Just Curious

[BC MIST]

What part of the golf ball are you looking at when you swing?

[Chieflongtee]

I look at the top part. I once read that Adrien Bigras was looking at the back at the ball.

[dbleber]

I look at the back of the ball, I try and see where the last round edge of the ball just meets the grass. I also try and watch my club head hit that part of the ball. I never actually see it but it really helps with keeping my head down, behind the ball and my arms/shoulders moving through the ball and my body following it.

[Nat Williams]

I watch the top of the back...helps me visualize clean contact... The exception is my driver. I have a tendancy of hitting too low on the face, so I visualize hitting the tee and not the ball and that helps alot.

[jvincent]

You mean we're supposed to look at the ball?

I look at the back, but I'm trying to hit the 4 o'clock or 4:30 position, where 9 o'clock is facing the target.

[el tigre]

What part of the golf ball are you looking at when you swing?

For most shots, the inside top quarter.
For flop shots, the inside bottom quarter.
For putts, the back of the ball.
For greenside bunker shots, a spot in the sand 1-2 inches behind the ball.

[moochie]

Golf Ball? Once lined up to the ball, I swing the club and the ball is contacted as a result of the swing. LOL.

I typically look at the back of the ball.

[BC MIST]

I speculated that most answers would be the BACK of the ball, instead of what, IMO, may be better and that is the inside rear quadrant of the ball. If the golfer is trying to hit the inside rear quadrant, how is it possible to swing OVER THE TOP which the majority of golfers do? If the mental image is the inside section, there is a greater probability that the golfer will DROP the arms on plane at the start of the downswing, without consciously thinking about it, and if by chance the face is a hair open at separation, that beautiful draw flight will happen.

My next question was going to be, "Where is the low point of the swing, relative to the ball?" The answer is about 2 inches after impact. You divot should start in front of the ball, not under it. To do this the golfer must hit down on the ball trying to make contact just below the equator, with the bottom of the club face. A golfer trying to make contact in the middle of the club face, will likely hit a fat shot.

If the golfer does the above simple motions, a number of fundamental things happen, without any thought:
1. your weight gets shifted on to the front foot
2. you head does not lift
3. your left arm becomes straight
3. you will never hit the ball fat
5. your right shoulder will move under your left
6. you will maintain the so called lag pressure because your right wrist remains bent through impact.

Food for thought. Thanks Mark.

[covanant]

Read an article in a magazine the other day about looking at the hole
instead of the ball when putting.
Tried it with dissasterous results!
I look at the balls rear now!

[mberube]

I speculated that most answers would be the BACK of the ball, instead of what, IMO, may be better and that is the inside rear quadrant of the ball. If the golfer is trying to hit the inside rear quadrant, how is it possible to swing OVER THE TOP which the majority of golfers do? If the mental image is the inside section, there is a greater probability that the golfer will DROP the arms on plane at the start of the downswing, without consciously thinking about it, and if by chance the face is a hair open at separation, that beautiful draw flight will happen.

My next question was going to be, "Where is the low point of the swing, relative to the ball?" The answer is about 2 inches after impact. You divot should start in front of the ball, not under it. To do this the golfer must hit down on the ball trying to make contact just below the equator, with the bottom of the club face. A golfer trying to make contact in the middle of the club face, will likely hit a fat shot.

If the golfer does the above simple motions, a number of fundamental things happen, without any thought:
1. your weight gets shifted on to the front foot
2. you head does not lift
3. your left arm becomes straight
3. you will never hit the ball fat
5. your right shoulder will move under your left
6. you will maintain the so called lag pressure because your right wrist remains bent through impact.

Food for thought. Thanks Mark.

Funny cause if I look at the inside quadrant, 7 o’clock or 4 o’clock depending how you look at it, I tend to push the ball right.

I my opinion, where you look on the ball will not change if you are an OTT swinger. OTT swingers swing from the shoulders and nothing else causing the hands to go outside right from the start.

Mike

[Andru]

What part of the golf ball are you looking at when you swing?

Don't see the ball at all I have a mental image of the target in my head.

It's so focused a buddy of mine was waving his shadow over my ball and I didn't notice.

[moochie]

I agree with you Mike. Where you look at the ball has no impact on where you swing the club. Case in point; my tee shot two weeks ago in which I whiffed it. I was looking at the back of the ball but missed it entirely.

[oldmaninblack]

I don't look at the ball at all. Since switching to the "Moe Norman" swing, I focus on the spot behind the ball which is the bottom of the swing arc (for the woods). Since it is behind and inside, it keeps me behind the ball and keeps the club coming from the inside.
For the irons I try to focus on a blade of grass which is on the inside and just behind (almost under) the ball. That's something my dad taught me to avoid the "hit" reflex (almost 40 years ago). I visualize the club striking the ground there and then making a divot.

