Divots

[Amused]

I've only been playing regularly for the past couple of years and I realize that I need to take a few lessons. But, I've always wondered what I was doing wrong with my down swing because I never take a divot, and when I do it's behind the ball.

With that said, I feel like I'm not compressing the ball, maximizing my swing, or utilizing my ball's potential. I can't seem to figure out how to adjust my swing in order to "hit down" on the ball and take divots in front of the ball. I don't know if it's my ball position, weight distribution, or if my hands are behind the club head during impact. For my short irons, I position the ball just forward of center, maybe below my left eye, and for my long irons, below my left ear.

I'm curious as to what you all focused on when tackling this issue and how you corrected yourself. I know lessons will do me wonders, but some insight in the meantime would be appreciated.

Thanks - Jason

[LegalEagle]

Great topic! I think there are a few other threads on this question/topic..if you search you might find something useful.

I have the same problem though..it feels like I pick the ball of the ground. You can see where the club head brushed the ground though. Every once and a while I do get the divot in front of the ball....and sometimes I get a nice big fat divot behind the ball. Such is life!

[MiniMoe]

To divot or not to divot... that is the question. The divot is a direct result of what happens during the swing... but the point of the swing is to send the ball to a target. Personally, I would not change my swing just to make a divot... after all, making a divot is not a good indication of a good shot or a bad one. I only change my swing when the ball is not doing what I want it to do. I have seen more than a few swings wrecked because the guys made changes for the wrong reasons. Be very careful. Making changes to produce a divot may cause adverse consequences with ball control.

[enduro]

Theres a few factors. What kind of grass are you hitting off of? Nice bent grass fairways are very soft and you will create a divot more easily. A lot of fairways around me are bluegrass and don't divot as well. It's tougher grass and isn't as tight of a lie. But when I play on nicer bent grass fairways with a really tight lie I see more of a mark in front of the ball and where it was sitting.

What kind of clubs are you using? A lot of game improvement clubs have wider soles and because of that you won't get as much of a cut into the ground very often.

A lot of great players don't take much of one. I take a small one. The pros often take larger ones due to soft bent grass fairways, pro style clubs and the fact they hit with so much power. I don't have the kind if power a pro has so naturally I won't create as much of one.

[billysandy]

Over the past 3 weeks i have been taking quite big divots and it works better than when i was sweeping the ball with my irons. however, i need to find a way of taking a consistent divot size because the shots don't go the same distance each time.
Try just coming down on the ball a little more, and you may take more divots if that's what you want and coming down on the ball will make the ball spin more

[Zeph]

I work on weight shift and late acceleration. If I rush down with the arms, they will often hit the ground before the ball. If I hit the ball, I might pick it from the ground, or, if tee'd up, come under it. If I don't get the weight forward, I have no chance of making a downward strike on the ball and take a divot.
I want to get the weight over to the left foot, turning and pushing my hips forward. While doing this, the arms drop from the top, not conciously pushing them forward. When the hands reach the waist, the swing is speeding up, if I kept my lag I will be forward with the hips, arms thrown down and club swung beneath me. Catching ball first, then divot.

I don't take huge divots, take more the less club I use, but for mid irons I might take a shallow divot or just brush the ground, picking up the grass with some roots.

[gir]

I've been working on this the last few months. Find where your swing bottoms out, then place the ball back just a bit from there and make the same swing, and you'll be hitting it on the downswing. I've found some forward press with the shaft and the hands ahead of the ball helps a downward strike. I've found it's not something you should really be conciously trying to do, it's something that can be dialed in with your setup, and you just make your normal swing, and it happens on it's own as a result of sound fundamentals creating a sound swing.