Improve Face Control with Heel & Toe Side Training Drill

This drill teaches you one of the most important ball-flight skills in golf: controlling the clubface relative to your swing path. If you can change whether the heel or toe side of the clubhead feels like it arrives first, you can start to influence curvature on command. That matters because curve is not random. A ball that bends right or left is a direct result of the face-to-path relationship. This drill gives you a simple, feel-based way to train that relationship without getting lost in technical swing thoughts.

Tyler often breaks the swing into three major skill categories: creating speed, controlling path, and controlling face. This drill lives squarely in that third category. It is especially useful if you tend to push shots, over-fade the ball, hook it unexpectedly, or simply feel like you do not know where the face is during the swing. Instead of obsessing over positions, you train awareness of what the clubhead is doing through impact.

How the Drill Works

The idea is straightforward: you learn to sense whether the heel side or toe side of the clubhead is leading into impact.

If the heel leads the toe, the clubface is generally more open to the path, which tends to produce rightward curve for a right-handed golfer. If the toe leads the heel, the clubface is generally more closed to the path, which tends to produce leftward curve. If the heel and toe arrive in a photo finish, the face is closer to matching the path, and the ball will tend to fly straighter.

This is not primarily a target-line drill at first. It is a path-based face-control drill. That distinction matters. Many golfers try to manipulate the face based only on where they want the ball to start, but the real separator is learning how the face behaves relative to the direction the club is traveling. Once you can feel that, shaping shots becomes much more predictable.

Using an Object for Feedback

A yoga block, impact bag, or any safe soft object can help you exaggerate the feel. Start with the object around belly-button height rather than down at the ball. That makes it easier to sense the clubhead orientation without worrying about contact, turf, or strike quality.

When you rehearse:

• Heel-side leading means the heel portion of the clubhead would contact the object first.
• Toe-side leading means the toe portion would arrive first.
• Photo finish means heel and toe feel like they reach the object together.

Once you can create those three patterns in the air, you bring the same awareness to the ball. At that point, you are no longer guessing about curve. You are intentionally producing it.

Step-by-Step

1. Start without a ball. Stand in your normal posture and make slow-motion practice swings. Your goal is not speed. Your goal is awareness of the clubhead.

2. Set up a soft training object at belly-button height. A yoga block works well. This gives you a clear reference point for whether the heel or toe side is arriving first.

3. Rehearse heel-side leading. Make slow swings and feel as if the heel of the clubhead would strike the object before the toe. This is your fade-feel pattern, because it tends to leave the face more open to the path.

4. Rehearse toe-side leading. Now reverse it. Feel as if the toe of the clubhead would reach the object first. This is your draw-feel pattern, because it tends to close the face more relative to the path.

5. Rehearse the photo finish. Try to deliver the club so the heel and toe feel like they arrive together. This is your straight-shot reference.

6. Try it with your eyes closed. Once you can do it visually, remove the visual cue and test whether you can still sense the difference. This is where real clubface awareness starts to develop.

7. Move to short shots first. Hit small 9-to-3 swings and intentionally create curve. Hit a few with heel-side leading to produce a subtle fade, then a few with toe-side leading to produce a subtle draw.

8. Ignore start line at first. In the early stages, do not worry too much about whether the ball starts exactly on your intended line. Focus on whether you can control the amount and direction of curve.

9. Adjust the degree of the feel. The more the heel wins, the more the ball should want to curve right. The more the toe wins, the more it should want to curve left. Experiment with small, medium, and exaggerated versions.

10. Blend it into fuller swings. Once you can reliably produce different curves with shorter swings, take the same face-awareness into full swings. The goal is to keep the same control even as speed increases.

What You Should Feel

The main thing you should feel is that the clubhead has a shape and orientation, not just weight. Many golfers swing the club without any real awareness of where the face is pointing. This drill sharpens that awareness.

For a Fade Feel

When you are trying to create a fade, you should feel like the heel side is winning through impact. For some players, that feel shows up only right at the ball. For others, it is easier to sense it earlier, such as around waist height, and then keep that relationship through the strike and into the follow-through.

