TIP OF THE WEEK

SECOND to controlling the angle of the clubface is your ability to control the path of the club head to the impact point.

The path of the downswing plane is not a random event where the club head will magically arrive on the correct path and correct angle each time.

To strike the ball well and hit the ball straight enough, to keep you happy, you have to swing the club head with control.

To strike the ball consistently the club head needs to arrive at the ball on a neutral path that is something close to parallel to the target line.

If the club head is travelling too far to the left or to the right, then the contact will be compromised and the starting point of the flight will be offline.

If the angle of attack of the club head is too steep, then you will struggle to hit the centre of the face or, if you do, then the ball will certainly spin far too much and not go far enough.

If the angle of attack is too shallow then you will either hit the ground before the ball or you will have trouble with topping the ball.

Now, having said that, getting the club head to swing at the ball correctly is not that easy, otherwise everybody would have a single-figure handicap.

A simple way to improve the path is to practice with a club on the ground parallel to the target line about six inches from the ball. Hit shots at very low speed but instead of watching the ball watch the path of the club.

If you are swinging slow enough you will see your path and you can make the adjustments according to what you see. Remember that the ball is telling you what is going on.

It can only fly straight down the target line if the path and face match each other and the swing path is near to neutral.

Trust what you see and see some more consistent striking.