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 some clean balls, an iron with a clean club face, and a Sharpie. You use the Sharpie to draw a thick straight line about 1 1/2 inches long on the ball's equator. Kirk recommends marking around a half dozen for the test.

You set one of the balls on the ground so the line is perpendicular to the ground and pointed toward the face of the club. Then all you have to do is hit it and take a look at the Sharpie mark that it leaves on the club 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 wants you to look for. If you had all 5 on the club face, it would look something like this:

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

You'll only get one mark. Here's what it will tell you.

• 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.

Pretty cool, huh? If you're consistently hitting bad shots, it might be worth using this tip to make sure that ill-fitting equipment isn't the cause.

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