The REAL Reason We Need Shaft Lean

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When hitting shots with the ball on the ground it is simply imperative that we lean the shaft towards the target at impact in order to expose the sweet spot to the back of the golf ball. After watching this video you will know exactly why…

As you can now see if you’re not leaning the shaft it isn’t possible to hit the ball out the center of the face. Leaning the shaft and delivering the clubhead in a slightly descending fashion gives us the best opportunity to compress the ball and deliver maximum energy transfer. A leaning shaft at impact gives us:

  • a delofted club face, thus improving ball speed and distance.

  • a sweet spot that can now collide with the golf ball.

  • increased ability to hit down on the ball, thus improving strike quality.

  • an energetic and penetrating ball flight that sizzles!

I’m sure you’re wondering what you can do to start leaning the shaft more effectively for shots played off the ground. Keep in mind that an open face on the way down will corrupt any ability a player might have of leaning the shaft. Try these ideas:

  • at address, feel that your hands are slightly ahead of the ball and that your weight gently favors the front foot.

  • make sure your club face is in a neutral to strong position on the way down and into impact. Tip it down!

  • practice hitting low, knockdown style shots on a regular basis. Punch the ball.

Give these ideas a try to start to improve the quality of strike, ball flight, distance, feel and outcome of your shots off the ground. I sincerely hope it helps!

Optimal Strike Point for Longer Drives

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We've all heard the saying 'high launch and low spin'.  With the help of TrackMan I have been able to learn which part of the clubface to strike the ball with in order the get the ball to launch higher, spin less and ultimately travel further. Watch the following video...

optimal strike point
optimal strike point

Here are the factors that make a slightly high and toe sided hit optimal:

Launch Angle

  • Due to the roll/curvature of the face there is more loft above the center line than below.  The static loft of the club is measured in the center of the face, so if a club has 9.5 degrees of loft that is only in the one central location.  Half an inch above the center line the loft increases by around 2 degrees and vice versa for below the center line.
  • A strike above the center line will always lead to a higher launch angle and can often be achieved quite easily by teeing the ball higher.

Spin Rate

  • Due to vertical gear effect a strike that occurs below the center line will have a substantially higher spin rate than one higher on the face.
  • I have seen increases of almost 1400 rpm with low strike points - in addition to distance sapping lower launch angles.

Gear Effect

  • Most of the golfers that I teach need to hit draws.  A golf ball that is struck on the toe side of the clubface will tend to have a greater inclination to draw than one struck towards the heel of the club.

Clubhead Speed

  • If a shot is hit out of the center of the face with a swing speed of 100mph a spot on the face 3/4" out side of that will be travelling at almost 103mph and a spot the same distance inside that will only be travelling at 97mph.
  • The ball will travel faster and most often further with higher club speed.

If you'd like to get a feel for where you are striking the ball on the face try dry erase marker or Dr. Scholl's Odor X - they both work like a charm and give instant feedback.