Good Hit Ball Stalls Drops Like Its Being Pushed Down

[wlecat]

With my irons, seem to be making good impact, good trajectory, then the ball just stalls like its being pushed down, this happens on the course too with quality balls.

I used to hit a 7 iron about 150-155. it's infected all my shots, have no idea what to hit now, they all seem to go about the same distance. What the hell?

Anybody with the same issue or heard of it?

[Zippo]

I've had that happen frequently at a driving range I used to visit. I quit going there because the balls were so beat up and bad that one couldn't tell the difference between a well hit ball and a mishit with most any club longer than an 8 iron. I have had it happen on the golf course and I surmised, though I don't know for sure, that it was caused by my driver catching the ball after low point and not all the way under the ball but enough to get it up in the air with a ton of top spin causing the ball to drive before it went very far. Usually it would be a hook dive.

[xrayvizhen]

I suspect low spin rate. The ball is "knuckling" like when a pitcher throws the ball with little or no spin it tends to float and then drop. Get to a hitting bay somewhere with a shot tracker that will measure spin and you'll see. To fix that is beyond my pay grade. See a pro.

 

[Cantankerish]

Definitely a spin issue.  I think this sort of thing usually comes from insufficient backspin if my understanding of it is correct.  It is kinda hard to achieve it on a normal looking shot though.  Are you tilted forward at impact or something?

[Patch]

Assuming there was no wind up where the ball started dropping, it's most likely going to be a spin issue. 

Too much top spin, or maybe the back spin ran out of energy to keep the ball up longer. I really have no idea. Never had this problem, unless there was wind present. 

Perhaps the dimple pattetn might have something to do with the issue. 

I'd find a launch monitor for more precise info. 

[iacas]

12 minutes ago, Patch said:

Too much top spin…

What?!?!?!

[Buckeyebowman]

On 6/27/2019 at 12:05 PM, iacas said:

What?!?!?!

I seriously can't believe we are still hearing "topspin"! 

[saevel25]

On 6/27/2019 at 11:51 AM, Patch said:

Too much top spin,

 

[Zippo]

44 minutes ago, Buckeyebowman said:

I seriously can't believe we are still hearing "topspin"! 

For those of us who are non-cognoscenti and happy to learn, what its the correct term for a ball that is spinning in the forward direction - often seen on a ball that is "topped"?

[boogielicious]

10 hours ago, Zippo said:

For those of us who are non-cognoscenti and happy to learn, what its the correct term for a ball that is spinning in the forward direction - often seen on a ball that is "topped"?

Topping is different than what the OP saw. They saw the ball rise then seem to stall and drop straight. This can be caused by wind or by too much backspin into the wind. Backspin creates lift. More backspin has more lift and causes the ball to rise higher. Into a breeze, the ball will rise higher and have a steeper decent angle.

Folks are reacting to the topspin comment because it is impossible to do with a golf swing hitting a golf ball with a golf clubs angle of attack and dynamic loft at impact. You can do it in tennis because you are swinging from under the ball with a racket that is angled to face down. So the tennis racket face is pointing with a negative angle of attack with respect to the ground at impact.

[Zippo]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

Topping is different than what the OP saw. They saw the ball rise then seem to stall and drop straight. This can be caused by wind or by too much backspin into the wind. Backspin creates lift. More backspin has more lift and causes the ball to rise higher. Into a breeze, the ball will rise higher and have a steeper decent angle.

Folks are reacting to the topspin comment because it is impossible to do with a golf swing hitting a golf ball with a golf clubs angle of attack and dynamic loft at impact. You can do it in tennis because you are swinging from under the ball with a racket that is angled to face down. So the tennis racket face is pointing with a negative angle of attack with respect to the ground at impact.

Thanks. Good explanation. I guess what had me confused is that, when I've seen the hit the OP is describing, the ball seems to bounce and run forward (or sideways, as the case may be) a lot after it contacts the ground similar to a legitimate topped ball. I would have thought that too much backspin (or little backspin) would cause the ball to stop pretty quickly after ground contact.

Your tennis reference is good (thanks) and I can visualize that hit well as an ex tennis player, but could that not be similarly achieved with a golf club that is rising (past low point) and catches the ball on the tee with the edge of the sole just below the ball's equator but not solidly?

Thanks again for taking the time to explain.

[ncates00]

On 6/26/2019 at 2:15 PM, wlecat said:

With my irons, seem to be making good impact, good trajectory, then the ball just stalls like its being pushed down, this happens on the course too with quality balls.

I used to hit a 7 iron about 150-155. it's infected all my shots, have no idea what to hit now, they all seem to go about the same distance. What the hell?

Anybody with the same issue or heard of it?

Irons going the same distance could be:

- poor striking

- dynamic loft (you're either adding too much with longer clubs or leaning a lot on the short clubs)

- hitting down too much and creating a big gap in spin loft, leading to too much spin

- not enough speed with the longer clubs

- Peak height, descent angle, launch angle issues, i.e., too high on short clubs and too low on long clubs

[Buckeyebowman]

The operative phrase is "the ball just stalls"! That's the classic definition of too much backspin into a headwind. Several years ago a buddy found a brand new ProV1 on the course. He decided to give it a try. He hit his irons high as a matter of course, and on several holes hit the ProV1 a mile in the sky and short. He couldn't understand it. Especially on the par 5 18th. He blasted a drive and had a chance for the green in two. There was a very gentle breeze in our face. He flushed a long iron that I swear would have made the summit of the Matterhorn! It just ballooned a mile high! And came up short. 

I told him that the ProV1 is a "spinny" ball, and he spun it too much. It did not fit his game. I'd advise the OP to check the ball he is playing.

[leftybutnotPM]

On 6/28/2019 at 1:51 AM, Patch said:

 

Too much top spin - 

Errr - he's not talking about putts from the fringe that won't stop rolling when they're hit above the horizon line.

[Patch]

50 minutes ago, leftybutnotPM said:

Errr - he's not talking about putts from the fringe that won't stop rolling when they're hit above the horizon line.

Figured that. No, I was thinking maybe the AoA was so bad the club head was coming Into the ball with more loft than what the club face was rated at. 

Hands flipping. Something along those lines. 

[boogielicious]

20 hours ago, Zippo said:

Your tennis reference is good (thanks) and I can visualize that hit well as an ex tennis player, but could that not be similarly achieved with a golf club that is rising (past low point) and catches the ball on the tee with the edge of the sole just below the ball's equator but not solidly?

That would be really hard to do even with a driver. If you top a ball, you hit above the equator. Hitting a ball with a driver even with a positive angle of attack still has a dynamic loft that is positive. The ball goes up and has backspin.

[Zippo]

4 hours ago, boogielicious said:

That would be really hard to do even with a driver. If you top a ball, you hit above the equator. Hitting a ball with a driver even with a positive angle of attack still has a dynamic loft that is positive. The ball goes up and has backspin.

Thanks. I believe you. But then, again, what do I correctly call the spin a topped ball has in the forward direction of travel if not "top spin" - if we don't use the term "top spin" anymore? "Forward spin"?

And one more question - if it's "back spin" that keeps the ball up longer to carry farther, would not the opposite be true? Thanks again for your patience as I try to understand.

[Zippo]

I also found this thread: