Drills for Ball Striking Improvement

[sethro5hc]

I played a round the other day and hit literally almost every fairway on a short course. I've got very long driving ability (120 SS), so when I'm hitting it good I should be scoring very well. Well I shot 88... I have not had a day with such bad ball striking with my irons since I was probably 14.

My wedges were taking divots 2 inches behind the ball, I was hitting short on my lob wedge and hitting my 90 yard club 45 yards like a flop shot. The only irons I hit all day well were 7 and below (3,4,5, 6).. the short ones were awful to a level I haven't seen in years.

Now I've always had trouble with consistent ball striking, I swear I dropkicked my drives off the tee for years, but I thought it was fixed for the most part.

Can anybody help with some drills I can do in the backyard or at the range to improve this, nothing as frustrating as not hitting the ball first.. No amount of finishing or lining up correctly will help anything if you hit the ground first. The shorter the club (lob especially), the worse I am at hitting the ball first.

WITH that said, I did have a Tiger putt on 18. Lakeview (at Callaway Gardens) has a mini-golf type hill on green 18, and put the hole right in the middle of it to be mean. Well I was 10 feet out, and missed my putt by 3 inches right, and 2 feet long.. it went long, stopped, started backing up, and came back in the hole. First time I've ever seen a putt near the hole stop and come backwards. Sort've ridiculous if you ask me.

[R7Player]

Here is what I do to see if I'm accurate.
Take a pencil and scour the bottom of your wedge (in living room)
mark a dot on a piece of white paper.
Place on floor, Hit the dot with the wedge Hard. Be careful of women and
children and pets. Look how far off you are, sometimes its way off,
I thought I had dead aim, but I would miss the dot by 5-6 inches. The guys on
TV hit the dot.

[sethro5hc]

I have a very straight up and down swing plane from what I've been told, which is half the reason my shots go so high. Would this be another reason it seems to be more difficult for me to consistently strike the ball as opposed to others with flatter swings? I'm a math/science minded guy and just thinking about a steep swing would mean it's only going to be a ball level for a specific (and short) amount of time, meaning if you're off at all you're hitting ground not ball, whereas guys with a flatter swing would be near that appropriate club level for striking the ball for a longer amount of time.

Same as how a straight armed, straight wristed chip with a putter stroke is easier to strike the ball than a real wristy, up and down flop shot right? Or am I off here?

[KwSipp]

Your thinking to much, and a steep swing plane isnt always a bad thing as long as its not too steep. As far as ball striking goes, I always tell my friends to get back to basics. Start with half swing pitches, keep them real low and go from there. The biggest key to a good strike of the ball is weight transfer, get on that lead side and get your hands past the ball, you should see alot of difference after that.

[Lean, Mean, Hitting Machine]

Start with short pitch shots...keep left arm straight....remember: the wrists only hinge up and down, not left and right.....keep chin up and head behind the ball until you have hit the ball....focus on swing towards your target, NOT AT THE BALL...remember, its a swing and not a hit; the ball just happens to be in your way.

Also, you can buy a little iron that has a very small club face/basically only the sweet spot of a normal iron. If you can hit that little iron solidly, then you should be able to strike the ball really well with a normal size club. They sell them at the PGA superstore, and probably other places too.

[ks8829]

practice your wedge play, most time its the other way around, you can hit your wedges but not your irons, so this should be an easy fix.

simply practice your wedges and hit off grass, watch some instruction video on wedges and keep on practice, no short cuts.

[WUTiger]

Since you're having trouble on your short irons and wedges, make sure you are not overswinging on your takeaway. Both Nicklaus and Hogan warn that shorter clubs don't require as "big" a backswing. (Jack and Ben are discussed in Ball Position thread).

As far as swing drills, try some half-swings (halfway back, smooth abbreviated followthrough). Do them with heels together, and then at normal foot spread. This helps:
* coordinate the tempo of the hands/arms and hip turn.
* check your balance.
* you sense feel of good contact.

Let us know how things work out.