Driver Sole Marks

[fixyurdivot]

What do the tee marks on the sole of your driver say about your swing path?  While waiting on a tee yesterday, I was looking at all the tee marks and wondering whether they say anything about my ball striking.  A square to face path would, I should think, be making marks more centered?  Can anything be gleaned about our swings from these marks?  What do the marks on your driver look like?  I'd love to see the difference from our forums scratch level players.

 

[RickyBobby_PR]

I don’t have any tee marks on my current drivers and I typically don’t have a driver in my bag more than 1-2 seasons and really don’t see anywhere near the wear and tear on the sole like you show. 
 

looking at yours it looks like you make a lot of contact towards the toe. Could be out to in path or too far in to out.  How do those marks compare to what you see on face contact?

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I have been playing the G400 for the past 4 years. I purchased it new and for the most part it still looks new. This driver has seen at a minimum of 200 rounds. Then add in range time. So a rough estimate would be 2600 tee shots and maybe another 2000 on the range. The only markings are at the bottom of the face. These are the white paint markings from the tee. I didn't clean the club either. Took the head cover off and took the pictures.

 

                           

                           

[cnosil]

Here's mine,  probably similar usage to Tom's.  Didn't take a picture of the face but similar marks from the plastic tees;  they are also on the bottom of the club as well.  

 

[dlow206]

An instructor once told me that the tee marks look good on the bottom of my driver but i didnt ask any more questions

[russtopherb]

All my marks say is "clean me!!!!!" 

[fixyurdivot]

7 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

I don’t have any tee marks on my current drivers and I typically don’t have a driver in my bag more than 1-2 seasons and really don’t see anywhere near the wear and tear on the sole like you show. 
 

looking at yours it looks like you make a lot of contact towards the toe. Could be out to in path or too far in to out.  How do those marks compare to what you see on face contact?

My tendency on the face is to be a whisker toe side. I've not cleaned these from the sole in some time now but refresh the face about every round.  

 

7 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I have been playing the G400 for the past 4 years. I purchased it new and for the most part it still looks new. This driver has seen at a minimum of 200 rounds. Then add in range time. So a rough estimate would be 2600 tee shots and maybe another 2000 on the range. The only markings are at the bottom of the face. These are the white paint markings from the tee. I didn't clean the club either. Took the head cover off and took the pictures.

 

                           

                           

Well now, I'd say that is a significant difference.  It looks like the G400 has more of a relief in the rear/trailing area where most of my marks are.  The few marks I see on yours (and @cnosil) seem to be heading to that same area - and might leave a mark were it not relieved?  It would be interesting if I had a G400 to put in play for a bit. Bottom-line is that those marks are drag and drag is a vector in the wrong direction! 

Hope others will share their driver sole fingerprints.  Perhaps some patterns will emerge that speaks to both swing path and/or sole design.

 

[dlow206]

i've also noticed, i can see tee marks clearly on my Callaway driver, but not so much on my Titleist driver, just do to difference in material or difference in color of the sole. 

[Kenny B]

13 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

What do the tee marks on the sole of your driver say about your swing path?  While waiting on a tee yesterday, I was looking at all the tee marks and wondering whether they say anything about my ball striking.  A square to face path would, I should think, be making marks more centered?  Can anything be gleaned about our swings from these marks?  What do the marks on your driver look like?  I'd love to see the difference from our forums scratch level players.

 

I think I see the mark you left when you went way right on #1 at Circling Raven this summer... just above the G  

I usually use a plastic tee that doesn't leave marks, but the last round I played on Wednesday I grabbed a white wooden tee.  Never looked at it until now.

[fixyurdivot]

8 hours ago, Kenny B said:

I think I see the mark you left when you went way right on #1 at Circling Raven this summer... just above the G  

I usually use a plastic tee that doesn't leave marks, but the last round I played on Wednesday I grabbed a white wooden tee.  Never looked at it until now.

Those marks look perpendicular and centerline to the face.... boring .

I use plastic tees and noticed these marks while doing my G410P testing/review.  I tried keeping them cleaned off but they're a bugger to remove.  That area has a matte finish that seems to accentuate the level of marking.  I wonder if fitters could examine a driver sole and predict swing path before seeing the swing?

[Kenny B]

1 hour ago, fixyurdivot said:

Those marks look perpendicular and centerline to the face.... boring .