Useful checkpoints:

• The heel feels like it is arriving first.
• The face feels slightly more open relative to the direction the club is traveling.
• The ball should curve to the right, even if only slightly.

For a Draw Feel

When you want a draw, the sensation is that the toe side is winning. Again, some golfers feel this only at impact, while others do better feeling it earlier in the downswing and maintaining it through the strike.

Useful checkpoints:

• The toe feels like it is leading.
• The face feels more closed relative to the path.
• The ball should curve left.

For a Straight Shot

Straight is often the hardest one because it requires more precision. You are trying to create that photo finish sensation where heel and toe arrive together. If one side wins too much, the ball starts curving.

Useful checkpoints:

• The clubhead feels balanced through impact.
• Neither heel nor toe feels dominant.
• The ball launches with minimal curve.

If this feels risky at the bottom of the swing, move the sensation earlier. You may find it easier to feel heel-leading or toe-leading at waist height and simply preserve that condition into impact, rather than trying to make a last-second adjustment.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Focusing only on the target line. This drill is about face control relative to path, not just where the ball starts.
• Going too fast too soon. If you cannot sense heel, toe, and photo finish in slow motion, full speed will only blur the feel.
• Trying to hit perfect shots immediately. Early on, your job is to create deliberate curve, not perfect contact and perfect direction at the same time.
• Overreacting to one swing. Look for patterns across several shots, not one ball.
• Confusing path problems with face problems. This drill trains curve control first. Start line can be refined later by matching your path to the shot shape you want.
• Manipulating only at impact. Many golfers try to “save” the face at the last instant. It is often better to establish the feel earlier in the downswing.
• Ignoring contact quality. The drill assumes reasonably centered strike. Extreme heel or toe contact can distort ball flight and make the feedback less reliable.
• Assuming more effort equals more control. If your face control disappears when you swing hard, that may be a sign your speed pattern is overpowering your face awareness.

How This Fits Your Swing

This drill gives you a practical way to connect feel to ball flight. That is valuable whether you are trying to fix a push, shape shots on purpose, or simply stop guessing about why the ball curves.

If you tend to push or push-fade the ball, this drill can help you recognize when the face is too open to your path. Feeling more toe-side leading can help you close that gap and reduce the rightward curve. On the other hand, if you fight hooks or over-draws, feeling more heel-side leading can help neutralize the face-to-path relationship.

It also helps you build a stock shot. If you want your stock pattern to be a soft draw, you can train a consistent toe-leading feel. If you prefer a controlled fade, you can build around a heel-leading feel. And if your priority is a straight ball, the photo-finish sensation becomes your reference.

Linking Face Control to Shot Shaping

Once you can control curve, you can start blending that skill with path adjustments. For example:

• A toe-leading feel with a path that is too far left may create a pull-draw.
• A heel-leading feel with a path that is too far right may create a push-fade.
• A well-matched face and path can produce a straight shot or a controlled shape that starts where you expect.

That is the bigger picture: first learn to control the face-to-path relationship, then refine path to control the start line. In other words, this drill teaches you how to own the curve before you worry about making the entire ball flight perfect.

What If It Breaks Down at Full Speed?

If you can do this drill beautifully at slow speed but lose it when you swing hard, that tells you something important. Your face-control issue may be tied to how you create speed. In that case, the problem is not just awareness. Your power pattern may be making it difficult to keep the face organized through impact.

That does not make the drill less useful. It actually makes it more valuable, because it helps you identify the point where your swing loses control. As your face awareness improves, you can gradually add speed while keeping the same heel-side, toe-side, or photo-finish feel.

Ultimately, better golfers are able to swing aggressively without losing face control. This drill is one of the fastest ways to build that skill because it turns a complicated concept into something you can feel immediately. If you know what the heel and toe are doing through impact, you are no longer just hoping the ball flies straight or curves correctly. You are starting to control it.