Hit Down Dammit!

[kennay92]

Just ordered the hit down dammit dvd series as i feel like i release my lag to early and dont hit down enough onto the ball. Just wondering if anyone has seen/ bought these as well and their opinion on them.

[ControlJunkie]

Just ordered the hit down dammit dvd series as i feel like i release my lag to early and dont hit down enough onto the ball. Just wondering if anyone has seen/ bought these as well and their opinion on them.

Never heard of it. Got a link??

[kennay92]

hitdowndammit.com i do believe

[kennay92]

no one?????

[GameDayDog]

I'm a big fan of Hit Down Dammit. My ball striking was rediculous and I was guilty of hitting up at the ball. Now that I know I'm supposed to hit down on the ball, I find myself hitting it fat sometimes. Clive (the instructor) doesn't discuss in detail about holding the wrist angle and increasing lag. However, once I learned the proper role of my right hand in the golf swing - (the right hand thrust drill) - it all made sense.

I hope you enjoy the dvd's & ebook and really dedicate time to do the drills. If you want to talk about his program feel free to message me, I'm a satisfied customer.

[Zeph]

I haven't seen or read any of the material, but what is the general concept of it? What details does HDD emphasize?

[Taggsy]

The Golfing Machine: Section 6-E-2, "Thrust Direction";

"TRY TO DRIVE THE BALL INTO THE GROUND, NOT INTO THE AIR."

(it's capitalised in the book, not me being a ass ;)
That goes for all clubs, even the driver!

[Zeph]

Hitting the ball on the way down is a result of making all the right motions during a swing.



In order to hit down on the ball, you want to take a divot with the low point of the arc being 2-4 inches in front of the ball.

Looking at the address position of Charlie Wi here, we see that his arm is slightly bent and there has been established an angle between his arms and shaft.

At impact, the left arm has straightened and the angle between his arm and shaft has increased slightly. We also see that his head has dipped a little bit (I just saw my line being slightly off, but it makes no big difference). The reason we see on the next picture.

Charlie makes a good hip push forward, while the head has stayed somewhat still laterally. This has caused his right shoulder do drop slightly and his head. You can also see the angle on his left arm has straightened on the face on view.

So, to sum up. His arm has straightened and his head has dipped. This has moved the bottom of his swing further down into the ground, and he will take a divot after the ball.

Those that don't take a divot have to keep the head up, or even lift it. They can bend the left arm at impact. Or rotating the shoulders so the left one is higher at impact. All three actions will get the club further away from the ground. There are of course different ways to move the body higher, you can lift the torso or stand up with the legs.

Here is Lee Westwood an excellent example.



His left arm is more bent at impact than it is at address! But he still takes a divot because his head has dropped what we could call a ton. His shoulders are fairly level to the ground at impact, so he has not moved the club up that way. I don't know Lee, but one of his flaws are the cause of the other. It is probably his head dip that is the problem. If you look at his swing , you can see the left arm being somewhat straight at the start of the downswing, but gradually bending more and more the closer he gets to the ball. He gets so low, he has to do something to prevent the club from digging a deep hole in the ground, possibly hitting it fat too. Consequently, he has developed a move where he bends his left arm to lift the club off the ground. This is not a good way to play golf because it relies on timing. He obviously do it well by finishing second at The Masters, but he could have been a lot better if he got this problem sorted out. He still hit the ball a mile, but would probably hit it even farther, and more consistently, if he kept his head up and left arm straight at impact.

Tiger Woods drops his head a lot too, but he still does not bang his driver into the ground.



As you can see, his head as dropped a lot. Not as much as Lee, but definitely more than Charlie. His left arm is straight, so not lifting going on there. Now, look at his shoulders and how tilted back they are. That is where he get his lift to counter-act the head dip. By jumping up, pushing his left foot into the ground and thrusting upwards, he lifts his left shoulder, which is attached to the arm which holds the club. So, by tilting to the left, lifting the left shoulder, he gets the club up and away from the ground.

Lastly, Phil Mickelson.



Driver, head dipped a bit because of the hips pushing forward, shoulders tilted some degrees. Less head dip and less shoulder tilt than Tiger, this puts the club in somewhat the same distance from the ground for both of them. As you also can see, he has not lost his right wrists bend, but kept the flying wedge, the angle between his right wrist and shaft. If he threw that away prematurely, he would risk hitting the ground. By holding that angle past the ball, the shoulders have at that point tilted so far to the right that the club won't hit the ground.

This post covers why you hit the ball on the way down. Where the low point of your swing is, is another topic. But shortly put, the position of the center of your body and where your weight is, determines where the low point of your swing is, or bottom of the arc. If your body and weight is too far back, the low point is behind the ball. If your body and weight is more forward, the low point is in front of the ball. You can get it so far forward that you almost won't hit the ball. The important thing is to keep the weight forward, not back!

Lastly I want to point out that there are different degrees of angle you want the downward move to be on a swing. From pitching wedge at 5 degrees to the 3-wood at 3 degrees of downward angle. The driver should be around 1 degree downward angle of attack, or descent. Since the ball is closer to the ground (tee'd lower) with a wedge and 3-wood, the 5 to 3 degrees of descent angle will cause you to take a divot. With the driver, the ball is tee'd higher up and with only 1 degree of descent angle, the club head will flatten out and start the ascent before it reaches the ground. So, take a divot with every club except the driver.

As always, I appreciate any response to this post, whether pointing out if I'm right or wrong. I believe what I've written to be true, so by correcting me, I will learn something at the same time.