Troubleshooting Your Swing (and Clubs) with a Sharpie

The June issue of Golf Magazine has a really neat tip from teacher Kevin Kirk to help you determine the cause of consistently bad shots. It's so neat that I just have to pass it on.

Basically all you need are a few easy balls, an iron with a smooth club face, and a Sharpie. You use the Sharpie to draw a thick straight line about 1 half inches long on the ball's equator. Kirk recommends marking round a half dozen for the check.

You set one of the balls at the floor so the road is perpendicular to the floor and pointed closer to the face of the membership. Then all you need to do is hit it and take a look at the Sharpie mark that it leaves on the membership face.

Now I know what you're thinking. You've heard this little tip before and it tells you if you're hitting the ball in the center of the club face. That's true... but Kirk's tip tells you much more!

There are 5 marks that Kirk desires you to look for. If you had all five at the membership face, it might look something like this:

[toe of club]     |     \|/     | [heel of club]

A immediately vertical line near the toe tells you that you have an out-to-in (pull) swing.A line with the pinnacle angled toward the toe (this is this mark ) tells you that your irons are too upright -- that is, the toe is lifted up at effect.A straight vertical line in the middle of the face tells you that you're hitting the ball squarely AND your clubs are suit well on your swing. THIS IS THE ONE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!A line with the top angled in the direction of the heel (this is this mark /) tells you that your irons are too flat -- that is, the heel is lifted up at effect.A directly vertical line near the heel tells you which you have an in-to-out (push) swing.

• A straight vertical line near the toe tells you that you have an out-to-in (pull) swing.
• A line with the top angled toward the toe (that's this mark \) tells you that your irons are too upright -- that is, the toe is lifted up at impact.
• A straight vertical line in the center of the face tells you that you're hitting the ball squarely AND your clubs are fit properly for your swing. THIS IS THE ONE YOU'RE LOOKING FOR!
• A line with the top angled toward the heel (that's this mark /) tells you that your irons are too flat -- that is, the heel is lifted up at impact.
• A straight vertical line near the heel tells you that you have an in-to-out (push) swing.

I suppose you could also get slanted lines near the toe or the heel as well as in the center of the face. If so, the top of the slant would point toward the part of the club that's not touching the ground at impact.

The tip is on web page 62 of the June trouble of Golf Magazine. I couldn't find it at the internet site.

The tip is on page 62 of the June issue of Golf Magazine. I couldn't find it at the website.