HELP! The Toe Shots are Killing Me!

[CB Lobo 4 Life]

Alright MGS Forum, 

 

I am in desperate need of some help. As of late, I can not seem to get rid of this dreaded toe shot that I have been plaques with. I don't have it all the time but lately, it has been my ever-present miss, and unfortunately, I can't seem to get rid of it. I have watched numerous videos trying to attempt to help me with it and For some reason, this keeps coming up. It seems to affect me most with Wood and Hybrid shots, but it also creeps up occasionally on the other clubs in my bag. I am also not entirely sure how it is happening either. I do feel that it is more associated with an over-the-top issue I seem to have, but it is small. I feel that at the top of my swing sometimes my transition gets fast and I swing too quickly with my shoulders. However, this is just a thought from days of practicing. 

 

I would love to hear from anyone here who has had this problem as well and seemed to fix it because simply I don't know what to do anymore. No amount of YouTube seems to work, and I am running out of Dry Shampoo to keep trying. Thank you all and hopefully anything I said above made sense regarding my issue. Would love to have this fixed before Saturday to help my other members of the Distinguished Gentleman get into the Match Play Playoffs haha. 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

I struggle with this as well as my arms tend to pull in. I try to intentionally hit the heel. I also practice moving face strike to get feels for it. When I need to do personally is remember this during actual rounds like today where I was struggling with my woods because of it. Good luck. Golf is hard. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

More than likely you are early extending and raising the handle which brings the toe on to play. 
 

but without a swing video from dtl and face on its hard to say what’s happening for sure 

[GolfSpy_APH]

16 hours ago, CB Lobo 4 Life said:

Alright MGS Forum, 

 

I am in desperate need of some help. As of late, I can not seem to get rid of this dreaded toe shot that I have been plaques with. I don't have it all the time but lately, it has been my ever-present miss, and unfortunately, I can't seem to get rid of it. I have watched numerous videos trying to attempt to help me with it and For some reason, this keeps coming up. It seems to affect me most with Wood and Hybrid shots, but it also creeps up occasionally on the other clubs in my bag. I am also not entirely sure how it is happening either. I do feel that it is more associated with an over-the-top issue I seem to have, but it is small. I feel that at the top of my swing sometimes my transition gets fast and I swing too quickly with my shoulders. However, this is just a thought from days of practicing. 

 

I would love to hear from anyone here who has had this problem as well and seemed to fix it because simply I don't know what to do anymore. No amount of YouTube seems to work, and I am running out of Dry Shampoo to keep trying. Thank you all and hopefully anything I said above made sense regarding my issue. Would love to have this fixed before Saturday to help my other members of the Distinguished Gentleman get into the Match Play Playoffs haha. 

Unfortunately I know this issue all too well and struggle with this same miss. If you do find a certain fix or solution I would love to know and maybe it could help me!

[Javs]

16 hours ago, CB Lobo 4 Life said:

Alright MGS Forum, 

 

I am in desperate need of some help. As of late, I can not seem to get rid of this dreaded toe shot that I have been plaques with. I don't have it all the time but lately, it has been my ever-present miss, and unfortunately, I can't seem to get rid of it. I have watched numerous videos trying to attempt to help me with it and For some reason, this keeps coming up. It seems to affect me most with Wood and Hybrid shots, but it also creeps up occasionally on the other clubs in my bag. I am also not entirely sure how it is happening either. I do feel that it is more associated with an over-the-top issue I seem to have, but it is small. I feel that at the top of my swing sometimes my transition gets fast and I swing too quickly with my shoulders. However, this is just a thought from days of practicing. 

 

I would love to hear from anyone here who has had this problem as well and seemed to fix it because simply I don't know what to do anymore. No amount of YouTube seems to work, and I am running out of Dry Shampoo to keep trying. Thank you all and hopefully anything I said above made sense regarding my issue. Would love to have this fixed before Saturday to help my other members of the Distinguished Gentleman get into the Match Play Playoffs haha. 

I am not a teaching pro and without watching your swing it could be hard to offer advice. However, for a quick fix: have you tried moving a hair closer to the ball or addressing it near the heel? Basically, opposite of what you would do for a shank quick fix. 

[RickyBobby_PR]

22 minutes ago, Javs said:

I am not a teaching pro and without watching your swing it could be hard to offer advice. However, for a quick fix: have you tried moving a hair closer to the ball or addressing it near the heel? Basically, opposite of what you would do for a shank quick fix. 

For a shank you don’t move further away from the ball at setup because that just makes things worse, so no doing the opposite of a shank fix is not what’s needed or should be tried.

it’s either a swig flaw that’s causing the handle to raise at impact or it’s possible the head weight it overall weigh of the club that’s the issue. 
 

