Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com series in which we’re sharing improvements, learnings and takeaways from amateur golfers just like you — including some of the speed bumps and challenges they faced along the way.
Like many of you, I’ve got a bad tendency to slice, hook, chunk, and top the hell out of the golf ball. While it’s not all the time, it happens enough that I’m costing myself a handful of strokes each round — which inflates my frustration and deflates my confidence.
It’s one thing to have a consistent mishit, but it’s another thing to spray the ball all over the course without much understanding as to why it happens.
But during a recent lesson with GOLF Top 100 Teacher John Scott Rattan, he not only quickly identified the problem with me — which turned out to be a funky clubface at address — but also offered up a simple hack to correct the issue.
Try this tip to square the clubface
In the video above, Rattan says one of the things he sees a lot with amateurs (with me as the guinea pig), is forgetting to square the clubface at address. It’s something that can often be overlooked when setting up to the ball — but will have an enormous impact on the outcome of any shot.
“Before he even starts, he sets up the club with a shut face,” Rattan says. “See how it’s pointed more at about 11 o’clock? We always want to grip it with a square face, so you’re better off gripping it open at about 1 o’clock than you are closed.
“You have no incentive to shut the face if it’s already closed, and your path is always going to go left of your target.”
So how can you address the ball with a square clubface? Rattan says use a “stand up grip.”
“Stand up, unhinge your wrist, set the club and then grip it, set it down [to the ground], and then address the ball,” he explains. “It’s going to feel like the face is open.”
Rattan then shares why this type of clubface control is crucial when trying to hit draws.
“The first thing for a draw is to get the face pointed to the right of the target at impact,” he says. “So we want to have it start there a little bit better.”
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