How to Alter the strike point on irons.

[rexroh]

I have never been able to hit my irons near the toe of the club face.  When I looked at my irons recently they all showed a fairly consistent strike near the heel.  About 1/2 inch from centre of the face - (about 1/2 inch from hotel)  The strike feels solid when I do this but my bad shot is a shank. Also occasionally a duck hook.

 

I have also checked the blades I used several years ago and they had a similar pattern.

 

I have tested in the past with a line on the ball and that tended to be perpendicular but closer to the hosel than expected.  I have also tested with tape on the face to check strike pattern  Consistently near hosel.

 

I have tried more upright clubs but the strike area is still the same.  I have tried gripping down the shaft but the strike area is the same.

 

I hit my driver and fairway woods in centre of the club.  Ping standard length and lie.

 

What I have not tried but I am considering is longer shafts.  I cannot see why this could work but it is one thing I have yet to test.  Put a 7 iron shaft in a 9 iron and go from there. (Any comments about that - am I wasting my time.)  The other test I have yet to try is a flatter lie.  Again this appears contradictory to what I am trying to achieve.

 

I have had lessons and the Pro did not make any changes or suggestions for my swing.

 

Any suggestions for equipment changes would be appreciated.  Currently using Ping G irons white dot.

 

Sorry but I cannot provide photos of face at this stage but I think the description should suffice. 

[phizzy30]

Vijay and Luke Donald both set up slightly heel side.  I do as well but that's because I would constantly miss out towards the toe with irons when I was younger.  After trying everything including altering lie angles and shaft length, nothing worked so I said screw it and set up heel side.  It's obviously a bandage, but it's served me well for a very long time.  I don't ever miss out on the toe with irons and my mishits are now slightly heel side and rarely do I ever shank the ball.  However, I set up dead center with my other clubs and my miss is toe side.  Big surprise there, haha.  I believe Zach Johnson aims toe side and he's made a career out of it.  Something for you to consider while working on your swing. 

Edited February 8 by phizzy30

[st1800e]

When I’m in a funk of heel strikes, I just align towards the toe for a while and it comes back to a centre strike.  Try it, not just a couple shots, play a game like that and see what happens, no cost.  

[Phabs]

Put a ball about a balls width outside the ball your hitting on the range.  Will help pull your contact point more toward the middle / toe.  I’ve used this drill quite a bit with a buddy I help that’s always close to the el hözel stroke point. 

Edited February 8 by Phabs

[Nessism]

Striking the ball in the heel, or toe, has nothing to do with shaft length. It's a swing characteristic/flaw.  I say this as someone that hits the majority of shots off the toe.  

 

Shaft length mostly affects the wedges, if the shafts are too short, and you are stooped over.  Standing more upright almost never causes a problem.  

 

Case in point: if you hit your 8 iron on the toe, do you hit the longer 7 iron dead center?  Unlikely.

[rexroh]

14 hours ago, Nessism said:

Striking the ball in the heel, or toe, has nothing to do with shaft length. It's a swing characteristic/flaw.  I say this as someone that hits the majority of shots off the toe.  

 

Shaft length mostly affects the wedges, if the shafts are too short, and you are stooped over.  Standing more upright almost never causes a problem.  

 

Case in point: if you hit your 8 iron on the toe, do you hit the longer 7 iron dead center?  Unlikely.

 

The 7 iron is longer but the lie is different.  To me that is not a good test.

[HGLucky13]

When I got new clubs a few months ago I started to hit closer to the hosel and start getting shanks, a couple a round. I ran this drill to start my practice sessions for a few weeks. Made it go away, at least so far....

 

 

[Nessism]

2 hours ago, rexroh said:

 

The 7 iron is longer but the lie is different.  To me that is not a good test.

 

Put the ball on a tee.

 

The point is that people that hit the ball in the heel or toe, do it consistently through the set.  And since each club varies in length compared to the others, it's clear that length has nothing to do with the problem.

[rexroh]

I get your point with club length but as it increases the lie changes.   I will spend some time with the 2 ball exercise when I can get back to swinging a club.  Just had some minor hand surgery and I am out of golf for a week or two.

I also grip the club at the end of the grip.  I may try going down the grip so that half an inch shows above my hands.   This may alter the position of strike.

