Benefits of a Square Club Face, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles
Benefits of a Square Club Face, Golf (Video) - by Pete Styles

So, there's actually loads of different parts of the golf swing that you can combine to delivering the club into the right position to hit the golf ball straight. But there's no one more important factor than this, the club face. Where the club faces is going to provide most of the directional benefits of a golf shot. We've got to get this bit in the right place to hit this golf ball straight.

The latest data from places like Trackman and FlightScope with the radar devices that people are tracking the golf ball with, will show that the club face is relevant to 85% of the initial flight direction of a golf ball. So, we've often thought that swing path will affect where the golf ball goes, but the club face has 85% of the dominant factors of where this golf ball stops. So you've got to make sure this is square when you hit the golf ball.

To start with, let's make sure it's square at set up. So, taking your normal address position, line the club face up. It's fairly simple, you would think, to get that bit right, but I see an awful lot of people with a club face that's closed in this position, open in this position and that's quite a problem. So, what I would encourage you to do is set it up to the golf ball and then stand straight up, lifting the club in front of you. Now, the leading edge should be vertical, straight up to the sky. And if you're not sure, line it up against a sign post or a tree or something like that. Just make sure it's vertical, drop it back down to the golf ball, and that's now square to your feet, your shoulder and hopefully your target line.

Now, go ahead and make your golf swing, bring it back down to the golf ball, do me your impact position, lift it up again, check that it's still square. If you feel that you've come into an open position, maybe not enough hand action, hand rotation, you'd be able to lift the club up and see that's an open place. Maybe you feel guilty of occasionally hooking the golf ball; you'd have the club facing a closed position, you'd be able to see this. So when you're swinging the golf club, make sure it starts off square and neutral to the ball up, down, still square and neutral. And, hopefully, that will result in you hitting straighter golf shots because your club face is square at impact.

 2012-03-19

So, there's actually loads of different parts of the golf swing that you can combine to delivering the club into the right position to hit the golf ball straight. But there's no one more important factor than this, the club face. Where the club faces is going to provide most of the directional benefits of a golf shot. We've got to get this bit in the right place to hit this golf ball straight.

The latest data from places like Trackman and FlightScope with the radar devices that people are tracking the golf ball with, will show that the club face is relevant to 85% of the initial flight direction of a golf ball. So, we've often thought that swing path will affect where the golf ball goes, but the club face has 85% of the dominant factors of where this golf ball stops. So you've got to make sure this is square when you hit the golf ball.

To start with, let's make sure it's square at set up. So, taking your normal address position, line the club face up. It's fairly simple, you would think, to get that bit right, but I see an awful lot of people with a club face that's closed in this position, open in this position and that's quite a problem. So, what I would encourage you to do is set it up to the golf ball and then stand straight up, lifting the club in front of you. Now, the leading edge should be vertical, straight up to the sky. And if you're not sure, line it up against a sign post or a tree or something like that. Just make sure it's vertical, drop it back down to the golf ball, and that's now square to your feet, your shoulder and hopefully your target line.

Now, go ahead and make your golf swing, bring it back down to the golf ball, do me your impact position, lift it up again, check that it's still square. If you feel that you've come into an open position, maybe not enough hand action, hand rotation, you'd be able to lift the club up and see that's an open place. Maybe you feel guilty of occasionally hooking the golf ball; you'd have the club facing a closed position, you'd be able to see this. So when you're swinging the golf club, make sure it starts off square and neutral to the ball up, down, still square and neutral. And, hopefully, that will result in you hitting straighter golf shots because your club face is square at impact.