Hitting Down on the Ball?!

Somebody posted the other day that they placed a penney 3" in front of their ball and aimed at that instead of the ball. I thought that was a really good idea, you should give it a try. You'll lose some money though ;)

The club goes up, so its got to come back down, right? That may be over-simpfing but its the general idea. If you just let the club swing back and through and dont try to force the face into poistion the club will bottom out naturally. Just make the ball is there when it does, lol. Play the ball a about a half ball forward of the zipper on your pants. That should do just nicely for most of your irons. Play the longer ones (3-4-5) perhaps a full ball infront of your zipper.

So I can not get over the mental block of hitting down on the ball. I still scoop or sweep my irons, which obviously does not allow to have a proper ball strike. I've read all the cliches of "Chopping wood", "Baseball swing", etc. and it makes sense right up until I go swing the club. I understand the physics of why hitting down on the wall will work, yet I can't for the life of me get my brain and body to cooperate.

Thanks for the advice! Two things I've read recently that I'm going to practice next time on the range are moving the hands slightly before moving the arms to promote the wrist hinge and just letting gravity push the iron down to promote hitting down on the ball. We shall see how the results are!

I've got a different angle for you.... Are you right handed? If so, you are likely right-eye dominant. To check, make a 1-inch hole with your hands held about a foot in front of your face. Look at an object through the hole and close your left eye. Can you still see it? If so, you're right-eye dominant. I don't think it's a coincidence that the best ball-strikers of all time were left-eye dominant. I also don't think it's a coincidence that most people are right-eye dominant and most people have trouble scooping and hitting up on the ball. When you are thinking about coming to the ball from the right side of your face, your intuition tells you to swoop down and scoop it up. I know 'coming to the ball from the right side of your face' sounds strange, but try to intuit what it means. (e.g. this beer tastes 'skunky'). When you are looking at the ball from the left, the intuitive way for your brain to make contact is by coming from the inside and hitting down on the ball: exactly what you want to do. This is also why making a large lateral shift towards the target tends to help scoopers. It places their dominant eye before the ball so that they can think about hitting down on it. The next time you're out at the range, try looking at the ball with your left-eye only while you are making your practice swings to get the right swing feel. Tell your brain to give priority to your left eye (or close your right eye) when you are making your swing. It takes some getting used to, kind of like swinging left-handed. So don't expect results right away.

I've got a different angle for you.... Are you right handed? If so, you are likely right-eye dominant. To check, make a 1-inch hole with your hands held about a foot in front of your face. Look at an object through the hole and close your left eye. Can you still see it? If so, you're right-eye dominant. I don't think it's a coincidence that the best ball-strikers of all time were left-eye dominant. I also don't think it's a coincidence that most people are right-eye dominant and most people have trouble scooping and hitting up on the ball. When you are thinking about coming to the ball from the right side of your face, your intuition tells you to swoop down and scoop it up. I know 'coming to the ball from the right side of your face' sounds strange, but try to intuit what it means. (e.g. this beer tastes 'skunky'). When you are looking at the ball from the left, the intuitive way for your brain to make contact is by coming from the inside and hitting down on the ball: exactly what you want to do. This is also why making a large lateral shift towards the target tends to help scoopers. It places their dominant eye before the ball so that they can think about hitting down on it. The next time you're out at the range, try looking at the ball with your left-eye only while you are making your practice swings to get the right swing feel. Tell your brain to give priority to your left eye (or close your right eye) when you are making your swing. It takes some getting used to, kind of like swinging left-handed. So don't expect results right away.

That is a good thought. I am left handed, right eye dominant and I have trouble taking divots. I am not sure if this holds much water. Wish it did, but for me I think it has much more to do with wieght shift, tempo and timing.

You actually have the beneficial combination. When I said the best ball-strikers were left eye dominant, I'm talking about right handed swingers. For a lefty, that would be right eye dominant. I think my comments are somewhat speculative, but I think there's a lot of truth there. For example, I hear a lot of tour pros talk about looking up at the target quite a bit. The idea is that you tend to swing where your eyes tell you, and looking up at the target gives you the visual info you need to swing properly. The same holds for putts. This is also why tour players are concerned with eye-line, as it affects the swing path. But if you tend to do what your eyes tell you, it stands to reason that you tend to do what your dominant eye tells you. This is true since the majority of visual information comes from your dominant eye. I really don't know if others have the same experiences I have with vision and it's impact on your swing, hence the take-it-with-a-grain-of-salt caveat. What I do know is that when I look at the ball naturally with both eyes open, I think about the swing path ending in a scooping motion where I am trying to mentally "push" the club with my right eye. With my left eye only, on the other hand (no pun intended), I naturally think about pulling the clubhead from the inside with the path ending in the turf and a natural downward strike.

I've got a different angle for you.... Are you right handed? If so, you are likely right-eye dominant. To check, make a 1-inch hole with your hands held about a foot in front of your face. Look at an object through the hole and close your left eye. Can you still see it? If so, you're right-eye dominant. I don't think it's a coincidence that the best ball-strikers of all time were left-eye dominant. I also don't think it's a coincidence that most people are right-eye dominant and most people have trouble scooping and hitting up on the ball. When you are thinking about coming to the ball from the right side of your face, your intuition tells you to swoop down and scoop it up. I know 'coming to the ball from the right side of your face' sounds strange, but try to intuit what it means. (e.g. this beer tastes 'skunky'). When you are looking at the ball from the left, the intuitive way for your brain to make contact is by coming from the inside and hitting down on the ball: exactly what you want to do. This is also why making a large lateral shift towards the target tends to help scoopers. It places their dominant eye before the ball so that they can think about hitting down on it. The next time you're out at the range, try looking at the ball with your left-eye only while you are making your practice swings to get the right swing feel. Tell your brain to give priority to your left eye (or close your right eye) when you are making your swing. It takes some getting used to, kind of like swinging left-handed. So don't expect results right away.