I've been focusing on improving my ball striking lately, specifically ground strike, face strike and face direction. One of the ways I receive feedback regarding face strike is to make a little dot with a dry erase marker on the ball, position the ball with the dot facing straight back, then hit the ball and then look at where the dot imprinted on the face of my club.

My question is: Is there any reason I can't do this during an actual round of golf? I play in a league that's pretty serious about rules, and I want to make sure I'm not doing anything I'm not supposed to.

Most of the people I normally play with wouldn't care anyway, but I'm just curious where the legalities on using things like that to receive feedback during a round.

I'm not smart enough to figure out how to edit a post, so I'm making another post to clarify that I am talking about tee shots only. I will not be picking up my balls in the fairway/etc to mark them.

I think it's fine to draw an "impact dot" on your ball with a black sharpie... not sure though.


something very similar I've seen as a tip is to fill in the bottom groove on your wedges with a black sharpie. train yourself as to contact point/position. not sure if this is legal. probably it is.

While I'm not positive, I don't think this would be allowed under the Rules of Golf. Any training aid used to help improve performance is not allowed during the round.

And IMO, even if it's allowed, you wouldn't want to during a league or similar round. Just seems wrong. Things are different playing by yourself or casual rounds of course.

I've sprayed Gold Bond on my clubface while practicing, you can see exactly where the ball hit.