A clever way to learn about your swing without a launch monitor

Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.

With winter weather and col temperatures greeting much of the country, the golf offseason is officially here. And while that may not be welcome news to most, it does represent an opportunity for improvement.

If you’re smart about the way you practice, you can come out of the winter a much better golfer. No, you likely won’t be able to practice these skills outside on the course, but you can revamp your game practicing inside.

Using a launch monitor and simulator will give you lots of feedback on your swing and give you an idea of what to work on. But even without the benefit of technology, you can learn a lot about your club path and strike pattern just by looking at the tee marks on your clubs. GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood explains more in the video below.

Learn about your swing looking at tee marks

After using your driver (or other woods) for a while, you’ll start to notice some marks on the face and sole from where the tee is contacting the club. But before you wash off those marks, take note of the patterns you see.

“You can learn a lot about the path of your golf club from the tee marks underneath it,” Yarwood says.

In the video above, Yarwood notes that the tee marks on his driver are cutting across from the top left to the bottom right of the sole. From this pattern, he can immediately tell that his club path is working from inside to out through the impact zone. If his swing path were outside to in, those marks would be moving in the opposite direction, from upper right to lower left of the sole.

You can also see where on the face you’re hitting the ball by looking at these tee marks. If the tee marks are mostly around the center of the face, you’re doing something right. However, if these marks are scattered around the face, you’ll want to work on improving the quality of the strike.

“[The tee marks] tell the tale,” Yarwood says.

For those without access to a launch monitor, this is a clever way to learn about your swing — and understand what needs to improve.