Why do I top or chunk the ground?

[cockergod]

So I am trying to figure out why I end up toping the ball or taking divots out before the ball. I think the reason why I top the ball is that I am affraid to hit the ground and stand up right before I hit the ball. I am assuming the chunking is do to dipping. Is there any way I can fix that or just practice my swing? Thanks.

[MPS67]

There could be many reasons why you're both topping and hitting fat. Without reviewing your swing, I'd say the most likely reason is that you're casting from the top. This is from hitting down on the ball with your arms and hands. So when you hit early, the momentum of the club head causes it to swing ahead of your hands and by the time it gets near the impact, it bottoms out before the ball. If you don't bottom out, the momentum of the club head continues to flip farther ahead of your hands and ends up swinging over or near the top of the ball.

If you think this is the case, you should learn to initiate the swing with a hip bump and then drive the swing with a hip turn and lower body. Keep aggressive hands and arms out of the swing.

[tm22721]

If you think this is the case, you should learn to initiate the swing with a hip bump and then drive the swing with a hip turn and lower body. Keep aggressive hands and arms out of the swing.

That's good advice. In addition, you need a fluid swing which means swinging at the target, not the ball.

[DavidFehertysBike]

But im also going to add that it takes a long time to teach yourself to sync that up properly with the proper body and leg movement. It took me close to a year (practicing 3-5 times a week) to perfect what was really a 6 inch move. And I still dont do it right all of the time. Better put in the work, cockergod.

[Birdland]

I started playing about two and a half months ago. I go to the driving range almost everyday and I get to play on the course at least once a week.

I have the same problem. Most of my problems though are hitting behind the ball - digging a huge crater behind where the ball was originally at and making it travel a whopping 30-60 yards!

My pro and golfmates say that I have a good backswing technique. Is my problem caused by hitting over the top -- outside going in on the backswing? If so what tips can you guys give on how to correct this? Any drills I should do?

[steve8820]

I started playing about two and a half months ago. I go to the driving range almost everyday and I get to play on the course at least once a week.

A lot chunking is due to not maintaining your spine angle and coming it too steep to the ball. Coming in "over the top" will cause a steep angle of attack. I am going to take a guess and say you hit shots thin as well? Take a few swings focusing on swinging out to the right and letting the club release.

I used to do the same thing. The key for me is to focus on a controlled smooth swing and to accelerate through the ball. When at the range, hit a few balls with the swing thought of "nice and smooth". I bet you'll make better contact and significant gains in distance.

[blackxpress]

I'm suddenly having the same problem but it's only with my irons. When I first started back this season the problem was with my woods. I could hit my irons really well but couldn't get a wood in the air to save my life. I got that problem worked out and as of last weekend was hitting all my clubs quite well. I played Tuesday and had a pretty good round but was starting to have issues with my irons. By yesterday the problem was acute. I'm hitting my driver and fairway woods a ton. I've never been able to hit the ball as far or as straight as I am now (with a wood, that is). But yesterday almost all my iron shots either went straight right or else I would top the ball and send it scorching across the turf. I plan to go to the range today and try to get it fixed but I'm really confused. Whatever I'm doing that's causing this vast improvement in my Driver and FWs has caused me to lose my swing with my irons.

[sonicblue]

If it was consistent chunking, I'd say casting, but if you're inconsistently up/down on the ball at impact, I'd vote for your legs/spine angle. Try to imagine "locking" in your knee flex, thereby setting the height of your arms/hands/club. Then, cut down on your swing, try 50-75% at most, which may help prevent either your shoulders dipping down too far on the backswing, or your lifting up at impact.

Remember, the good swings have VERY few moving parts. Whenever I get inconsistent, it's usually because extra movements have crept in. It's one of the game's biggest paradoxes (of which there are many): a very quiet, easy swing, will produce the best contact, flight and distance.

[tm22721]

Remember, the good swings have VERY few moving parts. Whenever I get inconsistent, it's usually because extra movements have crept in. It's one of the game's biggest paradoxes (of which there are many): a very quiet, easy swing, will produce the best contact, flight and distance.

So turn lower body first keeping arms/hands passive and maintain posture ?

[MrSandman]

I find my chunks to be the result of two things:

1. on full shots, leaving my weight on the right side too much. if your weight is on your right side, the bottom of your swing moves a couple inches to your right, thus a couple inches behind the ball, fat city.
2. pitches, chips, usually the result of decelarating. failure to swing through the ball, resulting in a fat shot.

I don't know if this is proper, but I always view the front, or maybe up to an inch in front of the ball, as my focal point. I much prefer a thin shot to a fat shot, and this helps me avoid fatties. (A fat 7 iron is going to be 60 yards short, a thin 7 iron will be maybe 10 yds long. The thin shot is my preferred result).