And since the op says he doesn’t have it all the time it’s a pretty good indicator it’s more likely a swing issue. The issue didn’t just pop up, it’s always been there, it’s just that something changed in the timing of the swing that it’s become more prevalent 

[Dr Tee]

My coach suggested these fixes for me  when I started to get a little "toey":

1.  Move 1-2 ball diameters closer to the ball (ie just a bit)

2.  place a gate of two tees 1-2" outside both sides of the ball and make sure your path and contact stays between the tees.  Low point of your swing should be 1-3" past the ball with irons and hybrids.  As you get more precise you can bring the tees closer to the ball.

3.  stack a bit more weight on your left side during early transition and downswing ("heart to the ball"), make sure you "squat" into the ball to shallow the club and increase right side bend, then simply rotate thru the ball and do not come up out of your posture until after contact.

4.  make sure your alignment is square or a little closed

[Javs]

13 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

For a shank you don’t move further away from the ball at setup because that just makes things worse, so no doing the opposite of a shank fix is not what’s needed or should be tried.

it’s either a swig flaw that’s causing the handle to raise at impact or it’s possible the head weight it overall weigh of the club that’s the issue. 
 

And since the op says he doesn’t have it all the time it’s a pretty good indicator it’s more likely a swing issue. The issue didn’t just pop up, it’s always been there, it’s just that something changed in the timing of the swing that it’s become more prevalent 

I disagree with you on the shank. One of the reasons people shank is being too close to the ball. Then they do not have the space to clear. The result is the ball being hit with the hosel. However, as with any swing flaw there could be a number of things going on. Additionally, I did qualify I am not a teaching pro. Two we haven’t seen the swing in question. I only offered a quick fix. One that has worked for me.

[CB Lobo 4 Life]

Okay, so quick update to this. I think I found the underlying problem. I uploaded a swing of mine into the app "Golf Fix." After the upload was complete the very first "Bad" thing it mentioned was that I "Lay off the Club" at the top. After extensive research into what that actually is it seems like this could be my issue because It makes me go too over the top, and if I am not rotating my body like Dustin Johnson then I will be hitting it terribly. Here is the video/images below. If anyone has any suggestions for this please do let me know! Thank you all for posting as well! It means a lot!

Link to video and analysis: https://web.golffix.io/ai-report/eac00887-3b2b-42a3-8cf8-7a81328814da?utm_source=native-menu-share&utm_medium=reportshare&utm_campaign=aireport

[RickyBobby_PR]

12 minutes ago, Javs said:

I disagree with you on the shank. One of the reasons people shank is being too close to the ball. Then they do not have the space to clear. The result is the ball being hit with the hosel. However, as with any swing flaw there could be a number of things going on. Additionally, I did qualify I am not a teaching pro. Two we haven’t seen the swing in question. I only offered a quick fix. One that has worked for me.

They don’t shank because they are too close, they shank because the club moves further away from the golfer. For some the body  moves closer to the ball in the downswing which brings in the hosel.
 

when you stand further away from the ball it requires the arms to reach for the ball which will cause other errors and moving closer to the ball is a better fix for fixing shanks. moving further away and reaching as a compensation also brings the heel/hosel into play.

Also shanks can possibly come from a club that’s too heavy

And most hosel shots from from a closed face.

Making any suggestions on how to fix an issue without seeing a swing is fruitless 
 

[RickyBobby_PR]

12 minutes ago, CB Lobo 4 Life said:

Okay, so quick update to this. I think I found the underlying problem. I uploaded a swing of mine into the app "Golf Fix." After the upload was complete the very first "Bad" thing it mentioned was that I "Lay off the Club" at the top. After extensive research into what that actually is it seems like this could be my issue because It makes me go too over the top, and if I am not rotating my body like Dustin Johnson then I will be hitting it terribly. Here is the video/images below. If anyone has any suggestions for this please do let me know! Thank you all for posting as well! It means a lot!

Link to video and analysis: https://web.golffix.io/ai-report/eac00887-3b2b-42a3-8cf8-7a81328814da?utm_source=native-menu-share&utm_medium=reportshare&utm_campaign=aireport

So using a swing that doesn’t hit a ball doesn’t give a true representation of the swing because there’s not consequences for hitting the ball thus the compensation that out mind/body make for a club out of position isn’t seen.

Things that stand out in your swing is your setup isn’t optimal. Your are very upright and your balance points are off. The club is hanging under you a little too much almost like and iron. There should be a little more bend at the hips with the back of the arm pits inline with the balls of the feet, the hip, knees and ankles should be aligned.

now what you do in your swing is not getting any vertical wrist hinge which is why you are flat followed by some extra arm lift to get to the top because your hips aren’t rotating properly. Because of this you move the right hip towards the ball so your club moves out and causes an out to in path, not necessarily and over the top swing. 
 

moving closer to then all won’t fix these issues. 

