Driver question - when you miss center of driver face?

jhd12

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When you miss the center of your driver's face, which is less punishing for you - a hit on the heel or a hit on the toe?

Thank you for sharing your thoughts/experiences.
 
I guess it depends on how you define punishing. When considering ball speed retention it’s toe, and I think that’s universal across all drivers. BUT, that ball speed retention can cause the ball to hook off the planet, where as the loss of speed on a heel shot may help keep it in play (or at lease somewhere you can find it).
 
I get a lot more out of a toe miss than a heal miss. I typically aim down the right side of the fairway for a draw so a toe miss is usually not near as penal for me from a directional standpoint as it could be if I lined up for a fade.
 
Toe for me is more forgiving but I also target drivers that forgive toe hits best as that's my usual miss.

When I played a Cobra ZL Encore, it absolutely punished toe contact for me as if all were a smothered and screaming hook. I actually stuck with it, hoping its lack of forgiveness there would help force myself to correct the flaw.

I'll never do that again.
 
I have an in-to-out path and if I hit too far out in the toe I am rewarded with a duck hook that carries about 150 yards (although it can roll another 100+ if conditions allow) while a heel strike still hits the fairway or just misses.
 
If its towards the heel I have more chance of finding it, I aim up the left side normally as I play a fade
 
i’ll say heel. a little added spin is usually better in terms of forgiveness than reducing spin. the heel strike feels awful though.


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If its towards the heel I have more chance of finding it, I aim up the left side normally as I play a fade
Same here only I am up the right cause I'm a lefty.

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Heel for me, last time out first couple swings I SMASHED it off the heel and immediately felt it. But the ball sailed left and had such a beautiful curve to it and still found the fairway, not too far from where I would have expected a typical drive to end up. I giggled a little and marked the scorecard as FIR!!!
 
The heel is the more penal miss for me, probably a high fade that will land two counties over. As much as I hate that no-spin duck hook my toe-side miss turns into, I can at least find it usually.
 
I hit one yesterday right off of the toe where it has the “twist face” wording on my m3 and was honestly surprised at how far it went and how little it went off line. A heel miss for me is usually an ugly result.
 
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