Help!!! I cant stop hitting it FAT

Well I feel like I finally have got my swing path and club face angle problems corrected. I am swinging from the inside more and can square the face at impact better also. When I make good contact my ball flight is a high 5-10 yard draw. My problem is hitting it fat. I have tried focusing in front of the ball and this seems to help a little for a few swings. I also never top the ball. Is there a common flaw that causes fat shots? Also are there any drills that could help?

My first thought would see where your weight is at. make sure your weight is on your front leg.

When your weight is on your back leg you tend to hit behind the ball and hit balls fat.

I would agree with weight. When I hit a fat shot, it's almost always because my weight is on my back leg and I'm leaning/falling back.

Weight, as mentioned previously, and ball position could have a big impact on contact.

Staying with the wight theme I have noticed that even when my weight is balanced and properly shifted I will hit it fat. I have recently discovered that when my weight is on my heels I have less balance and am often squatting like a skier and hit it fat. When my weight is up on the balls of my feet I have much better balance and posture. As a result I can make the proper turn and get the lag needed to get the swooshing sound at and after contact with the ball, then the ground. Balance is much better too.

This is a discovery of Wednesday that I have been working on here in my house. I can't wait for my lesson in the morning!

I'm gonna make a daring suggestion. When you get into this pattern, then
intentionally top it. I don't mean hitting it thin either, I mean top.
The painful one. And dont worry if anyone sees you. Swallow pride and top.. then top it a few more times.
If suddenly you hit one great, when trying to top it, I still want you to top it. After you top it a few times, then hit it really thin. I mean like,
almost a top. Once again if you get too much ball then go back to topping it. Gradually get more ball until you have almost a playable thin shot.
This may seem obtuse but it might just work.

Isn't hitting it thin a result of hitting off of the toe or higher up on the clubface?

You could try not bending your knees quite so much. I find when I start hitting shots fat its due to having too much knee flex.

Make sure that your set up correct and check your arm position while hanging, is it extended to the ground without a slight bend but still relaxed. try some practice swing and check where you brush the ground if its before or after the ball.

I also like to make sure that my knees are in position to help brack my back swing without swaying and finally when I take the club back I may start will a slight forward press and point the toe up in the air at hip high so to get the club in position and help set the wrist on the backswing, when I take the club back its a natural arc upward on the backswing.

For me, fat shots are always for the same reason, same situation, and same fix.

It happens when I've been at the range for about 2 hours, and have hit maybe 125 balls, and I'm tired, and it's time to stop. My back leg is tired, and will just drop out from under me, and the club hits the ground an inch behind the ball, and I get a nice chunk that goes about 80 yards. When it happens, I go sit down for a minute, and just get it out of my head, pretend it never happened. Then, I get back up, and take a few easy swings, maybe half swings, hit a few good solid shots about 3/4 of the regular distance, pack up, and leave.

What I want you to take away is this:
One of the most important things a golfer can have is a short memory. When you begin to hit the ball fat, or shank, or top it, you start to fear that shot. Fear is a funny thing in golf, because what we fear usually comes true. I learned this the hard way, after stepping up to the tee at hole #6, par 5, 550 yards, and I say to my playing partner, "Oh, I hate this drive..."

I topped 4 balls in a row into the water. The whole day, I had clapped my driver long and straight, just beautiful, but that one negative thought killed my score. The next hole, I just pictured a long, beautiful tee shot, and guess what happened? I hit a beauty, and made par (birdie putt was like 40 feet, almost made it too!).

When you hit the ball fat enough, you begin to fear it. When you come to us and say, "I'm hitting it fat," you're giving your fear merit. I want you to stand over that ball, and imagine a nice, pure shot. You have to believe you can hit it well before you can. Remember your pure shots, forget your mishits. If I remembered every time I blew a score, or duffed one, topped one, or shanked one, I'd never be able to break 100. When I stand over the ball and think bad thoughts, only bad things happen. You must learn to have a selective memory, get over the ball and think solid, straight, pure, high, long, and right at the flag. Only when you have that picture in your head will you swing that club. And if you should mishit it, forget it, blame it on obscure tradewinds from the Gulfstream, and go back to thinking solid, straight...

