The fix for Face open at impact

Fixing an open clubface at impact

What is actually happening

The clubface is pointing right of where the club is travelling when it meets the ball. Start direction is governed almost entirely by where the face points at impact, and the curve comes from how far the face sits open to the path. An open face is why the ball starts right, curves right, and loses height-adjusted distance: loft is effectively added as the face rotates open.

Target line
Club path
Clubface

Path on line, face open to it

The fix

At impact the clubface is pointing right of the direction the club is travelling. For a right-handed golfer the face has not turned back to square by the time it reaches the ball; left-handers should mirror every direction on this page. The path can be perfectly reasonable here. The face is the part that is wrong.

Two things follow, and they are worth keeping apart. Where the face points at impact mostly decides where the ball starts, so a face aimed right of the target sends the ball off right. The difference between face and path decides the curve, so a face open to the path bends the ball further right once it is in the air. An open face also adds loft to the strike, which is why the shot climbs higher than the club should send it and comes down short. The result is the weak, high ball that starts right and finishes further right.

That start line is what separates this from an out-to-in path, even though both can produce a slice. With an out-to-in path the ball usually starts left of the target and curves back, and the divots point left. With an open face the ball starts at the target or right of it, and the divots point at the target or slightly right. If the face already points right when you sole the club at address, the fault is aim rather than delivery, and it has its own page. If the ball starts left on some swings and right on others, the face is varying rather than staying open, which is a different fix again.

You can confirm it with a phone and a bucket of balls. Hit ten with a mid-iron at a clear target and note where each one starts in the first few metres, before it bends. Most of them starting right is the first sign. Then look at the divots: pointing at the target or right of it rules out a path travelling left. Finally, film from behind, down the target line, and pause where the shaft is level with the ground on the way through. A face still turned up toward the sky at that point, rather than the toe pointing up, is an open face you can see.

The face angle at impact is mostly settled by how the hands sit on the grip and by what the lead wrist and forearms do between the top of the swing and the ball. Check the grip first, because it costs nothing. Looking down at address you should see about two knuckles on the top hand. One knuckle or none makes the open face your default, and the weak grip page is the better place to start. With the grip in order, the change happens through the ball: the forearms rotate so the toe of the club passes the heel after impact, and the toe points up by the time the shaft is level with the ground on the follow-through.

The instinctive fix is to aim further left to leave room for the curve, and it reliably makes things worse. The path tends to follow the body, so aiming left swings the club more to the left, and a face that is still open now sits even further open to that path. The ball starts closer to the target and curves more. The other instinct, gripping harder and trying to steer the ball straight, tenses the forearms that need to rotate and leaves the face more open still. Aim square, hold the club no tighter than you need to control it, and let the face turn over.

Expect the miss to change shape before it goes. The first sign of progress is a ball that starts on line and curves less. The occasional ball that starts left and draws means the face has turned past the path for once. Ease off the feel when that happens rather than abandoning it.

Drills

Work through them in order. Each one says what it needs before you start.

Toe up to toe up
Take a mid-iron and make swings that stop when the shaft is level with the ground, first on the way back and then on the way through. At both stops look at the toe: it should point roughly at the sky, with the face not turned up to look at it. Make ten rehearsals without a ball, then hit ten balls with the same short motion. Success is a ball that starts at the target and curves very little. When eight of ten do that, lengthen to three-quarter swings, then full ones, keeping the through-swing check.
Needs nothing but a club
Split-hand half shots
Grip the club with your hands a hand's width apart, the trail hand lower down the handle, and hit half shots with a mid-iron off a low tee. The gap makes the forearm rotation impossible to miss: you feel the trail forearm roll over the lead one through the ball. Hit fifteen, then put the hands back together and hit five chasing the same feeling. Success is the together-hands shots starting on line as often as the split ones. When they do, move to three-quarter and then full swings.
Needs A tee
Level swings, then tilt
Hold the club out in front at chest height, shaft level with the ground, and make slow swings around your body as if the ball were sitting on a post. Watch the toe point up going back and turn over after the imaginary strike, so the face ends up looking at the ground past the target. Make ten, then bend a third of the way toward your address posture and make ten more with the same rotation. Repeat until you are at address, then hit five half shots. Progress to full swings when those half shots start on line.
Needs nothing but a club
Start-line gate
Push two alignment sticks upright into the ground about ten paces ahead, either side of your target line and two paces apart. Hit twenty three-quarter shots with a mid-iron and count how many start through the gap. Anything starting right of the right-hand stick is the open face still showing. Success is fifteen of twenty through the gap. When you reach it, narrow the gap by half a pace; once you clear that, take the same gate to full swings and then to longer clubs.
Needs Two alignment sticks

Browse every drill on the site

Practice plan and log

Practise this fix, day by day

Keep a dated log of every session against this fix, so in a few weeks you can read back whether the change has taken instead of trying to remember.

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Or turn this fix into a practice plan

With a free account, the drills above become a 14-day plan: the setup checks and the first drill for three days, then the next drill, a rest day every fourth day, and a re-test on the last day that sends you back through the questions. Each day is a short list to tick off at the range, with reminders by email or in your calendar if you want them.

How the 14 days run

Day 1Ten balls as a baseline, then the setup checks and the first drill
Days 2 to 3The first drill again, one checkpoint and one feel a day
Day 4Rest, as are days 8 and 12
Days 5 to 11The next drills in turn, each warmed up by the one before
Day 13Every drill once, then every checkpoint
Day 14Re-test: the baseline again and the questions for your symptom

Checkpoints

What to look for to know whether the change has taken.

At address, checked from behind the ball before you take your stance, the leading edge sits square to the target line rather than turned open.
Looking down at address you can see about two knuckles on your top hand.
At the top of the swing the lead wrist is flat or close to it, in line with the forearm, rather than cupped back.
Filmed from behind, the toe points roughly up when the shaft is level with the ground after impact, rather than the face still looking at the sky.
Divots point at the target, and the ball starts at the target instead of right of it.

Feels

A feel is not a description of what the club does. It is whatever gets your body to do it, and a correct change usually feels exaggerated long before it looks correct.

The back of your lead hand turns to face the ground just after the ball has gone.
The toe of the club races the heel to the target.
Your trail forearm rolls over the lead one through the strike, the way a forehand rolls over a tennis ball.

Symptoms that lead here

Each of these can resolve to this cause. If the page above does not match what you are seeing, start from the symptom instead and let the questions narrow it.

If this is not it: causes that produce the same shots

What this rests on

40+ TrackMan Parameters ExplainedTrackMan, accessed 2026
The Influence of Face Angle and Club Path on the Resultant Launch Angle of a Golf BallPaul Wood, Erik Henrikson, Chris Broadie, 2018
How to Use Face to Path Data to Improve Your GolfFlightScope, accessed 2026
Search for the Perfect Swing: The Proven Scientific Approach to Fundamentally Improving Your GameAlastair Cochran and John Stobbs, for the Golf Society of Great Britain, 2005 reissue, originally 1968

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