I was at the range today at lunch and remembered that I had gotten some impact tape from some balls I bought a year or two ago. I dug it out of my bag and took it with me to the range.
After warming up, I started to hit some driver shots and hit a few popups and then some pretty solid hits (yes Yoda I am working on those downswing waggles!). I decided to try the impact tape (little oval stickers that attache to the face of the club that turn blue when a ball compresses against it) with the driver. Right away I noticed that my hits were at the very top of the driver and towards the hosel. I then stood a little farther away (set up the driver so the toe was at ball level when it was soled) and didn't flex the knees as much. I then started to hit closer to the middle and a little bit further down (not quite the sweet spot yet but closer). The amazing thing was when I did this I started gaining 30 yards on my drives with the same swing -- hitting close to the sweet spot makes a huge difference.
I would highly recommend impact tape for seeing where you are hitting with your irons as well as the driver and fairway woods. Do a google search for "golf impact tape" and there are several options for well under $10, including a non-harming paint that can be wiped off that performs the same function.
Anything that can provide useful feedback to your swing while you are training is a great idea IMO...I use the tac-tic reguraly (to monitor the FLW) and will start using the impact tape as well.
I then started to hit closer to the middle and a little bit further down (not quite the sweet spot yet but closer). The amazing thing was when I did this I started gaining 30 yards on my drives with the same swing -- hitting close to the sweet spot makes a huge difference.
Keith
Maybe you hit the hot spot.
I believe it was Golf Digest that had an article about the hot spot on modern drivers a while ago. The hot spot isn't necessarily in the same location as the sweet spot. The sweet spot gives the sweetest impact while the hot spot produces the greatest distance. In the referred article, while the sweet spot was in the center, the hot spot was above center on most of - if not all the clubs they tested. The offset from the sweet spot was varying from club to club.
Slow replay of impact of modern top golfers (for instance Earnie Els) often shows that they hit the ball high on the face on the driver. It's very unlikely a mishit.
I am not a hot spot feienscmecker myself, but I've on several occations had "hot spot" like experiences with my driver. The ball shoots up with an unusual high launch angle and a low spin trajectory - and carries a long way.
i have a theory about this that im starting to try out. i play a 9.5 510tp right now and hit it good i too used some impact tape and noticed i was hitting it higher on the face than i thought. I lowered my tee and hit some drives that the tape showed where dead center they where definately hotter but the trajectory was to low. after seeing the video of ernie els hitting his driver more near the top of the face, i measured the loft on my driver at the center a half inch towards the bottom and a half inch towards the top the lofts were center app. 9.5 bottom app. 7 top app. 12 degrees . maybe thats why tiger tees the ball so low because he knows he can hit the center of the face and get more ball speed. at the tavistock cup the showed ball speeds of tiger 174 ernie 168 sergio 163 and omeara 157. so the vertical roll of the driver changes the loft depending on where you hit it this is not a revelation. but the roll is not needed, tom wishon makes some drivers that have very minimal roll so you have a mopre consistent trajectory im guessing if i hit a 10.5 in the center on one of his drivers i might even get a lower loft than hitting mine near the top. there is a member here who is a clubmaker and sells wishon products
hit the ball on the speetspot and you'll get a moderate launch with a decent amount of spin and a really good ball speed. For analogy see below:
10* launch, 165mph, 2800rpm
hit the ball higher on the clubface and you'll get a much higher launch, with a slightly lower ball speed and really low spin:
13-14* launch, 163mph, 2500rpm
Launch monitors have shown that the slight decrease in ball speed is warranted by the extra distance the slightly higher launch and lower spin provides.
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I'm not a TGM or PGA certified Pro, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night
I like the idea of the poor man's impact tape (blue masking tape -- got a lot of that from doing my "painting honey do's"), but I think I would feel a little strange at the range with a can of jock spray spraying my driver (that even sounds strange!)...
I don't think I was even hitting the hot spot of the driver cause even when I was gaining 30 yards there was only slightly more than half of a ball imprint on the top of the tape. When I was hitting pop ups there was only about a 1/4 of an imprint. I would like to at least see the whole ball imprinting the top of the driver...and would probably see even more distance.
Drew/Yoda, even though I got a good chuckle at your comic reliefs, don't give up your day golf jobs for the improv circuit!
Got a bottle of On-Mark Impact spray from a clubmaker. I've been using it some & it works great. Minimum effect on the shot & easy to wipe off when done. I find it more convenient than the tape. Search for On-Mark Impact spray. The bottle is tiny and easily stays in the bag. Might be significantly more expensive than the tape. I just do not know.
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