Everyone want to hit it farther with their drives or their irons. I have yet to meet a player who wants to hit it shorter. Or someone who thinks they hit it too long off the tee. We all know that swing speed helps add yards to every club in your bag. But even more important is how accurate the strike is and where it is on the club face.
Knowing exactly how accurate your strike is can help you fine tune your irons and woods at impact. This not only adds distance but helps your hit your target more often. It also increases the efficiency of energy transfer from the club to the ball. That is called Smash Factor. Smash Factor is ball speed divided by club speed. The higher the Smash Factor number the better. I like to see 1.30 or better for irons and 1.50 for Driver. The faster the ball leave the club the farther it will carry. That’s how clubs are built to maximize energy transfer at the center of the face. Also to reduce any loss of energy transfer on off center hits. But the fact is if you miss only by a millimeter that transfer of energy drops. The key is to get as close to the sweet spot as often as possible.
Simple spray foot powder is a great inexpensive way to check your impact on your woods and irons. It is almost as accurate as the photo at the top of this article which is TrackMan new 6.0 version that shows the precise point in millimeters of the sweet spot. As a amateur player you may not think you are good enough to repeat getting it on the sweet spot consistently. You are probably right but without a starting point you will have no idea as to where you are striking the ball on the face. This is a great way to get a feel as to where your are actually making contact on the face of the club. The more you do this the more you will fine tune your feel and learn through trial and error to get it as close as possible. You will also begin to get a feel for how hard you can swing and still be in control. Swinging out of your shoes is only worth it if you can still be accurate. So stop by your local pharmacy and pick up some foot powder and start you little test. You might be surprised how on or off the center of the club you are at impact. Want to take it a step further? Find your local PGA Pro who has a TrackMan or any other launch monitor that gives you this information. You will then know for sure where you are making contact and how often you can repeat it. If you really want to improve then this is information that you need to know.
Impact Zone Golf has TrackMan and Foresight Quad G2 that can give you this information and is used in all of our assessments and lessons. Give us a call and ask for me Bernard Sheridan and I’ll be happy to help you fine tune your impact and change your game. Call 239-236-5536 X105