[kewarken]

I typically lose sight of my ball during my backswing. Doesn't really seem to affect things much though. Once I'm lined up, the club hits the ball whether I'm looking at it or not. I sometimes practice with my eyes closed at the range.

cheers,

Kris

[dH]

I have trouble looking at the golf ball or atleast focusing on it. I just look straight down see the ball and lots of grass and in my mind all I think about is the target I chose.

[dH]

Or sometimes after an awful shot I'll ask myself why was I thinking about the encounter I had 2 weeks ago or what I"m going to eat for dinner. lol. Golf takes 4 hours to play but only 2-4 min of concentration. I get angry when I can't spend those 2-4 minutes concentrating.

[zoic]

I typically lose sight of my ball during my backswing. Doesn't really seem to affect things much though. Once I'm lined up, the club hits the ball whether I'm looking at it or not. I sometimes practice with my eyes closed at the range.

cheers,

Kris

Having been witness to a blind person golfing better than me solidified my belief that this is in fact true. I often practice now with my eyes closed to ensure I am keeping my swing the same consistently. Keeping my head down is seemingly the key, seeing the ball is less important IMO.

[flagolfnut]

I look at the whole ball, well every part I can see. It might have been mentioned in this thread, but I haven't read the whole thread, but when your at the range practicing try looking at the front part of the ball. I have done this and have practiced with placing a tee down at the back of the ball and seeing where my divot is. Of course with irons you want to be hitting down on the ball and you want your divot to be ahead of the back of the ball, otherwise you know that your hitting the ground before the ball. So by focusing on the front part of the ball while your swinging I think you have a greater chance making contact with the ball before the ground.

[BC MIST]

Having been witness to a blind person golfing better than me solidified my belief that this is in fact true. I often practice now with my eyes closed to ensure I am keeping my swing the same consistently. Keeping my head down is seemingly the key, seeing the ball is less important IMO.

Are you suggesting that if you play golf with your eyes closed the game is easier because you no longer have to worry about your hand/eye co-ordination?

Funny cause if I look at the inside quadrant, 7 o’clock or 4 o’clock depending how you look at it, I tend to push the ball right. Which is very close to a perfect swing path and club face position. With a slightly less open club face the ball flight would be a PURE DRAW - starts right of target line and gently curves back to TL.

In my opinion, where you look on the ball will not change if you are an OTT swinger. OTT swingers swing from the shoulders and nothing else causing the hands to go outside right from the start.
The idea is that if you look at the inside quadrant and are actually trying to make the club face contact the ball at that point, your arms are LESS likely to move out, and MORE likely to move downward, on plane, first. The assumption here and it is a big one, is that the golfer is aligned correctly. The truth is that the overwhelming majority of OTT swings do not actually swing OTT. Most have their shoulders aligned way left of the target line at address and they, along with the arms, simply return to the incorrect shoulder line, and a leftwards starting flight results. This is why a good teaching professional will ALWAYS check your setup and alignment first, regardles of what the lesson is about. How many do this??

If one tries to actually hit the back of the ball and IS successful, the ball will NOT go straight.

I don't look at the ball at all. Since switching to the "Moe Norman" swing, I focus on the spot behind the ball which is the bottom of the swing arc (for the woods). Since it is behind and inside, it keeps me behind the ball and keeps the club coming from the inside. If doing this achieves the kind of contact that gives you the flight that you want, then that is great, hoowever,...

For the irons I try to focus on a blade of grass which is on the inside and just behind (almost under) the ball. I visualize the club striking the ground there and then making a divot. ... if you actually were to achieve the above you would obviously hit every shot fat or at best, high on the club face, so a compensation is taking place for good contact to take place. The bottom of the arc for an iron is roughly 2" in front of the ball, for a fairway wood, the leading front edge of the ball, and for a driver, just in back of the ball, with the feeling that it is in front of the ball. To do this the blow must be downward on all shots, even though the EFFECT with the driver will be "no divot," or a sweeping type action. The effects of the downward blow I listed in my first post. For more information about this check www.t-g-s.com.

Nice to see another single axis player on board.

[Powerdraw]

inside aft of ball, totally agree.
but since low point is at left shoulder, and depending on the club at hand, that ball position will vary no?

and also wouldnt a longer club say a driver take more time to square up?

[Chieflongtee]

Food for thought. Dominant eye or chin back à la Jack? What about Anika?

[BC MIST]

Food for thought. Dominant eye or chin back à la Jack?

A golfer should swing from start to finish with both eyes on the ball, regardless of which one is dominant. Since we have binocular vision, viewing the ball with only one eye on it, say, at the top of the backswing where the head may have rotated too far to the right, means that you can't "see what you are trying to hit," and upsets the balance centres of the eyes. The expression, "Keep your eye on the ball," should be, " Keep your eyes on the ball."

