10 fixes to stop ‘toe-ing’ your shots
You deserve to hit the ball more pure. Here's how.
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When you’re not hitting the ball flush, do you tend to hit the toe of your club? Like off the end of it, furthest from your body? If so, it sure can lead to frustration — especially if you don’t have answers.
By hitting the toe, it can feel as if the club is twisting in your hands, and can cause your ball to go anywhere but where you want it to go.
While proper setup, posture, and swing path can certainly help correct the problem, I’m giving you a few drills that can also lend a hand, helping you avoid the toe and leading to more shots striking the center of the club.
1. Posture and spacing — get closer
Believe it or not, hitting the toe on golf shots can be as simple as standing too far away from your ball. When this happens, you tend to reach too much, making it nearly impossible to hit the center of the clubface.
Ideally, your hands will hang directly below your shoulders and not be at a diagonal position (which occurs when you’re standing too far away at address).
With the right golf posture and spacing, you’ll be able to complete your swing and make great contact.
2. Square clubface — Grip
To help square your clubface at impact, take a look at any grip adjustments you need to make. By having the correct grip, it’ll be so much easier for you to hit the center of the clubface.
Your trail hand should cover the thumb of your lead hand, resting more on the side of the club. And while each golfer is different in the way that they hold the club, a ball flight that doesn’t have a ton of curve is a good indicator that you have a relatively square clubface.
3. Setting club properly on its bottom
Since all clubs have different lofts, setting your club properly on the ground behind your ball may be tricky.
To help you determine where the club should be, look for the markings on the grip of your club. There’s often a tick mark on the bottom of the grip, and, when that’s centered, the club is properly sitting correctly.
I’m amazed at how many golfers have no idea that this is there, and are shocked when I show it to them.
4. Allow your arms to extend down
When you make a proper backswing, your trail elbow will fold. But to get the ball into the air, you should actively straighten that elbow straight down.
If you’re willing to extend this arm all the way, it’s much more likely that you’ll hit the center of the clubface. If you incorrectly try to lift the ball and pull the elbow back, you’ll likely hit the toe of the club.
Remember, both arms should be extended down toward the ground at impact and beyond.
5. Swing path — more in to out
If your swing path tends to be over-the-top, you’re likely going to hit the toe of the club.
When the clubhead moves across this path and away from the target line, it’s much less likely to have center face contact.
So always try to keep your hands in all the way through, creating a more inside-out path.
6. Two Tee drill
One of my all-time favorite drills is the Two Tee drill; which will help you hit the center of your clubface.
Simply place a tee in the ground on both sides of the ball and have your clubhead pass through the middle, avoiding contact with either tee. If you’re unable to do this, you’ll likely hit the toe (or heel), causing an errant shot.
Not only is this a great practice drill, but it provides instant feedback for both setup and path.
7. Scrape the forward tee
Another good drill for instant ball-striking feedback.
First, place a tee flat on the ground and on the target side of the ball, pointing towards the target. Now try to keep your clubhead low enough to the ground on the target side of the ball to scrape the tee off of the ground and into the air. When done successfully, this will help with both contact and launch angle.
Even though you won’t see it, with proper contact, the ball will launch right over the tee, meaning the clubhead scraped the tee off of the ground.
8. Check your aim – this influences the path
A golfer who aims too far right of the target oftentimes tries to reroute the club on the downswing, causing an over-the-top swing path. This will lead to toe contact more times than not.
Aiming and aligning isn’t always intuitive, so using alignment aids (like these alignment sticks) is important in order to feel a good swing path.
9. Get clubs that fit you
You wouldn’t wear pants that don’t fit for a job interview, so why play golf with clubs that don’t fit your swing?
When using clubs that are either too long or too short, you’re increasing the chances of hitting the toe of the club, because your posture and spacing won’t be correct.
If you’re looking for new clubs from expert fitters, I always recommend True Spec, as they go through a comprehensive process in order to build the perfect clubs just for you.
10. Start the ball more towards the heel
The longer the club, the farther your eyeline is from being over the target line. This is something that can be very challenging for amateur players, leading to mishits.
If you tend to hit the ball off the toe, start by setting the ball a bit more toward the heel at address. This minor adjustment may do just enough to help move contact from the toe to the center of the clubface.
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