If you are regularly hitting the ball off the toe of your irons, the only good thing about it is you are not shanking it off the inside of the club, near the shaft.
Otherwise, there is nothing which makes striking the toe of the club a good thing and if that is happening to you during a round, you are decreasing both the accuracy and distance of your shots. Today, we have some tips to help you to stop striking the toe of the club.
The first thing you need to check if you are striking the toe of the club is your swing path. If your swing is too steep and you are cutting across the ball, these are the two things you must change to prevent striking the toe of the club.
To help change your swing path, keep the club head low during the first phase of the swing and try to drive the club from inside to outside the target line through impact with the ball. If you are not sure if you are doing this correctly, set up a video camera and record yourself playing the shot. Check to see if your swing looks too steep and if you are cutting across the ball.
If you are, keep the tip about the club head in mind and practice before filming yourself again.
Check your balance during your swing. If you are falling back on your heels when playing the shot, this will cause the club to be pulled away from the ball and can result in striking the toe of the club.
To address this problem, stand upright and lower your body over the ball, bending at the hips and allowing your knees to flex. Try hitting the shot using this stance and weight distribution and see if it helps to prevent you from hitting the ball with the toe of the club.
When playing a shot, a good release of the club should see your lead arm in a straight position. If it is not, you will be drawing the club across the ball and this can often lead to striking it with the toe of the club.
Concentrate on driving the club through so your lead arm is fully extended.
Finally, do not try and turn your hips too fast during the swing. Having a great hip clearance can increase rotation speed but if you lose control slightly you can spin away from the shot and this can result in a toe strike.
Instead, try and move your hips slightly towards the target on the down swing, before the turn. This will help to keep your weight over your leading side through impact with the ball and result in more centred ball striking.
