After you’ve played and practiced golf for a while, you’ll intuitively know where you strike each shot – on the club’s sweet spot, the heel or the toe – based on feeling and the ball’s flight. But until you’ve developed that ability, you may need a little help determining where your misses tend to fall.

Professional clubfitters and teachers use special face tape to gain precise feedback on ballstriking. You can buy face tape on the Internet or possibly through a local golf retailer. Alternatively, simple masking tape will work.

Simply place a strip of tape across the clubface, from heel to toe, making sure to cover the center of the club. When you hit the ball, it will leave an obvious mark on the tape in the exact spot where contact is made.

To get a sense of your ballstriking pattern, spend some time on the range hitting shots with tape on the clubface. Don’t forget to take a full roll as a strip will wear out after a few hits.

Check your clubface after each swing. If you repeatedly strike shots on the toe, you may be pulling your arms toward your body on the downswing, or rocking back onto your heels. Make the necessary adjustments and you’ll soon be hitting the sweet spot more consistently.

Using face tape will not only tell you where you’re making impact, it will help you gain a sense for what toe, heel and sweet spot contact feels like. Before long, you won’t need the tape at all.