What about Anika?

She has perfected a fault. If one of us were to rotate our heads toward the target as she does, we would likely hit the ball thin and left as the shoulders would rotate around as well. She has learned to maintain a proper swing path inspite of the rotating head. Consider that if she did not rotate forward and up, she would be an even better ball striker. Scary.

[Andru]

A little lateral movement on the downswing helps you get a good angle of attack on the inside of the ball. Keep rotating your hips all the way through impact, which delays closing the clubface long enough to ensure you won't flip your hands. You'll get effortless clubhead speed through the ball. -- Tiger Woods

Inside is the secret. I just couldn't figure out a way to stop hooking it. Now I have.

[BC MIST]

Inside is the secret. I just couldn't figure out a way to stop hooking it. Now I have.

I gather that Tiger has an extremely flexible body which would mean that if he rotated his hips as much as he would lead you to believe, that he could also keep his upper torso from over rotating, which would cause some sort of over the top move, or hand flipping, resulting in a hook. When he was playing poorly, (by his standards) his overactive hips, raced ahead of his arms, putting this swing out of sequence, and so he would subconsciously block the ball right, or if not, the hands would flip and leftward would go the ball.

While we are all in awe of Tiger, and what he says, or how he describes what he feels, if any golfer tries to generate power through an overactive hip rotation, not too many good things happen. FEEL isn't necessarily REAL, although many believe so. If you watch, SOLELY THE HIPS, of any high swing speed touring professional, you will notice that the hips do NOT actually rotate very fast, relatively speaking.

Assuming an inside or on line club head path, the ball will hook if the club face is square or closed at impact, versus separation. The fundamental position of the wrists at impact, prescribed by The Golfing Machine, Mark Evershed, Lynn Blake, Brian Manzella, Chuck Evans at al, is that the left wrist is flat and the right wrist is bent, and if this is achieved, then a hook is virtually impossible. A lot of golfers feel that they have to do something to RELEASE the club, and if they do, they lose the flat left and bent right wrist positions. Rather, if they were to do everything to maintain these two positions for as long as possible, then inertia(what some call centrifugal "force,") will "release" the power angles at the correct time. Practicing with Evershed's "Power Click," or the "Tac Tic," in invaluable in helping to achieve the correct wrist positions.

By maintaining a bent right wrist position, through impact, and then AROUND, versus "down the line"(Heaven forbid) one can hit the ball as hard as one is capable, without fear of the dreaded hook.

So -
Hit down
Hit inside rear of the ball,
Keep right wrist bent

And then smile

[Powerdraw]

A lot of golfers feel that they have to do something to RELEASE the club, and if they do, they lose the flat left and bent right wrist positions.

isnt this caused by the fact that most golfers come into impact with hands-right forearm too high into impact, thus the need to flip the club so to not miss the ball?

[buckylasek]

When i swing i look at the ball, that's it. I can't make a difference where i'm looking at it , but i think it's just a detail. What cares is just to keep the head straight during the swing, and on the course, the less things you are thinking at, the better your swing is going to be. Just try to make that automatic.

When i putt, i don't look at the hole until i hear the ball fall into the cup, that's what you're supposed to do. I was told putting is feeling, but i don't think, it's purely physics, not metaphysics. Just remind the length of your backswing for a type of distance, and then adjust on the roll conditions

[themob]

I'm not sure i consciously focus anywhere on the ball. I don't really think of hitting at it, moreso of making a swing that allows the clubhead to go through a plane of which the ball is part of. I try to think, concentrate on as little as possible when swinging. I suppose the only small thought is trying to hold onto the wrist angle as long as possible and when i release, to not overrelease.

[buckylasek]

I'm not sure i consciously focus anywhere on the ball. I don't really think of hitting at it, moreso of making a swing that allows the clubhead to go through a plane of which the ball is part of. I try to think, concentrate on as little as possible when swinging. I suppose the only small thought is trying to hold onto the wrist angle as long as possible and when i release, to not overrelease.

Really good point of view. It's the same thing i would have said.

[themob]

I think i have to go with the opposite for putting though. I usually practice looking at the hole, not the ball and just trying to equate feeling of length with the distance the ball actually went. I find this great for a warmup at least. On course for short putts i am usually head down but for long ones, somtimes i go head up.

Then again i have 3 putters i switch in and out depending on green conditions and feelings i have when i play.

[sharkhark]

I used to have a problem with occasional 'fat' shots or skied tee shots. Article with suggestion said by focusing on the back of the ball you may have tendency to hit just behind it.

Suggested focusing on front picturing a nail coming out of front. Said picture you driving a nail thru, but just look at front.
I have never been able to get that image out of my head, every shot I see it, rarely hit fat now. Actually make crisper contact and much better driver.

Realize this is opposite of the majority.