Thanks for all the advice. I do not think it is a weight issue. It seems to me that would have been something I could have found out myself. I could be wrong tho. I just had this thought recently, could I be coming down at to steep of an angle? Maybe if I came around the body more it would help.
Also just to let you know how bad it can be at times, I usually tee the ball about 1/2 inch up for iron shots, and sometimes I still chunk it so bad my 7 iron goes about 80 yards.

I used to hit quite a few fat shots until someone suggested to not look at the ball. Instead pick a spot about an inch directly in front of the ball. Amazingly, it works. I don't know if it changes my swing arc or what but fat shots are a thing of the past unless i really forget about it and look directly at the ball.

Good luck

no.. definitely not. That's not called 'thin'. Thin is when it's hit lower on the clubface, below the sweetspot. Thin is close to a top, but not quite there. It's somewhere in between a top and a solid strike.

But I think I might know what you are talking about.. if I am hitting it off of a tee, and swing so that the clubhead passes "too low" and almost hits "under" the ball, I wouldn't ever call that a "thin" shot. If I had to pick a name for it I might call it "fat", but fat usually implies you are taking extra turf before you hit the ball, and that doesn't apply here since it's off a tee. I could see why you would want to call it "thin", since the contact probably feels "thin", but I would never call it that. If I was a golf commentator, and if you hit a shot like that off a tee, and say the ball popped up as a result, I would probably call it either a "pop up" or just a "mis hit" to be safe. There's no silly for that, I'm afraid. But maybe you weren't thinking of that situation. Think of the following in terms of a 7 iron hit off of the fairway... you're catching a little more ball than a complete topped shot, but you aren't hitting it completely solidly either. That's "thin". So contact is being made on the clubface below the sweet spot (as opposed to above it, as it would in the first scenario we discussed, which is why I wouldn't ever call that thin). Thin shots tend to fly quite lower than normal, but the direction usually isn't affected as much as with other kinds of mis hits. Thin shots don't feel completely solid and they even might sting a tad, but often a thin shot doesn't feel terrible, and might even turn out respectably, so of all the many mis-hits it's usually considered to be less bad than most. You can google "bad shots in golf" to get more descriptions. I did this and came up with a few definitions of "top" and "thin"... Top: When a ball is topped, the leading edge of the club face (the bottom edge of the face), strikes the ball above its equator (on its top half). A topped shot will usually fly up and then right back down several yards ahead because of the top spin put on the ball. Thin: "When a ball is truck very low on the club face, below the sweet spot, that’s referred to as thin. Normally, a thinly struck iron shot results in a very small or no divot. The shot will usually fly on a lower trajectory and land shorter than normal with little spin. With a driver, if your tee is completely undisturbed after the shot, you probably struck the ball thinly." Actually I find myself not in complete agreement with the "thin" definition, as I think that a lot of time the shot has more spin when you hit it thin, depending on the club being used. Also, I think that sometimes thin shots could fly further than normal, once again depending on the club being used. But in terms of the contact part I think it's correct. There's no real common term to describe the very first scenario I mentioned, that I know of ( if that's what you were talking about). It's definitely worthwhile to come to terms with these definitions, IMO. I know that when I started, for the longest time, I was hitting it fat and didn't even know it . All I knew is it didn't feel quite right, and I wasn't getting very much distance. All my iron shots on the range were fat. Now I look back at that and see how ridiculous it was. The thing about this is game is, when you finally get it right, it feels excellent, the ball flies really far, and it's almost effortless on your part. Any thing other than that means you have more work to do. But it's fun. We love it.

