Hitting Down On It!

[mwagon73]

For the last year or so I have been working very hard to change from a 'picker/sweeper' type swing to hitting down on the ball and taking that nice dollar bill size divot. On the short irons, 7 thru any wedge, I have no problems doing that... seems when I get to the 6,5,4 it just doesn't happen and I get a lot more shots that are thin and I am not sure what is going on. Any ideas of what might be going on? Drills that can help?

[Crafty]

Start by putting the ball back in the stance a little and keeping your head down.

[kehanra99]

This was in Golf Digest recently on tips for getting the right contact zone.

The recommendation one of the teachers there made was to put something a couple of inches in front of the ball, and work on seeing your hands cross that object before you make contact with the ball. The claim is that you will start hitting more in front of the ball within a few swings.

It helped me, but I find myself resorting back when I don't have anything there.

[tm22721]

Here is what you need to do according to those who should know. That being said, it takes intense focus which IMO is not possible on the golf course, nor with a ball in front of you. YMMV

What you want is clubhead lag, ie the clubhead should lag your hands at all times. Get the feeling that you are pulling on the butt end of the club WITH YOUR LEFT HAND (not your right) and hold your left wrist cocked until you are halfway down, when centrifugal force takes over to automatically release it.

Keep your left wrist bowed at impact, the pros de-loft the club about 8 degrees at impact. Your swing should bottom out 2-4" in front of the ball.

Keep your right elbow close to your side through the entire downswing.

Clubhead square at impact - if you are turning correctly, your right shoulder will go under (not around) your left shoulder at impact.

Slow down - if you hit down on the ball, it will jump out with amazing speed.

There is a an entire book devoted to this subject "The Impact Zone" by Bobby Clampett the best I have found.

[kehanra99]

Very well explained. I'll have to grab that book...

[TourSpoon]

For the last year or so I have been working very hard to change from a 'picker/sweeper' type swing to hitting down on the ball and taking that nice dollar bill size divot. On the short irons, 7 thru any wedge, I have no problems doing that... seems when I get to the 6,5,4 it just doesn't happen and I get a lot more shots that are thin and I am not sure what is going on. Any ideas of what might be going on? Drills that can help?

Try to keep your arms relaxed with the long irons. Sometimes, especially with the long irons, there is fear that manifests into tension which can tighten up or shorten your swing. Keep a nice tempo and swing the club. Your divot will not look like your wedge divot but you should get something. Good luck.

[kehanra99]

I went to the indoor golf center by my house over lunch today and noticed I get more consistant contact, and a slightly greater distance with a bit less roll when I tried to get more club lag. Hower, on my 4i, 3i, (not my utility hybrid..?), and my Driver, I was much less consistant with contact, distance, and direction. My 3i was horrible, launching as low as 7 deg somtimes...

[sonicblue]

I have a very similar problem, in that I hit my shorter irons crisply (most of the time) but severely lose impact quality with higher irons. The explanation I read was, and confirmed by my ideas of my swing, is that my swing plane is far too upright. I know that sounds like it shouldn't cause thin hits, it should cause heavy hits, but remember that your contact isn't so much your swing plane as your setup.

That is, my upright plane means that my club is coming down (and then going up) very rapidly, staying in the impact zone for only a very short time/length, and also tends to be outside-in. A flatter swing stays through the impact zone longer and tends to be more inside-out, each promoting more solid contact. While one may think that a flat swing wouldn't produce a divot or would lead to thin shots, remember that you can simply adjust your posture and ball position in order to bring everything into the proper alignment.

[wachesawgolfer]

There are several reasons to hit thin. One big one is failing to get all the weight on the front foot at impact. There is a drill you can do to feel good solid impact, which is to hit ball on your front foot, amazing how the club crisply impacts the ball and ground at a powerful angle when your weight is on your front foot at impact. Check your footwork if your front feet moves towards the target at all in the downswing your hanging back on the rear foot
making it almost impossible to hit down on the ball because your whole body is pulling up not turning towards the target. Moving the ball or relaxing the arms will not help you if you coming off the shot due to a poor weight transfer back and through. Swing a weight or medicine ball making a solid pivot-chest turn back and through with a good spine angle, no sway. Feel the weight go on the front foot early in the forward move. It will come.

[jowlar]

Try this drill next time you are at the range. Place a tee, ball marker or other object on the ground 1-2 inches behind the ball. Address the tee (or other object), during the swing focus on the tee and hit the ball. I was taught this drill by a college coach many years ago and it works pretty well.

Don't ask me explain why it works b/c in my mind it seems this would encourage hitting it thin but it works for me. good luck

[kehanra99]

Try this drill next time you are at the range. Place a tee, ball marker or other object on the ground 1-2 inches behind the ball. Address the tee (or other object), during the swing focus on the tee and hit the ball. I was taught this drill by a college coach many years ago and it works pretty well.

Makes sense to me. It would teach you to bottom your swing out ahead of where your focus is. Then, when you address the ball, your natural swing (after many prior reps) would hit the ball but bottom out an inch or two ahead of it...which is what you want.

The other prior comment that my swing is too upright is probably correct, but my previous lesson had me working on making it more upright...so maybe I over-adjusted or my posture is off on my longer clubs.

[TourSpoon]

Here's some drills for you...

http://thegolfdrillguru.netfirms.com/nfblog/?cat=61

I like the ball under the right foot to stop the sway and encourage a proper weight shift drill...

[TGMTeacher]

For the last year or so I have been working very hard to change from a 'picker/sweeper' type swing to hitting down on the ball and taking that nice dollar bill size divot. On the short irons, 7 thru any wedge, I have no problems doing that... seems when I get to the 6,5,4 it just doesn't happen and I get a lot more shots that are thin and I am not sure what is going on. Any ideas of what might be going on? Drills that can help?

Good possibility you're not hitting down with those clubs because they have less loft and you don't trust them to get the ball airborne. What concerns me is you say you have been working hard on this for the last year and you're still having problems. This tells me what you're doing is not proper procedure.

The golf swing is filled with illusions that mislead the golfer, impact hand position is one of them. Using a full length mirror get in your impact position with a ball and club. Position your hands so they block out your view of the ball. From your perspective you will think your hands are even with the ball but if you look in the mirror you will see your hands are in fact behind the ball with the shaft leaning back. This is the hand position most amateurs achieve at impact because they think they're swinging their hands to the ball. It's also why most amateurs don't hit the ball first; their shaft is leaning back and they're swinging up on the ball. What you need to do is look in the mirror and move your hands forward until you see a forward lean of the shaft. Remember this hand position, this is your aiming point and impact hand position. From your perspective it may look like your hands are way past your forward foot but don't trust this illusion, look at what the mirror is telling you. From the top swing your hands to your aiming point. Practice this. Keep on practicing it until you no longer miss the ball. If you're going to practice make it worthwhile by practicing the right things. At least you won't have to go back and correct them.

[bruno]

When practicing try imagining there is a tree branch a couple of feet in front of you and a couple feet off the ground. Try to hit a low punch shot without a complete folow through to get the feel of hitting down on the ball. I've seen Vjay use this next tip, and it works good for hitting down on the ball. To start your swing, move your hands forward a little towards the target (to get the feel of having your hands in front of the club head) as a triger move, then try to have that feeling of having your hands in front of the club head at impact. This triger move works good for me, hope it helps.