Lower Your Golf Score by Trying to See the Ball at Impact

Many high handicap golfers fall prey to the naturalstruck by my divot." Four out of five said they were
tendency of wanting to see where their golf shots areable to see the path of the club head through the
headed as they are swinging. Their heads come upimpact zone. "I could tell whether the club head was
and out of the shot before they strike the ball. It is likecoming from the inside, square or outside." Only one
trying to hit a nail with a hammer without looking at theout of five said they actually could see the ball at
nail. An errant hit often occurs on the nail and likewise,impact. "The speed of the driver club head is so fast
on the ball. More often than not, when the golfer's headthat I really can't say I see the club head hit the ball." "I
comes up, the result is a topped shot, a push, a slice, asee the ball by feel," were the most common
hook, a hit behind the ball and at worse, a whiff. Oftenresponses.
the ball moves very little or is not in play. A high scoreInterestingly, almost all interviewees said that to see
results.the path of the club head, or the divot, or the ball at
Professional golfers and low handicap golfers learnedimpact, if possible, it was important to keep the head
early on that they must keep their heads back andback and behind the ball into the impact zone. The high
behind the ball through impact. It is this "head back"handicap golfer may have to develop new muscle
aspect of the golf swing that enables them to makememory to break the bad habit and natural tendency
solid hits and to keep the ball in play. If one were toof coming up and out of the shot to see the flight of
examine photos of their swings, it can easily be seenthe ball. A training aid that gives tactile feedback about
that their heads are in fact well behind the ball throughhead movement is most useful in developing and
the impact zone.accelerating the new muscle memory required to
Over 50 such pros and scratch golfers werebreak this habit and natural tendency.
interviewed to learn what they had to say aboutLearn to stay back and behind the ball through impact.
seeing the ball at impact. Almost 100% said that theyTry to see the ball, the path of the club head or the
saw the divots on their lofted iron shots. "I could telldivot through the impact zone to keep the ball in play
where the ball was headed and how well it wasand quickly lower your scores.