I think it's called chunking

[ITgolfHack]

Last evening, after working almost 10 hours, some friends invited me to go play twilight at a nice long course, longer then I'm used to at least. I started off pretty good and I was hitting the ball well on the front 9. I was also hitting a lot of 4I and 5I shots since I'm not comfortable with fairway woods yet.

On the back 9 I just couldn't get through the ball all the way and I was hitting the ground behind the ball a LOT, like every 3rd or 4th fairway/rough shot.

I didn't feel all that tired, but maybe my muscles were just getting worn out from the busy day and the extra long iron shots on the front 9.

Sound reasonable? Do you tend to chunk (is that the right word for it?) more balls when your worn out then you do when your fresh?

[ks8829]

Do you mean hitting fat, hitting the big ball before the little ball?

It happens to all of us at one time or another. This happens when the bottom of the swing arc is before the ball. This can happen when:

1) you are swaying on your backswing and your weight is rolling to the outside of your back foot and this happens when you are not turning around your spine.

a) practice with the club behind your back parallel to the ground with both arms supporting the club and practice turning around your spine.
b) practice swinging the club with your feet together.
c) practice your swing with the weight on the inside of your back shoe.
d) practice you swing with standing on 2 balls on the outside of your shoe to support the weight on the inside and hit a ball or two.

2) your arms get to far behind you and you are unable to return to the same position.

a) practice keeping your right elbow against your body when you start your take away and until you break your wrist on the backswing, this will give you a compact swing and help you make solid contact with the ball. practice this will chipping first to get the feel for this position, Vijay Sing sometimes practice hitting ball with a golf glove under his arm pit.

good luck

[tonyy]

Great advice!

I occasionally start to hit fat shots as well and will keep these tips in mind.

[glebert]

If I am hitting it fat I usually fix it if I move my weight back on my heels a bit. For really good contact I am also finding it is important to fully extend my arms at address, like I am stretching my arms down towards the ball.

[GaijinGolfer]

Id chalk it up to just being a little tired.

[M2daRizzle]

I usually hit shots fat because I set up standing to close to the ball. It sounds stupid, but thats what happens to me so I guess there is a chance it was happening to you.

[bIGwIRE]

Same here, after 10 hours behind a welding hood I tend to "chunk" it all up.
No worries, the sod will grow back

[FlopShotArtist]

Last evening, after working almost 10 hours, some friends invited me to go play twilight at a nice long course, longer then I'm used to at least. I started off pretty good and I was hitting the ball well on the front 9. I was also hitting a lot of 4I and 5I shots since I'm not comfortable with fairway woods yet.

Yep. When I start getting tired, whether it be the heat, lack of sleep, or just flat out worn out, I tend to chunk a lot of irons.

[Soup Fan]

I usually hit it fat/thin/chunk because of a medical condition I have.








Bad spasms.

[InTheTwenties]

It's probably just you being tired. I tried playing with Red Bull in the system.

Either way I'm so fat, ROSSIE O'DONALD HITS IT THINNER THAN ME.

[mellojoe]

Another quick tip:

When I start getting tired, I get lazy. I start picking my head up way too early. When I start doing that, I start hitting everything BUT the ball. I have to remind myself to keep my head down.

[$2 Nassau]

If anyone knows about hitting the ball fat it's me. I spent the first 2 years that I played hitting the ball fat. It's amazing that I stuck with the game!!

For me it was decelerating on the downswing. Some guy told me that I needed to "swing easy" (worst advice ever by the way) so I would take the club back normally and then of course slow down my swing on the downswing in an effort to hit the ball solid (or so I thought). The result, no weight transfer to front foot and hitting the ground before the ball.

Swing SMOOTH, not easy. If you need to take something off a club, then shorten your backswing, but still get through the ball agressively and get to your front foot!!

Look at a tour pro, there is nothing "easy" about the way they swing. Smooth = yes.