Hitting towards the heel

[Boris]

My most common miss is to hit towards the heel of the club and spray the shot right (I'm a righty). No slice, just a straight push. If I really shank it I'll hit the hozzle. Any advice?

[mad_hatter]

Did the same thing with my driver. Standing farther from the ball worked for me

[thisnamedoesntfi]

Standing further away will often make you shank it more due to having to reach with your hands toward the ball on the downswing.

Generally players hit the ball in the heel because they get their hands too far ahead at impact, and when this gets worse it leads to shanks.

Check that the ball is not positioned behind center for your mid and short irons. If that isn't your problem then you are most likely trying to hit the ball with your hands instead of with the club head. That would put you the majority as that is what 99% of amateurs do.

[Acein8ter]

We really need to see your swing to troubleshoot. If you have a solid swing, I would say that your swing plane is too flat. This pushes your club head further away from your body at impact resulting with contact at the heel.

[LimitGod]

rotate your body faster through impact

[JTrout]

[ QUOTE ]
Standing further away will often make you shank it more due to having to reach with your hands toward the ball on the downswing.

Generally players hit the ball in the heel because they get their hands too far ahead at impact, and when this gets worse it leads to shanks.

Check that the ball is not positioned behind center for your mid and short irons. If that isn't your problem then you are most likely trying to hit the ball with your hands instead of with the club head. That would put you the majority as that is what 99% of amateurs do.

[/ QUOTE ]

[esad]

I just went through having to fix this and it was long and painful process. As others have stated, standing further away from the ball won't help. If you can setup to the ball and take a normal swing and miss the ball on the inside then you are not standing too close.

There are a few problems that can cause this, the most likely is that you are coming over the top and closing the clubface before impact. My problem wasn't coming over the top, I would take the club back on plane and start the downswing on plane, but about a foot before I hit the ball I would open my shoulders too much which would move the club out and over the ball. So, I was "coming over the top" in like the last 2 feet of the shot. I had to go to my Pro, because I couldn't really detect it. Weird and it took forever to correct. On of those bad swing habits that just kept getting worse. It made playing golf very unenjoyable.

This can also be caused by keeping your shoulders closed at impact and not turning your body through the shot. If your shoulders are closed there is nowhere for the club to go except out away from your body.

Also as was noted above, there is a tendency for people to try to hit the ball with their hands. The hands are connected to the staff of the club and not the clubface. You can correct this trying two things; 1. Try and hit the ball off the toe, this will usually cause you hit the ball in the center of the clubface or 2. Turn the club around and grip it below the clubhead. Now take practice swings, by missing the ball on the inside of the ball with the grip end of the club. That should get you the feel of the correct position of the hands to hit it in the center of the clubface.

You really either need to go see someone or post a video though to be sure. It's really hard to tell what your problem is without seeing the swing.

[dizong]

As others have suggested, the reasons for this can be different. For me, the fixes were both of the following:

1) Bring hands in closer to my body during impact with more of an inside follow-through (i.e., to the left)
2) Allow hands to turn over during downswing by not tensing up

Get a lesson. Worked for me.

[black knight]

Take the club a little more inside on the way back.

[LimitGod]

Rotate your body harder through impact