 

[Javs]

1 hour ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

They don’t shank because they are too close, they shank because the club moves further away from the golfer. For some the body  moves closer to the ball in the downswing which brings in the hosel.
 

when you stand further away from the ball it requires the arms to reach for the ball which will cause other errors and moving closer to the ball is a better fix for fixing shanks. moving further away and reaching as a compensation also brings the heel/hosel into play.

Also shanks can possibly come from a club that’s too heavy

And most hosel shots from from a closed face.

Making any suggestions on how to fix an issue without seeing a swing is fruitless 
 

I did start this entire thing by saying we haven’t seen the swing. We are going to have to just disagree. Like I said there are numerous reasons for a shank. It can be from bringing the club from too far inside. It can be being too close to the ball and there is no enough space thus the hosel hits the ball. Or it can be from over the top and pulling the handle through first. Often a quick fix is to move slightly back from the ball and place a headcover or box on the outside of the ball. That will promote a better swing path. I offered a quick fix not a swing lesson. Golf is a game of opposites. You don’t correct a slice by continually aiming farther and farther left. That just makes the swing flaw worse. So, quick fix for toe is check distance from the ball and move in and a shack crest space and move away. Anyways I am just a 1 handicap that plays decent golf what would I know about the golf swing!

Edited September 22, 2023 by Javs

[CB Lobo 4 Life]

18 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Now what you do in your swing is not getting any vertical wrist hinge which is why you are flat followed by some extra arm lift to get to the top because your hips aren’t rotating properly. Because of this you move the right hip towards the ball so your club moves out and causes an out to in path, not necessarily and over the top swing. 
 

 

I definitely agree with you on the proper posture thing (not always been my strong suit in anything haha). However, when I do as you suggest (bend at the hip, and cover my lower body more appropriately) it seems the toe of the club comes up more (all clubs). I was always taught to have the club flat at address. If this is incorrect I am happy to adjust that way of thinking but it just looks weird to me at address.

Quoting you above because I guess this part is kind of confusing to me. I guess what is the "proper" hip feel? I thought rotating the hip thinking of the right side was correct...

[Javs]

To check your posture. Stand sideways in a mirror. Take a club place it behind with one hand running from your neck to your butt. Then bend at the hip. The club should be touching with butt out and chest up. Another check point: take the club hold it level straight out and then bend and place it on the ground. Without a club bend at the waist let your arms fall natural. Where they come together is the place to have them. Last thing make an address to the ball. Take the club back till it is back horizontal club toe up. Stop and turn. Then place the club down. It should be exactly at the same address position.

Edited September 22, 2023 by Javs

[RickyBobby_PR]

4 hours ago, CB Lobo 4 Life said:

I definitely agree with you on the proper posture thing (not always been my strong suit in anything haha). However, when I do as you suggest (bend at the hip, and cover my lower body more appropriately) it seems the toe of the club comes up more (all clubs). I was always taught to have the club flat at address. If this is incorrect I am happy to adjust that way of thinking but it just looks weird to me at address.

Quoting you above because I guess this part is kind of confusing to me. I guess what is the "proper" hip feel? I thought rotating the hip thinking of the right side was correct...

It’s possible your hands are too low at setup that causes that but would need to see the setup.

In some cases the toe could be up at address and be correct and correct at impact. 
 

The right side is what is supposed to be what moves. You don’t get pressure shifted into the right side so it doesn’t exactly go back and around, and is part of why it comes out in the downswing. Your pressure left is a little late too.

Also hips should move after the upper body has started it’s why I posted the video from monte 

[CB Lobo 4 Life]

18 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

It’s possible your hands are too low at setup that causes that but would need to see the setup.

In some cases the toe could be up at address and be correct and correct at impact. 
 

The right side is what is supposed to be what moves. You don’t get pressure shifted into the right side so it doesn’t exactly go back and around, and is part of why it comes out in the downswing. Your pressure left is a little late too.

Also hips should move after the upper body has started it’s why I posted the video from monte 

Was that the last video? Kind of been going through a lot of videos haha

 

[Javs]

You know the best advice at this point any of us can offer is to schedule some lessons with your local teaching pro. The below explain the why, but you need help with the fix. Especially since it sounds like there are a few issues going on.

 https://www.golfwrx.com/63875/clark-how-to-stop-hitting-the-toe/

https://www.golfmonthly.com/videos/long-game-tips/golf-shank-causes

Edited September 22, 2023 by Javs