Horrible advice: ''hit down on the ball''

[senorchipotle]

i think this gem, along with iacas' ''release the club,'' are perhaps two of the worst pieces of advice being handed out. to actually accomplish this hitting down on the ball, the golfer would end up moving his shoulders too far forward, effectively changing his swing plane, and do one, or a combination three very bad things:1) flipping hands to try and square the clubface and hit a pull hook, 2) push slice the ball out right by hands leading too much, or 3) $hank*%& the ball cause the hosel is coming first. there's probably more, but for the sake of argument i'll keep it at 3.

i think a better piece of advice would be to ''swing the clubhead down the target line and through the ball,'' taking care to keep good posture with your head behind the ball. there's no need to try and help the club bottom out, gravity is kind enough to do that for us. in my humble opinion, the words ''hit down on the ball'' is responsible for more fat shots, shanks, and bad fairway wood shots by intermediate level golfers than anything else.

[motteler621]

well most people use the "hit down on the ball" phrase when teaching how to hit consistent iron shots and there is alot of discusion on how they dont really mean to hit down on the ball but rathher the lowest part of the swing is right after the ball which comes from your hips shifting and practice.

[senorchipotle]

"there is alot of discusion on how they dont really mean to hit down on the ball...'' well if they don't mean it then they shouldn't say it, it's quite confusing, actually. and it takes a whole host of things for granted. not least the fact that people who are trying to help the ball in the air generally don't know to keep their head steady behind the ball. cause if the were doing that, with proper posture, alignment, and ball position, then it would be impossible to help the ball up. you'd have no choice but to make a descending blow on the ball.

[nuck81]

I don;t know, there IS a certain amount of satisfaction when that huge dirt clod you just let loose goes farther than the ball the dude next to you hit at the range....

[senorchipotle]

I don;t know, there IS a certain amount of satisfaction when that huge dirt clod you just let loose goes farther than the ball the dude next to you hit at the range....

yeah, but it's not cause you're actively hitting down on the ball, it's cause you're hitting through and past the ball.

[JackLee]

Good post, but you cannot "swing the clubhead down the target line" if you mean the center of the clubhead. Target line is straight. Clubhead path is a curve. Not trying to be a smart a**. It's just that this is a phrase that I have heard many times, and it is possible only with a putting stroke.

[max power]

For most of the beginners I've played with, "hit down on the ball" is solid advice. Trying to lift the ball up and pulling their head out of shots early seems to be the two biggest obstacles to solid contact, and grasping the notion of directing energy down and "through the ball" seems helpful in eliminating the atrocious topped shots and overswings.

[senorchipotle]

Good post, but you cannot "swing the clubhead down the target line" if you mean the center of the clubhead. Target line is straight. Clubhead path is a curve. Not trying to be a smart a**. It's just that this is a phrase that I have heard many times, and it is possible only with a putting stroke.

no, not being a smart ass at all, it's a good observation. i do however believe it does have merit. while we can never actually accomplish this feat, we do want our momentum going out toward the target. and the longer our clubhead stays on this path past the ball, the straighter the shot will be. so while our club in reality is travelling in an arc, we want our arms to stretch out in the direction of the target as far as they can before coming back inside. i think ''swing down the target line'' gives us a good, safe mental picture to improve our swing.

[senorchipotle]

For most of the beginners I've played with, "hit down on the ball" is solid advice. Trying to lift the ball up and pulling their head out of shots early seems to be the two biggest obstacles to solid contact, and grasping the notion of directing energy down and "through the ball" seems helpful in eliminating the atrocious topped shots and overswings.

would you not say that ''swing through the ball'' is better advice than ''hit down on it?'' and yeah, many of them lift up and out of the swing, but i don't see how telling them to hit down on it would make a difference with respect to that. cause as i've already posited, if someone has good ball position and proper alignment, and swing on a good path, gravity will handle the rest.

[max power]

would you not say that ''swing through the ball'' is better advice than ''hit down on it?'' and yeah, many of them lift up and out of the swing, but i don't see how telling them to hit down on it would make a difference with respect to that. cause as i've already posited, if someone has good ball position and proper alignment, and swing on a good path, gravity will handle the rest.

I agree that is how it should work, and for those students who have good ball position and proper alignment and a good swing path, it is probably better advice than "hit down on the ball". I speak more of the case of the enthusiastic near-beginner, althletic enough in other sports who isn't grasping how the club and ball work. That essentially, the club goes up on a natural arc, comes down to the ball on a natural arc, and then through the ball on the same arc. And the head has to be still for this to happen, and the first thing I usually see when these swings go awry is the head lifting in an effort slap at the ball, or to bottom out and agressively lift the ball into the air. In these situations, a few moderately stentorian barked orders to "hit down" and "keep your head still" seems to have the most dramatic effect.

[NZGolfer]

Yeah I totally agree for the reasons you stated. But I think a better peice of advice would be try and hit the ball as LOW as possible with out thinning it or changing your stance, just swing normally and try to hit the ball low. Of course the ball doesn't fly low but it encourages the proper release, instead of saying hit down on it.

