Why Am I Hiiting On The Heel Of The Club?

I recently posted a thread about a horrible night I had on the driving range. It felt like I was hitting driver on the hossle (sp?). This week I bought new clubs and got fitted. Putting tape on the face of the club revealed I was contacting the club, irons too, on the heel of the face near the hossle. It seems to be a recurring theme. When I hit my new driver yesterday, sure enough, the ball marks occured on the upper part of the heel near the hossle. I could set up with the ball near our just outside the toe of the club and take a swing and it helps a bit. What could be causing this? It has really make by driving very erratic. High, way left pulls; Clunks off the club to the right. Just all kinds of inconsistent flight paths. I also think the club head is coming into the ball open. Surely I am rerouting the club pretty severely after the backswing.

Hi jam,
I recently went through this and could not understand as i never had that problem. Went to my coach who told me it had to do with the club passing the hands on the downswing, and coming over the top. Try concentratimg on taking it away on a straight line. When you get to the top pause before the downswing. See if this helps

i had the problem too and mine was because i had a really flat back swing, bascially i was taking the club way inside the line

Hi there,

Rob is spot on, it is caused by an early release, when ever I hit a bad shot it's out of the heel, don't dispair it's not far off a great shot, like the s***ks it goes without doing anything really, just a confidence thing, once you think "it's going to be a bad shot", it always is.

For me I very very very slightly strengthen my left hand and make sure the face is square, this will naturally put your hands an inch or two further forward, helping with a later impact.

Hope this helps too


Ian.

__________________
Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................

Try this to stop hitting from the heel, although it will sound absurb.

Hit balls, with the ball being addressed from the heel of the club. In order to hit the ball from the centre of the club face, you will be forced for your arms to work closer to the body through impact. You will be re routing your downswing plane to achieve this, which at the moment may be too flat causing the club head to move closer to the ball, hence shots from the heel.

Another good tip is to put a block of wood or a headcover outside the target line of the ball. This will also re route your swing. If you are going to hit out of the heel you will hit the wood/ head cover.

Thanks. What most of you are saying rings true. I struggle I think with taking the club inside too much. How much is too much? I have it in my mind that if I don't take it inside the club face will be even more open on impact and I get a block. I am conscience about keeping my hands in front but in recent months because of changes I'm attempting as a result of a lesson, I often do not execute keeping the hands in front causing me to also hit the ball fat also.

Question: I recently had a new pair of clubs fitted. The result was that they suggested flattening out the lie two degrees. Is that a good idea when I basically am not hitting the ball very well? Will the fitting change when I get my swing in shape?

some good suggestions, another possibility is that you have too much angle between your arms and the club at address. So when you are coming into the ball and centrifigul force is making your arms and club shaft closer to a straight line, this will extend the club away from you, causing heel shots

Hello Jamb:
This will work-after making sure you have the fundamentals ok, ie. alignment, grip, distance from the ball(you could be too close but that is so basic that I doubt you would not know that), start the downswing by pulling the handle of the club down the ball to target line. This places the hands ahead with the club trailing behind, creates lag, and most importantly of all, you will stay committed to the shot and not be moving around the way you are now.
You are not focused on watching the impact happen; even Anika does this although you would not know it by watching her lifting her head out of the shot. She is actually timing the up and out movement with impact by watching impact.
Need more info, let me know.

Thanks again everyone. I was on vacation last week and went to the driving range a couple of times. On the second time I was so desparate about how I was hitting the ball I grabbed the pro who was available for a lesson. He loved my set up. Grip, posture etc., was good. After that everything goes to hell. Problem 1: Taking club too far inside and opening up the club face. Problem 2: When taking the club back my hands were always ahead of my shoulder turn. Problem 3: My head moves a lot on the through swing. Moves foward as the club head comes through. We worked mainly on the shoulder turn and keeping the head still. Things are better but it has been difficult working on the head movement.

Yes nemesis. Please explain a little more. You mean pulling the bottom of the handle down towards the ball at the top?

I was away on vacation for six weeks and when I got back home I hit like **** for 3 straight days, could not figure my problem untill I figured it out. I did not have, in tgm terms, extensor action. at address have your rear hand tug on your lead hand as if your were pulling on a long sleave shirt and do this while you take the club back as well. if you have th hands too loose they may come too far to the inside. so try this out and see if it does much for you