I have recently tried the Stack and Tilt method, and find that the initial movement to the left has significantly reduced my fat shots. It takes the timing of back to forward out of the process. This method is not for everybody, some people hate it, some are highly critical of it. But for me it helped to cure my chunkies as well as my drastic hooks. Now my misses are either thin shots are pushes, which are much more predictable than fat shots are giant curve balls.


Regarding the toppers/ground balls. In my playing days I have found that 99% of those are the result of failing to stay down on the ball, usually from something as simple as picking my head up.

[MrSandman]

My pro and golfmates say that I have a good backswing technique. Is my problem caused by hitting over the top -- outside going in on the backswing? If so what tips can you guys give on how to correct this? Any drills I should do?

Do you give any thought to your right elbow on the downswing? Is it close to your right hip, or does it "chicken wing" out a bit? If I am coming over the top and throwing snap hook curve balls, a lot of times that elbow is far away from my body on downswing.

[beung]

This could be as simple and not playing the groud properly or as complicated as you are releasing too early, more then likely it's a mixture of the two.

First things first, make sure you take into account the ground....

Include, decline and sidehills. Even if it is small it is enough to change the location of that ball in your swing.


As for the swing, thats tougher because I haven't seen yours but the old saying keep your head down, although it is a good tip, can mislead golfers into thinking that this, the ball, is the focal point of the swing. Causing many a golfer to swing at the ball and not past or through the ball. If you have ever taken marial arts, boxing or done any kind of running sprinting type of activities, they all teach the same thing. Punch, kick or run through the finish line or target.

In golf if you swing at the ball, your body will start breaking down, slowing up before the club gets to the ball. You want to imagine as if you are swinging and the ball just gets in the way of the swing.

Here are a couple of things I would try at the range.

1) At address look at the ball as if you were looking at it with your right eye, if you are a right hander, and not like you are looking at the ball with both eyes. A bit hard to imagine but you'll understand when you are standing over the ball, your head will probably tilt a bit at an incline.

2) Instead of looking right at the top of the ball, try looking at the front edge or even at a spot just infront of the ball. This should help you to hit past or through the ball instead of at it.

3) Don't ground the club at address. Take up your normal address position and start your back swing without grounding the club. This should get you hitting down into the ball a bit more.

[bm303]

My best recommendation if you can't make solid contact is to keep your head stable throughout the swing, and imagine that you are clipping the ball into the ground on the downswing, which will really pop the ball up.

[sonicblue]

So turn lower body first keeping arms/hands passive and maintain posture ?

I'd say "middle body" turns first? The hips turn just slightly at takeaway, but then they lock/anchor along with the legs. The rest of the backswing is all torso. I found that I have been using WAY too much arms in my backswing (and, hence, my downswing). All the hands really do on the backswing is just hinge the wrists, nothing else. The arms do even less.

I've been watching closely, and if you really pay attention to the pros, watch their torso on their backswing, not the club. If you watch the club, it seems like there's some big windup on the backswing. When you watch their body, you'll see how little their "core" is moving.

[sonicblue]

Do you give any thought to your right elbow on the downswing? Is it close to your right hip, or does it "chicken wing" out a bit? If I am coming over the top and throwing snap hook curve balls, a lot of times that elbow is far away from my body on downswing.

I would recommend you concentrate more on your right elbow never leaving your side to begin with. Lately, I feel like a lot of questions or advice I read have to do with compensating for a symptom, not correcting a cause. Casting, coming over the top, chunking, etc... - a lot of these have to do with a simple root cause of overswinging, poor balance, disconnectedness, or the like.

I say this as a sufferer myself. Every time I am really out of whack with ball striking or direction, I tend to start from impact and work backwards in the swing to find the first "wrong" thing. What I would say is better to do is, start with your address position and work forwards to find the first thing that goes wrong, and fix that, then the subsequent things will probably fall in line. To be concise, which isn't my best trait, mistakes in the swing are usually made early and are usually related to basic fundamentals, not the minutiae that, I think, we amateurs spend most of our time on.

[Birdland]

Thanks for all of your replies! All of you have great insights on why we hit the ball "fat". The bottom line therefore for me is nothing else but put more hours on the driving range and hope that I can consistently get my swing right. Focus on the proper fundamental mechanics and repeat and repeat and repeat until it becomes natural.

Golf really is such a game of precision. A centimeter off one of the hundreds of muscle movements one has to make in one swing will cause undesired results. Now that I'm realizing this fact, it makes me appreciate Tiger Woods and Lorena Ochoa more than I do Michael Jordan for example. For Tiger and Lorena to dominate, they really have to spot on.