Best Way to Improve Your Contact in Golf Swing

One of the problems for beginners is that they mis-hit the ball and don’t understand what is happening. If your contact is poor, you have to try to assess why before finding the cure.

There are two dimensions to making a good contact. One is the depth. The other dimension is hitting the ball from the middle of the clubface -middling it, as it is known. If you don’t do it correctly, it causes your ball to shoot off low or to right or left, particularly with an iron. To find out if this is a fault, put a blob of lipstick or chalk on the back of the ball and see where it leaves a mark on your club at impact. A shank or ‘socket’ is the most devastating of shots. The ball comes off the neck and either scuttles along low or shoots off to the right.

Address the ball correctly in the middle of the clubface. The ball position can be an optical illusion. In your address position, the ball may look central on the clubface but if you look at it from behind it is too near the neck. There is plenty of power towards the toe of the club. Address the ball centrally or even towards the toe.

A shank is usually caused by poor balance. Through impact you should be firmly on your left heel. If you wrongly let your weight move toward the toes, the clubhead swings down in the wrong place and almost certainly you find yourself wanting to step forward at the end of the followthrough. Make sure your weight is transferred properly on to the left heel and that the toes of your left foot are free – not gripping or grabbing to keep you balanced.

A shank is more likely to occur if you stand too far from the ball and are being pulled forward off balance than by standing too close to the ball. Even changing your shoes to ones with a slightly higher heel can cause a shank because this can affect your balance in the stance.

Shots from the toe of the club shoot off to the right but with a much softer contact than shanks. Again, if you don’t know which you are doing, try the exercise with two balls or the blob of lipstick test to assess it. Shots from the toe are like topped shots and are usually caused by tension and pulling in through impact. Fear is usually at the bottom of the problem. Try to relax.