[PuffyC]

As someone who’s miss is a low heel miss I can relate. First off, you probably don’t have a hardware problem, you have a swing problem. Any good coach can tell you exactly why you’re catching everything off the heel but if you simply want a quick and dirty bandaid just change your aim. By that I mean when you swing, don’t think about hitting the back of the ball, pick a spot at about 7 o’clock (when looking down at the ball) and focus on hitting that spot. It may feel weird at first but stick with it and you’ll find yourself making far more centered contact and it can help your AoA a bit too.

[ChipNRun]

On 2/7/2024 at 8:46 PM, st1800e said:

When I’m in a funk of heel strikes, I just align towards the toe for a while and it comes back to a centre strike.  Try it, not just a couple shots, play a game like that and see what happens, no cost.  

 

Circa 2014 I reshafted a set of Callaway X20 Tours, going to a lighter shaft. For most of the season, I had a lot of hits out toward the toe.  So, a started lining up my shots in the second quadrant of the clubface (slightly toward heel). This greatly increased the number of solid, center hits I had.

 

If you went out toward the toe a bit, this might help you out.

 

Sometimes this means the shaft was cut .25" too short or long for your ideal length. But, that smidgen is a not enough for a lenghtening of shafts.

 

Edited February 10 by ChipNRun
Spelling.

[rexroh]

The X in your picture Chip & Run is close to my strike centre.  Mine would be almost on the line between Q1 and Q2.  Just on the X side of that line.  I will be trying to hit toe shots in a week or 2.

 

It is right thru my game.  From chipping, pitching and full shots.   However I rarely have problems with driver, woods and hybrids.  Hence the thought longer shafts may help.

[Jmccas]

This may or may not help but when I’m swinging poorly I’ll stray towards the heel. 
 

When my arms become disconnected from my chest in the backswing, I’ll start to lift my arms. When I do this it causes the shaft to steepen on the downswing and the only way I can shallow into impact is by getting my body vertical which causes a heel strike. You might be experiencing this/early extension. 
 

It may not impact driver and fairway clubs since you might be more flat on your backswing. 
 

After your injury heals, you should post a video of your swing on the swing instruction forum. Those cats that frequent that forum have forgotten more about swing mechanics than I’ll ever know. 

[ChaosTheory]

On 2/10/2024 at 1:08 PM, rexroh said:

The X in your picture Chip & Run is close to my strike centre.  Mine would be almost on the line between Q1 and Q2.  Just on the X side of that line.  I will be trying to hit toe shots in a week or 2.

 

It is right thru my game.  From chipping, pitching and full shots.   However I rarely have problems with driver, woods and hybrids.  Hence the thought longer shafts may help.

It’s not your clubs.  It’s likely your hand-eye golf swing programming.  If you set the club way inside or outside of ball, then swing, you’ll probably still hit the ball on the heel.  That’s your brain telling your hands the wrong place to swing.  

Or it could be that you are unbalanced at address with weight on your heels.  Your body will rebalance and move forward during the swing. Maybe you do this with irons.  

[st1800e]

Coming off a no play winter, I’ve been to indoor golf a few times and heel strikes seem to be all I can do.  
My “address the ball on the toe”  fix doesn’t seem to be helping much, but when I  address the ball with the club head  in the practice swing position , i.e. the club head  a couple inches towards the body, I’m  getting mostly  solid strikes.  If I grip down drastically , say 2-3” I can hit them all flush. 
So this is a swing fault I’m sure , which my lack of play has made worse .
I just don’t know what the fix is, finished last season at 7.7 - Driver SS ~80mph - Irons high 60’s.  

 

Looking for some insight, would especially welcome comments from some of the instructors on here. 

[Ger21]

On 2/7/2024 at 9:40 PM, phizzy30 said:

I do as well but that's because I would constantly miss out towards the toe with irons when I was younger.  After trying everything including altering lie angles and shaft length, nothing worked so I said screw it and set up heel side.

I've done this for 20+ years.

Then I got some much lighter shafts, and started shanking everything. Went back to a heavier shaft, and back to lining up heel side.

[Ger21]

On 2/8/2024 at 2:05 PM, rexroh said:

The 7 iron is longer but the lie is different.  To me that is not a good test.

You think 1° lie angle will move the strike location that much?