The Cause of Vibration After Impact, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
The Cause of Vibration After Impact, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

So, when you’re watching the best players in the world playing and you see them on the television, the common thing they’re often talking about is, “He’s really a good quality ball striker.” You might feel that when you go down to the driving range and you’re hitting golf shots and you’re getting the vibration back through the shaft and the fingers are starting to tingle particularly on a cold morning, you kind of get the impression that maybe you’re not a great ball striker.

So, let’s have a look at what that means and how we can affect things. Basically, every golf club that you have has a sweet spot. Now, depending on the type and the make and the brand of the golf club, the sweet spot will be larger or smaller and some maybe in a slightly different position. As a general rule, if you look at the size of your thumbprint, position your thumb right in the center of the golf club, the thumbprint would be what I would describe as the sweet spot. That is area where when you hit the golf ball out of that thumb printed area, it would feel nice, the ball would fly quite straight and the ball would fly a little bit further.

As you move away from that thumb printing concentric circles, the distance the ball travels, the feeling that you get and the accuracy that you get is all reducing until you get to the very outside of the golf club where everything starts to get a bit ropy. The strike will tingle the fingers, the sound isn’t too good, the distance isn’t too good, the direction is off as well. Now, if you look at a bladed golf club, we often hear that blades are better for better players, but a bladed club has a smaller head, less of a cavity back and less perimeter weighting and that would obviously have a smaller sweet spot.

That is why better players often like them because they can feel when they have hit the ball better and actually, they like to feel when they’ve hit the ball badly as well, but for most club golfer’s game, improvement golf clubs are going to be better. Larger heads, more cavity back, more perimeter weighting, increasing the distance of that sweet spot, increasing the size of that sweet spot and therefore making it slightly easier to hit.

If you’re struggling and you can’t feel as a good ball striker you’re getting the feedback through the finger is a bit tingling, maybe just take a bit of impact tape. Most good golf shops will have impact tape that you can buy or some of these give you to try a club out. Place an impact tape over the golf club, have a few swings and see the whereabouts you actually strike that ball. If it is consistently in the wrong place, maybe make an adjustment to your setup with account to that position.

If it is inconsistent and it is all over the golf club, then you are going to look at the other areas, maybe the lack of discipline in your setup, maybe the lack of consistency in your setup or the lack of balance during your swing. If you can address the ball in the same position every time, keep your balance during your swing, make a nice controlled golf swing, the strike marks, the consistency of the strike should start to become a little bit closer. Then, if we can get those in that central thumbprint, that is when you start to become a good ball striker. Good positive shots with nice feedback through the shaft as well.

 2012-05-10

So, when you’re watching the best players in the world playing and you see them on the television, the common thing they’re often talking about is, “He’s really a good quality ball striker.” You might feel that when you go down to the driving range and you’re hitting golf shots and you’re getting the vibration back through the shaft and the fingers are starting to tingle particularly on a cold morning, you kind of get the impression that maybe you’re not a great ball striker.

So, let’s have a look at what that means and how we can affect things. Basically, every golf club that you have has a sweet spot. Now, depending on the type and the make and the brand of the golf club, the sweet spot will be larger or smaller and some maybe in a slightly different position. As a general rule, if you look at the size of your thumbprint, position your thumb right in the center of the golf club, the thumbprint would be what I would describe as the sweet spot. That is area where when you hit the golf ball out of that thumb printed area, it would feel nice, the ball would fly quite straight and the ball would fly a little bit further.

As you move away from that thumb printing concentric circles, the distance the ball travels, the feeling that you get and the accuracy that you get is all reducing until you get to the very outside of the golf club where everything starts to get a bit ropy. The strike will tingle the fingers, the sound isn’t too good, the distance isn’t too good, the direction is off as well. Now, if you look at a bladed golf club, we often hear that blades are better for better players, but a bladed club has a smaller head, less of a cavity back and less perimeter weighting and that would obviously have a smaller sweet spot.

That is why better players often like them because they can feel when they have hit the ball better and actually, they like to feel when they’ve hit the ball badly as well, but for most club golfer’s game, improvement golf clubs are going to be better. Larger heads, more cavity back, more perimeter weighting, increasing the distance of that sweet spot, increasing the size of that sweet spot and therefore making it slightly easier to hit.

If you’re struggling and you can’t feel as a good ball striker you’re getting the feedback through the finger is a bit tingling, maybe just take a bit of impact tape. Most good golf shops will have impact tape that you can buy or some of these give you to try a club out. Place an impact tape over the golf club, have a few swings and see the whereabouts you actually strike that ball. If it is consistently in the wrong place, maybe make an adjustment to your setup with account to that position.

If it is inconsistent and it is all over the golf club, then you are going to look at the other areas, maybe the lack of discipline in your setup, maybe the lack of consistency in your setup or the lack of balance during your swing. If you can address the ball in the same position every time, keep your balance during your swing, make a nice controlled golf swing, the strike marks, the consistency of the strike should start to become a little bit closer. Then, if we can get those in that central thumbprint, that is when you start to become a good ball striker. Good positive shots with nice feedback through the shaft as well.