everthing is thin rarely taking divots

[vivek35]

Hello all,
I am having a problem where I am hitting my irons slightly thin everytime. I am able to take a divot on 8 9 PW and wedges, however all my other irons are not taking divots and are thin shots. I am a 14 handicapper and would like to be able to "hit down" on the ball more often. Any one have similar problem that they were able to fix?
thanks

[ks8829]

the thin shot is when your swing has past the bottom of the arc and already moving up. If you can visualize the bottom of the golf swing you need to make contact just before the bottom of the arc.

draw a circle and find the bottom of the circle or tangent to the ground. now you can see how the arc of your swing is making contact with the ball. the contact point is just before the bottom of the arc. and your divot is just in front of the ball.

One way to correct this problem is when you take your practice swing you will discover the bottom of the swing by where you brush the grass. now position your feet so that the ball is before the bottom of the arc.

make sure that your hands are naturally extended to the ground and sometimes it help to have a slight forward press.

solid contact will be felt with your hands and the sound it makes at impact, if you need you can put tape on the face of your club or mark your ball with a sharpie and position it toward the face of your iron so that it will leave a mark on the club face at impact.

[Dugie]

i have had the same issue, I had to over correct, hitting to Fat shots for a while before I could get it back to where I needed it to be. We have a good bit of hard pan here in Texas so sometimes you have to hit it thin if you want to hit it at all. Esp. if we are not playing the nicest courses all the time.

[iacas]

the thin shot is when your swing has past the bottom of the arc and already moving up.

Not necessarily. Most commonly, though, you're probably right. Some people catch it on the way down though.

That said, the cause is probably earlier in your swing than you think. Your hips or head could be moving towards the ball. If you don't pull up your arms you'll crash into the ground. Or you're standing too close to the ball and your weight is moving backwards as you approach impact. Or your ball position is too far back. Or too far forward. Suffice to say none of us really have a clue without seeing your swing, so any tips you get will just be guesses. Go see a PGA pro.

[Chipper]

i have a similar problem. the ground tends to be dry on the course (drought) so when i do take a divot it disrupts my swing pretty badly.

[Jesh]

Lately, I've been consistently topping every shot. Is this just a simple case of the ball being too far back in my stance, or are there other reasons to top it that I don't know about? Basically, besides the ball being too far back in my stance, what other reasons are there?

[Chipper]

you might be pulling your head during your swing. keep your eye on the ball son...quite cliche but i think it will help. also don't be shy about extending your arms.

[Jesh]

How far should my arms extend? Until they are comfortable, or until the are perfectly straight?

[sdped1]

How far should my arms extend? Until they are comfortable, or until the are perfectly straight?

Not sure what you mean? at address? on the backswing? At address they should hang pretty much naturally straight down. If you topping the ball you might be swinging to hard at the top of the swing instead of letting the club swing naturally at the bottom of the swing. Make sure on your back swing your not swaying back, that will put your spine angle tilted to the right and you will swing up on the ball. Opposite is true if your hitting it fat(spine angle to far to the left). Get to the range and hit 1/2 shots and work your way up. Yep and keep your head down and let the momentum of the golf swing pull your head around and up. Make sure you have your chin out from your chest a little so you have some clearence for you right shoulder to clear underneath it..- Steve

[NotAStick]

A reverse pivot is the biggest cause of thin shots.

On your follow through, are you 100% weight on your left foot? (95% is probably ok)

If there's any (<5%) weight left on your right foot, you're staying too far behind it. That will cause the ascending blow and thin contact.

Same with what sdped1 said, if you sway back in your backswing, same problems ususally occur.

Take a video. Your head should not move before impact. Keep it totally still.

[Zeph]

Imagine a nail going through the ball from an angle of about 10º and down into the ground. If you're going to get the nail into the ground, you have no option but to hit down on the ball.

Reverse pivot could also be the problem.

[kfowler]

Lately, I've been consistently topping every shot. Is this just a simple case of the ball being too far back in my stance, or are there other reasons to top it that I don't know about? Basically, besides the ball being too far back in my stance, what other reasons are there?

Jesh,

When ever I've had this issue it's because my head is moving toward the target during the downswing. It's most noticeable on a driver for me. You can really see this if you film yourself from FO and draw a vertical line at address from ball. If you're head moves past the ball, you're moving forward. Search YouTube for a Nicklaus video on keeping head still.

[Zeph]

Another thing you can try. Place the ball on the ground so that the logo or biggest mark on the ball is facing 45º up away from the target. That's where you want to try to hit the ball.

Work on this with your wedges, chip shots and full swings.

[shankapotamus]

Lately, I've been consistently topping every shot. Is this just a simple case of the ball being too far back in my stance, or are there other reasons to top it that I don't know about? Basically, besides the ball being too far back in my stance, what other reasons are there?

You could also be looking up.

But if you're hitting shots thin, try looking ahead of the ball when you're swinging instead of at the back of the ball.

[uppi]

Just got over a similar problem. I just starting playing again this year after a 5 year layoff and got into a habit of sweeping the ball. I hit a lot of thin shots as a result and what I did was played the ball farther back in my stance and also played my hands more forward. This allowed to me start taking more divots (I wasnt even taking divots with my wedges). Imediately I noticed HUGE improvements in my wedge game. I am still playing all my clubs a little farter back in my stance but im not playing my hands as forward and taking good divots 5iron and down. I also started making better ball contact with all my irons by eliminating some minor casting I was doing. Make sure you are keeping your wrists slightly cocked through impact.

[zeg]

Imagine a nail going through the ball from an angle of about 10º and down into the ground. If you're going to get the nail into the ground, you have no option but to hit down on the ball.

This image creates problems for me. Subconsciously, the angle I visualize to be hammering with is the face of the club, when I think you really need to be hammering with the extension of the shaft -- i.e., no loft. As a result, I have to fight the urge to forward press and deloft severely. Here's an image showing a club face. The red line and shaft are oriented to show the same 10º angle into the ground. I "know" this is what the face should look like when hitting down, but the mental image still gives me problems.

[vivek35]

Hello all,
thanks alot for your replies and diagrams. I took into account what everyone said and have some updated news. When i start my backswing, I do(my head) sway to the right just a bit, its the way I initiate my backswing. HOwever my weight stays on the inside of my right leg. On my follow through I all of my weight is on my left side with a proper finish.

[Cussin hacker]

Having the same problem. 3 thru 6 irons. I believe I'm not keeping my head still enough and looking up to soon. Any tips for this?