14 ledo,,,it seems that everyone has correctly suggested that proper weight distribution is very important, but it seems that you don't think so, for whatever that is worth. keep in mind, as the saying goes, what you feel may not be real...

assuming the weight issue is not an issue, you may want to investigate that whether you can maintain a proper posture during your swing. for instance, do you lift up during backswing and bend down at the hip on the downswing? a good eye or a video can tell immediately.

someone has suggested to not to focus on the ball but somewhere in front of the ball. i think that is a good direction. in fact, you can practice first without a ball at all. mark a line on the ground and see if you can repeatedly impact into the ground exactly at the line. real turf will be a better place to practice this because sometimes mat can be more forgiving and real turf can give you better feedback. the whole point is about taking proper divot and the ball just happens to be sitting on the divot turf.

good luck.

Absolutely there is! It's called "skying" it. When you hit the ground first before the tee, it's called "sclaffing" or "chilli dipping" it.

Again, there is a good definition in use for "thin" and "topped" and "skulled."

The definition relies on whether the ball is struck above or below the equator. If the shot is above the equator, it's a top, if it's on the equator, it's a skull, and if it's below, it's a thin. Anything beyond this is speculative at best. Thin shots can fly further, or shorter, and they can have more, or less spin.

I too hit it fat at first and had no idea. I would hit it and feel the friction of the ground, but never realized that was fat. There was, on occasion, a shot that would be struck that felt effortless. These are the ones you strike properly. These days, if I don't hit it purely, I am mad.

This is the most underrated term in all of golf. Until I began using a camera, I had no clue what I was doing. My swing felt great to me. But, when I taped it... Wow! I was 20° flat going back, then übersteep coming down, going over the top, I stood up, moved my head, my arms bent, I swung way past parallel, and on and on... It was dreadful.

Now I know for sure what my swing looks like, and I can be assured. My swing is not beautiful, but it's very reliable, powerful, and easy to repeat. And for once, it looks decently professional.

dude you should check out a thread I had on shanks. I couldn't stop shanking -- tried everthing-- suffered greatly-- until I took someones suggestion here on this site, to just hit it/ address it more off the toe....i tried it, then *poof*.. no more shanking problem. And they are still long gone and I don't suspect the'll bother me again. Here's the link:

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/threads/31552-Shanks%21 Your problem is you are lacking feel of impact. I don't mean to be harsh, but that's what it is. Or, at least, thinking of the problem in those terms will most quickly get you back on track. The first thing you need to do, before you tear your swing apart, which is probably fine anyway, is to regain your feel by feeling the opposite extreme, which is a top ( where you barely make contact with the top of the ball and it just dribbles off) or even a whiff (where you miss it completely). And when you do these opposite mis hits do them in earnest, with a full swing and really try to create the opposite miss, ugly as it is. Then you should be able to graduate down, that is, *slowly* getting more and more ball, until you have a a solid hit. So in effect you are working it from "the other side". In the process of all this, your body might instinctively modify itself in terms of setup or movement to accomplish this but you don't need to consciously control that. If you find that you are suddenly stuck back to the fats then go back to the top/whiff and start all over again, gradually lowering your point of contact until you have a decent shot. The only other thing that might be worth mentioning, and if you know this then just ignore it.. make sure you're very clear about the difference between a fat shot and a solid shot with a divot.. if the turf is taken on the right side of the ball its bad, but if its taken on the left of the ball (after its struck) it's good. Sometimes people are afraid of taking turf in general so they fall backwards to avoid it completely, thus causing the fat shot, so it's helpful to remind oneself that on one side of the ball taking turf is very good.

I forgot about "skying". Good points, and good definitions. I videoed my swing recently as well. A real eye opener. I should do it more..but I get shy to take out the camera and tripod-- isn't that ridiculous?? I mean, no one really cares; and if they think I'm a nerd, I really don't care!!

Your probably dipping towards the ball on the backswing slightly.

Here is a drill that will get your swing bottom forward, in front of the ball.