How To Use Your Divots To Improve Your Golf Game

When you hit iron shots you should make a divot, and you can learn a lot from your divots that you can use to improve your golf game. In this article I’m going to tell you what you can learn from your divots to improve your game. Let’s start by looking at the general direction of your divots.

The direction your divots are pointing indicates the path in which the club-head is coming into the ball.

So if your divot is pointing to the right of your target this means you’ve approached the ball from the inside. If your divots are pointing to the left of your target it means that you’ve approached the ball from the outside. Then clearly if your divots are pointing straight at the target then you’ve come into the ball on a perfect path.

Apart from the club-head path the only other variable in relation to where the ball went is the club-face alignment at impact.

To help you with this here are the combinations of clubface at impact and swing path, so you can quickly tell what has happened after each golf shot you hit.

Divot Pointing Straight At Your Target

• If your club-face is square to the target at impact you’ll produce a straight shot.

• If your club-face is open to the target at impact you’ll produce a shot going straight to the right.

• If your club-face is closed to the target at impact you’ll produce a shot going straight to the left.

Divot Pointing To The Right Of Your Target

• If your club-face is pointing in the same direction as your divot at impact you’ll produce a straight push.

• If your club-face is aligned open to the direction of your divot at impact you’ll produce a shot going to the right and then fading/slicing making the ball finish way to the right of your target.

• If your club-face is aligned closed to the direction of your divot at impact you’ll produce a shot starting to the right and then drawing/hooking. This is generally a good golfer’s swing path. How closed the club-face is at impact will determine how good a shot this will be. Just slightly closed is the best way to hit this shot to produce a beautiful draw, and if it’s very closed it will create a horrible hook.

Divot Pointing To The Left Of Your Target

• If your club-face is pointing in the same direction as your divot at impact you’ll produce a straight pull.

• If your club-face is aligned open to the direction of your divot at impact you’ll produce a shot starting to the left and then fading/slicing. This is the classic banana slice shape of shot.

• If your club-face is aligned closed to the direction of your divot at impact you’ll produce a shot starting to the left and then drawing/hooking. The ball will end up way to far to the left of the target in this scenario.

When you’re looking at your divots the club’s path is the most important aspect because if you get the club-face square at impact that only matters if the path of the club head is traveling straight at your target as well.

So you should work on grooving a consistent club head path to help you hit better and more consistent golf shots.