use the results of any transferred mark to help you.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Howard_Jones]

1 hour ago, jvincent said:

Curious, what would be illegal?

 

I'm allowed to mark my ball and there is no restriction to how I place the ball on a tee.

I had this debate with a Danish "golf judge" working for the Danish Golf Union about 10 years ago, and i cant recall now what rule this would be in violation with.

Took a peak into todays rules, and i cant find this to be a violation.
(il take a look a decisions to make sure.)
 

Interpretation of Rule 4.2(a)

Markings applied using a felt-tip pen are not contrary to Rule 4.2a(2).

Rule 6.3a encourages the player to put an identification mark on his or her ball to help ensure that he or she plays their own ball throughout the round. There are no regulations to limit what or how many markings can be applied to the ball by the player, provided its original markings can be discerned.

EDIT
All i can find is a reference to using putter lines on the ball, who was mentioned in the ruled before 2019, but no longer is....so, its either changed or i cant answer for what rule that would be a break of since im not able to locate it, and ive checked rule 4.2, but it might be to find under another subject for all i know.
(like "unusual use of equipment"?).

Edited September 24, 2021 by Howard_Jones

[jvincent]

40 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

 

I'll take a crack.

 

Putting a mark on the ball with the intent of transferring that mark onto the face of the club for the specific reason of monitoring the face impact location - thereby potentially assisting you in making subsequent strikes during the round.

 

Just my interpretation, not an official or validated one.

 

With random marks or random placement of the ball on the tee, there is no intent to use the results of any transferred mark to help you.

In my particular case that is not the intent of the mark. It's a happy coincidence.

[Stuart_G]

4 minutes ago, jvincent said:

In my particular case that is not the intent of the mark. It's a happy coincidence.

 

You might be able to fool the rules committee - but there is no way you're going to fool the golf gods 😆

 

Edited September 24, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Howard_Jones]

This question should be asked to a rule specialist, but i think it was rule 14-3 when i read it now. (2016 version from R&A)

14-3 (Artificial Devices, Unusual Equipment and Abnormal Use of Equipment).
 - any other feature that might assist the player in making a stroke or in his play.

This is now moved and is 4.3A'

a. Allowed and Prohibited Uses of Equipment

A player may use equipment to help his or her play during a round, except that a player must not create a potential advantage by:

• Using equipment (other than a club or a ball) that artificially eliminates or reduces the need for a skill or judgment that is essential to the challenge of the game, or

• Using equipment (including a club or a ball) in an abnormal way in making a stroke. “Abnormal way” means a way that is fundamentally different than its intended use and is not normally recognized as part of playing the game.
  
  
  Have it checked with someone up to date with the rules, and tell the purpose of using the pen here.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Howard_Jones