I use plastic tees and noticed these marks while doing my G410P testing/review.  I tried keeping them cleaned off but they're a bugger to remove.  That area has a matte finish that seems to accentuate the level of marking.  I wonder if fitters could examine a driver sole and predict swing path before seeing the swing?

Well, I could say that since your marks extend across the entire sole, you have a much steeper AoA than I do.  Is the tee in contact longer? ... but that's just a guess on my part.  I know that I typically hit up about 5º.

[Shapotomous]

All I can say about my tee marks is that they are generally on the bottom of my driver.  

They aren't as straight as @KennyBbut not as diagonal as @fixyurdivot  .

[Middler]

The marks on the face and sole of my driver vary but they look more respectable than my actual results... 

[fixyurdivot]

This, according to Michael Breed.  

https://www.golfchannel.com/video/michael-breed-answers-email-about-driver-tee-marks

On 12/4/2021 at 7:59 AM, Kenny B said:

Well, I could say that since your marks extend across the entire sole, you have a much steeper AoA than I do.  Is the tee in contact longer? ... but that's just a guess on my part.  I know that I typically hit up about 5º.

Just looked at my three fitting sessions and the driver AOA averages -0.5 deg. According to Trackman, the average tour pro AOA is -1.5 (so you've got some work to do Kenny ). It's clear from the wear/burnishing of the LE that I'm catching the ground more often than I should be, however, my pre-shot routine includes a sweep pass and that is no doubt contributing.  As @RickyBobby_PRpointed out above, and from my face marks/toe side tendency, the resultant sole marks are from the head twist. 

I've been doing so well finding fairways for the past few months that I almost hate to mess with the driver routine. But hitting closer to center will certainly add more distance, so what little change might I try to move closer to the bullseye - moving just a wee bit closer to the ball immediately comes to mind?

 

 

 

[Kenny B]

7 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

This, according to Michael Breed.  

https://www.golfchannel.com/video/michael-breed-answers-email-about-driver-tee-marks

Just looked at my three fitting sessions and the driver AOA averages -0.5 deg. According to Trackman, the average tour pro AOA is -1.5 (so you've got some work to do Kenny ). It's clear from the wear/burnishing of the LE that I'm catching the ground more often than I should be, however, my pre-shot routine includes a sweep pass and that is no doubt contributing.  As @RickyBobby_PRpointed out above, and from my face marks/toe side tendency, the resultant sole marks are from the head twist. 

I've been doing so well finding fairways for the past few months that I almost hate to mess with the driver routine. But hitting closer to center will certainly add more distance, so what little change might I try to move closer to the bullseye - moving just a wee bit closer to the ball immediately comes to mind?

 

 

 

LOL.  Hitting down helps with control but at the expense of distance.  Pros can afford to give up a little distance for straighter shots.  I can't!!  I need to flatten my swing at the bottom a little more, because my tendency when hitting up at 5º is to hit shots off the bottom of the club face... no good!  I'm working on it.

Most ams, including me, tend to not sync their arms correctly with their rotation in the downswing.  As a result the body turns before the hands can get the club into slot.  I've worked hard on that all summer.  I have to feel like I start my arms down and delay any rotation; slo-mo drills.  Feels weird to start with, but it gets better with practice.  Check many recent posts on Instagram by Monte Scheinblum showing Rory, Tiger, and Justin Rose.

[fixyurdivot]

The new KBS TD shaft has a lower torque than the Alta CB Red and that should be helping reduce twist.  Now I just need to find a driver that makes me hit it dead center .  To be fair, most of these marks could have been from the PING shaft.  I spent a little time cleaning them off and will now keep track to see if they have moved towards center.

[dlow206]

Sharing my tee marks as a high-handicapper

[RickyBobby_PR]

57 minutes ago, fixyurdivot said:

The new KBS TD shaft has a lower torque than the Alta CB Red and that should be helping reduce twist.  Now I just need to find a driver that makes me hit it dead center .  To be fair, most of these marks could have been from the PING shaft.  I spent a little time cleaning them off and will now keep track to see if they have moved towards center.

Torque these days is more about feel than twist. While it’s still related to twist it’s not the same low torque race that it was 20 years ago. It’s also about twist at impact than kn the swing itself. There’s a lot more that goes into the subject. 
 

Also like stiffness there is no industry standard on torque. There are different machines used by different companies, also shaft companies measure in different spots so unless you know that company a and b measure in the same way using free same machine competing torque is futile as a way to pick a shaft or detrimine how it will feel or perform