Lifting up at impact.

[kennay92]

Causes of it? How to fix it?

Today at the range i was hitting EVERYTHING with my irons thin. I couldnt even hit my wedges. So i asked the guys around me if they didnt mind watching me swing and see if they can give me some insight of what im doing. Each of them told me i was lifting up and not staying down on it. So anyone have any cures/drills/videos?

[binga7]

I sometimes find myself doing this, best cure is to get on the range and practice watching the ball and impact zone and stay down. ie- dont watch where the ball goes. I almost always feel sweet contact doing this, and after couple seconds you can look up and see the ball flight.

[senorchipotle]

Causes of it? How to fix it?

causes: lifting up.

fix: don't lift up. seriously. keep your body down and don't lift your torso. it's really that simple.

[kennay92]

causes: lifting up.

a lot of things easier said than done.. and today it felt like every time i tried to stay down i hit it fat, definatly worst range session in a looooooooong time.

[saevel25]

Its hard to fix, i fight it all the time. here is what i did to mentally try to fix this..


Practice swinging inside with your butt againts a wall. You want to keep your butt in contact with the wall through out the whole swing. I have been trying to half cut a golf shaft on an old club and adding lead weight to try to be able to swing something inside with out nailing the all, but you can always hold a golf club againts your chest and just rotate your swing. This will help you clear your hits with out having it lift up and out.

[Dr. Strangeclub]

One of the problems with a decent game is that we become complacent about hitting good shots and forget how it all came about to begin with. It's easy to panic!

Usually, it's best to fix one thing at a time and see what kind of ripple effects set in, but I'd start with my right foot. Keep it flat on the ground, weight on the inside, until impact, and only then finish with your spikes showing. Lifting it early destabilizes you vertically: you'll spin out, go past the ball, lift up early on the right side...all sorts of things can go wrong. Watch Kenny Perry, old clips of Ben Hogan, or Nick Faldo. The guys who do it right are almost always really good ball strikers. The ones who do it "wrong" are frequently sprayers. (Actually, pros rarely make this mistake, and when they do, it's like, "Oops...")

For this to be maximally effective, keep that right foot perpendicular to the swing line. Splaying the right foot behind you at address is a recipe for a clumsy follow through and repetitive stress injuries to the ligaments on the inner side of your knee.

If you're doing that okay already, I'd take a look at my right hand grip. If you are holding it in the front of the hand, the whole operation can get flippy and out of whack, as the right hand simply takes over into the shot. You wind up casting it a little or coming over the top a bit. The left side just can't support that kind of action and has a tendency to collapse into the ball; now you either have to try to compensate by going down after it or stay put and thin it. Pull hooks, balloon balls, thin ugly things that slither out there. The game can become "rich and strange" leveraging onto the shaft with the side of the index finger of your right hand. Instead, hold the club with the middle two fingers and feel the impact more in the meat of your hand.

Just guessing...

[Dr. Strangeclub]

I have been trying to half cut a golf shaft on an old club and adding lead weight to try to be able to swing something inside with out nailing the all,

Yeah, a cutoff club is great for indoors, especially around here in Central NY in the winter. (You really can't do a lot of swinging outdoors when there's 4 feet of solid snowcover and it's 10 below zero.) Just use a swing doughnut! I have a an old persimmon 4 wood I use. Cut off the shaft, stuck a grip on it, and with the swing doughnut it feels just like swinging a regular club!

[Scott_K]

I make a conscious effort and focus on the point of where the ball once was when thin shots creep in. The momentum of the swing brings my head up.

Possibly you just had an off day at the range.

[deronsizemore]

One common problem for this is simply bending your knees too much which makes you lower to the ground which means your body HAS to lift up so you don't dig your club into the ground at impact.

[iacas]

causes: lifting up.

It's not that simple, no. Fat shots and thin shots are almost always the result of the same flaw - the low point of your swing is too far back.

Figure out why and contact will clean right up.

[McGolf-Doggie]

One of the problems with a decent game is that we become complacent about hitting good shots and forget how it all came about to begin with. It's easy to panic!

Even though I'm not the OP, I sometimes have this problem. Seems like a really well thought out post. Thanks for your thoughts.

[thrasher]

It's not that simple, no. Fat shots and thin shots are almost always the result of the same flaw -

Agreed, although I think the solution is not necessarily so easy. You are likely coming in too steep (i.e. over the top) and your body compensates by lifting up right before impact. Otherwise, if you DO come down really steep you will just chunk the club into the ground behind the ball. Without seeing your swing, it's hard to say, but this would be my guess. Work on making sure your down swing comes from the inside and that you keep rotating your core towards the target through impact, and I bet you'll lose the lifting thing!

[kennay92]

One common problem for this is simply bending your knees too much which makes you lower to the ground which means your body HAS to lift up so you don't dig your club into the ground at impact.

hmmm. simple, but yet very plausible.. ill look into that.

[Zeph]

Check where your weight is. Too far back and you got the low point of the swing too far back. This will force you to stand up or chicken wing the arms in order to not hit the ball fat.

[Titleist_ProV1x]

Causes of it? How to fix it?

Just change the oil in your clubs, works for me every time