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Understanding How the Clubface Works
By Keith Stewart, PGA
Published on
Missouri University, Jess Yuen hits her tee shot on the first hole during the first round of the 2021 PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship held at TPC Sawgrass on May 3, 2021 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Montana Pritchard/PGA of America)
Understanding how the clubface works and how we can control it is vital toward our success on the course. It’s the only area in the entire golf swing that actually comes into contact with the ball.
Before we get the wheels in motion, let’s first talk about a few details as it relates to the contact zone.
- Take a quick look at your grip. Believe it or not, your lead hand can control the direction you hit the ball. The relationship between that grip and the face is very important. When you look down at the back of your lead hand, how many knuckles do you see? If you see three, that means the face is set to pull the ball. Two knuckles define a neutral ball flight or straighter trajectory. One knuckle and that weak grip will send the ball out with a push from your target line.
Tiger Woods on the driving range during a practice round of the 102nd PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park on August 5, 2020 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)
- How does the face sit on the ground? When you lay the club down, which way is the face pointing? It should be pointing toward our target, but as a PGA Coach I can tell you that’s not always the case. When you lay that club down at address, make sure the grooves sit perpendicular to the target line.
- The direction of the face changes throughout the swing. This is why ball position becomes so important. When you rest that clubhead down behind the ball, make sure it is in the correct position between your two feet. Experiment with moving the ball around in your stance. Then lay the club behind the ball. You will quickly see how important ball position becomes with respect to the face direction.
A contestant practices on the practice range during the second round of the 2021 PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship held at TPC Sawgrass on May 4, 2021 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Montana Pritchard/PGA of America)
One of the biggest challenges in golf is alignment. We aren’t always blessed on the course with a simple direction to aim and hit the ball. This is where the clubface can be an essential tool. If you don’t do this already, start building your stance from the clubface rather than your feet. Players plant their feet before they set the clubface down. Start doing it the opposite way and follow these steps.
Leah Onosato of Old Dominion lines her shot from the sixth tee during the first round for the 2022 PGA Works Collegiate Championship at The Union League Liberty Hill on May 2, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Matt Hahn/PGA of America)
- Stand directly behind the ball.
- Draw a line in your mind from the target back to the ball. That’s your target line.
- Walk into your address position alongside the ball and point the clubface down that imaginary target line.
- From there, set your trail foot down. By placing the back foot in the address position first, we can still see easily down our target line.
- Now step in with the lead foot. Make sure those lead toes do NOT look any closer to the ball than the trail ones.
- Now it’s time to swing
Understanding how the clubface relates to your hands will change your game. Building your alignment for every swing including putts will help you become more accurate.
