How to Angle Your Golf Clubface to Fix an Over-the-Top Swing

If a golfer takes the club back in one piece, makes a good shoulder turn and begins the downswing from the solid position achieved at maximum shoulder turn, the clubface will be square at contact. For the average golfer, a swing that contains all of those elements occurs about once every three holes. Good mechanics should always be a golfer's ultimate goal, but sometimes, little "tweaks" and tiny "cheats" can save a golfer's sanity.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Decide if you are consistently hitting a slice, a hook or if you're playing military golf--left, right, left, right...

2. Place the club on the ground in back of a ball. "Open" the face; that is, push the heel of the club forward. When the club hits a ball like this, a shot will go to the right and slice.

3. Put the club on the ground in back of a ball. "Close" the face; that is, push the toe of the club forward. When the club hits a ball like this, the ball will go to the left and hook.

4. Practice slightly opening the face at address if you are a consistent hooker. Practice slightly closing the facing if you are a slicer. See if making this slight adjustment helps keep your shots on line.

5. Shorten your swing if you are a military golfer. Keep your clubface square at address.

6. Readjust the position of your clubface at address as the mechanics of your swing improve. A solid swing is played with a square clubface throughout the swing.

Tips & Warnings

• The reason military golfers should shorten their swings is that striking golf shots in a different way with every swing means at some point a golfer is "losing control" of the clubface. This is a product of over-swinging, taking the club too far back on the backswing or swinging too hard. Shortening a swing, to some degree, offsets all of these tendencies.
• While adjusting the clubface is what some teaching pros would consider a pure "Band-Aid," some talented tour professionals have played entire careers doing so. Their swings, while consistent, required that simple adjustment.

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