[Taggsy]

i think this gem, along with iacas' ''release the club,'' are perhaps two of the worst pieces of advice being handed out. to actually accomplish this hitting down on the ball, the golfer would end up moving his shoulders too far forward, effectively changing his swing plane, and do one, or a combination three very bad things:1) flipping hands to try and square the clubface and hit a pull hook, 2) push slice the ball out right by hands leading too much, or 3) $hank*%& the ball cause the hosel is coming first. there's probably more, but for the sake of argument i'll keep it at 3.

I don't see how your list of swing errors have anything to do with hitting down on the ball.

Flipping the hands to square the clubface is something you can do when topping the ball or hitting it fat. As for that producing a Pull Hook, yes that could happen if your path is out to in, and the club face is closed to the swing path. But then you can easily produce a Push Slice by flipping your hands if the swing path is in to out, and the club face is open to the swing path. Flipping your hands is a separate issue to hitting down on the ball. Push Slice by hands leading too much? Maybe that's the "feeling" you get when that happens to your shots, but mechanically I've explained why that happens above. Again, it has nothing to do with hitting down on the ball. Shanking the ball with the hosel- you've simply not hit the ball with the club face- again, nothing to do with hitting down on the ball. "Swing the clubhead down the target line and through the ball". Through the ball- that's a given. The alternative would be to miss the ball. As for the clubhead down the target line, I know what you're saying, but you've worded it incorrectly. Swing with the shaft of the club pointing down the plane line (an inch or so in front of the target line) through impact is more accurate. With an on-plane swing the clubhead points to the target line- it's only on (down) the line for a spit second through impact. The golf swing is a circle, no straight lines involved. If you're swinging the clubhead along a straight line, something's wrong. But then your advice has no baring on hitting down on the ball. It's not an alternative to it, you can still hit down on the ball and follow your advice. "There's no need to try an help the club bottom out, gravity is kind enough to do that for us." No, you control the club bottoming out, either consciously, or subconsciously (as I suspect you do). Depending on your swing, you either control the bottoming out by muscular force (hitting), or centrifugal force (swinging). If gravity is controlling someone's downswing, it's because they've just had a heart attack when reaching the top. I assume you agree you should hit the ball before the ground? And that your divots should be after the ball (preferably by a few inches)? You can only achieve this by hitting down on the ball. I'd hate to break it to you Senorchipotie, but as a 5.9 handicap, you clearly hit down on the ball.

[tm22721]

Hitting down on the ball is a reaction, not an action. It results from good dynamics in transition including the lateral shift and waiting for the 'tipback' of the clubhead before initiating the downswing. A video of Tiger's transition is about 2/3 of the way down this article :

http://www.aroundhawaii.com/lifestyl...ransition.html

[saevel25]

I have this fault, i can not get my club to travel down the line at all, i have no feeling extension.

[grantc79]

i think a better piece of advice would be to ''swing the clubhead down the target line and through the ball,''

If you swing down the target line you will slice the ball all day long.

Target line and delivery line are two different things.

[grantc79]

no, not being a smart ass at all, it's a good observation. i do however believe it does have merit. while we can never actually accomplish this feat, we do want our momentum going out toward the target. and the longer our clubhead stays on this path past the ball, the straighter the shot will be. so while our club in reality is travelling in an arc, we want our arms to stretch out in the direction of the target as far as they can before coming back inside. i think ''swing down the target line'' gives us a good, safe mental picture to improve our swing.

Considering the vast majority of bad golfers are slicers I don't know why you think this is good advice.

[iacas]

to actually accomplish this hitting down on the ball, the golfer would end up moving his shoulders too far forward, effectively changing his swing plane, and do one, or a combination three very bad things

Most golfers told to "hit down on the ball" do so with their shoulders spinning out and thus chopping down on the ball from an over the top position. Very few move their upper center forward to do it. 99% of average golfers have their weight too far back - I'd have to give serious consideration if you gave me the magical power to change the location of the average golfer's weight from too far back to ANYTHING forward, even if it is the upper center instead of the lower center.

1) flipping hands to try and square the clubface and hit a pull hook

I don't think that result follows from the advice to "hit down".

i think a better piece of advice would be to ''swing the clubhead down the target line and through the ball,'

I think that advice is terrible. Your hands, the grip, the clubhead... none of it travels down the target line. They travel down the plane line (ideally), which is at best a circle or an arc, not a straight line.

and the longer our clubhead stays on this path past the ball, the straighter the shot will be.

100% wrong for a normal swing which requires a certain amount of power. Attempting to keep the sweet spot of the club on the target line is an incredibly slow way to swing. It can be accurate, but it's awkward at best and the best players in the world don't do this even one little bit.

so while our club in reality is travelling in an arc, we want our arms to stretch out in the direction of the target as far as they can before coming back inside.

Wrong. We want our hands, the clubhead, the shaft, etc. to remain on the proper arc.

[tm22721]

99% of average golfers have their weight too far back.

What helps me is placing the ball outside my left heel for ALL clubs which creates a subscious urge to shift EARLY or else I will whiff the ball. Having gotten into an early position to hit, I then have to be patient until the clubhead tips back before starting down. It works for me, but your mileage may vary.