Off The Toe

As you'€™ve probably learned in your game, one problem can result from any number of different causes. Bob was having a problem hitting everything off the toe of his clubs '€“ all of them (except the putter). Here was my check list for him.

Bob,

You ask if I can help you with your hitting all your clubs off the toe. Without seeing your setup and swing, I am relegated to having to give you general answers that can cause hitting off the toe. What you will have to do is test them and see if any of the suggestions seem to help you.

Starting with setup: You could be standing too far from the ball. With the arms over reaching, the tendency will be to pull the arms inward toward your body to maintain balance and not fall forward into the ball. You will hit it out on the toe. Staying with stance, you could also be standing too close to the ball. In the forward upswing, when he arms and club are swinging into the impact zone, the mind and balance mechanism feels like the hands and club may collide with the legs, and the body pulls up out of the shot. You'€™ll hit it on the toe of the club.

Alignment is also another setup point that needs to be looked at. Aiming to the right, tends to cause the arms to swing outside in, around the body, to get to the aiming line to hit the ball. The outside in path will cause the toe impacts. Alignment right can also cause a reverse weight shift, which means the weight transfers backwards to the right foot, which in essence is falling away from the ball. You'€™ll catch the ball on the toe.

Looking at your swing, the major cause is swinging to the finish with the shoulders and torso turned way left of the target. This usually causes the arms to collapse around into the body, with right arm collapsed onto the chest and the left elbow folded down and near the belt. I call this arms collapsing an “El Foldo” and/or a “Huggy Bear Finish.” Turning too far to the left pulls the arms and club across the ball hitting it on the toe.

Another finish problem that will cause toe hits is the arms releasing too soon in the downswing, and/or the left arm buckling, or bending upward, which pulls the club inside. This will cause the club to either be over released, hitting pulls. Or the hands can under release, the right palm rotates skyward, opening the clubface, and the ball is blocked or sliced to the right, or can be hit on he bottom of the leading edge and feel, sound and fly right like a shank.

As you can see, the possibilities or probabilities are many for what causes hitting it on the toe. Heck, it could be as simple as your clubs are too short, or your shafts too stiff, so the club doesn't kick into impact. Or the shafts are too weak and the clubs over kick. The definite reality is that your body and or arms are pulling or swinging toward your body across the aiming line. You have to determine the cause, be it setup or swing motion or a combination of both. Hopefully these checkpoints I have listed may be the cause and help you pinpoint the problem to fix it.

The Surge!