Hitting down on the ball

[Bogeyman68]

I am really wanting to work on my ball striking this year. I am  having some trouble with the hitting down on the ball concept. It seems that when I try this that I hit fat shots with hudge divots. Over doing the hit down concept I guess. I have also heard that you should use the same swing with woods also. I was hoping someone would have some drills to help me with this. Thanks.

[walk18]

Here you go.

[Michael]

Drills are hit or miss.  Maybe the 15th one you try is the one for you.  A new attitude may help.  Consider this:  hitting an (iron) shot on the low point of one's swing is a trick shot that requires much more timing and coordination.  I'm convinced a tour pro would miss more often swinging that way than swinging with a descending blow.  Taking proper divots requires overcoming the fear of hitting it fat.  So step over from the dark side and start hitting with a descending blow and just endure all those fat shots that will eventually come.  If you play or practice enough, the time will come when you will forget how to swing the old way.  That will be the start of improvement.  Take my word for it, a descending blow with the club square at the ball with a release after impact is probably the greatest feeling in golf.  You can have my holes-on-one (all 2 of them).

[596]

When I start hitting fat shots I no longer "look at the ball".  I start focusing on a spot as much as 3-4" in front of the ball, I don't "look" at the ball.  This MAY change your impact point just slightly ahead of where you were hitting the ball and allow you to hit the ball and groung at the same time.  I adjust my "look" with each club I swing.  My 60* is 4" in front, my mid irons are on the grass "just in front", my long irons and woods are "on the back" of the ball.  This changes the bottom of my swing arc just enough with each club.

Your "spots" may vary : )

I have zero idea if this will help you.

[cbrian]

Hard without seeing your swing, but generally, weight forward.

[nevets88]

I never liked the phrase hit down on the ball.

Hit

through

the ball.

[westcyderydin]

You are not changing your swing to swing steeper into the ground.  thats not good.  Instead of hitting down on it, think of it as hitting the ball before the low point in your swing.

a good drill is to put a tee a couple of inches in front of the ball and think of hitting that tee as well as the ball.  you might have to move the ball back in your stance just a touch.

And you dont want to be taking monster divots or anything...nice little dollar bill sized divots with you short irons will do.

[WUTiger]

°

Quote:

I have also heard that you should use the same swing with woods also. ...

This is basically true, but you will have a different swing shape with your driver than with an iron, especially a short iron. Much of this has to do with ball position and length of the club shaft.

Not everyone uses the same strategy for ball positioning . (Assuming right-handed golfer...) Some players vary the ball position very little - driver is somewhere near the left instep, with irons 3 or 4 inches back.

Others, like me, position 7 iron and above in the middle of the stance, and work forward with the longer irons. The driver ends up inside the left instep.

Swing Shape: With a short iron which has a shorter shaft, you will have a steeper backswing and downswing than with a longer-shafted driver. With a short iron and irons in general, you want to hit down on the ball. With a driver, most players want to contact the ball at bottom of their swing, or slightly on the upswing. Same basic swing, but swing shape will differ.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by WUTiger

°

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bogeyman68

I have also heard that you should use the same swing with woods also. ...

This is basically true, but you will have a different swing shape with your driver than with an iron, especially a short iron. Much of this has to do with ball position and length of the club shaft.

Not everyone uses the same strategy for ball positioning. (Assuming right-handed golfer...) Some players vary the ball position very little - driver is somewhere near the left instep, with irons 3 or 4 inches back.

Others, like me, position 7 iron and above in the middle of the stance, and work forward with the longer irons. The driver ends up inside the left instep.

Swing Shape: With a short iron which has a shorter shaft, you will have a steeper backswing and downswing than with a longer-shafted driver. With a short iron and irons in general, you want to hit down on the ball. With a driver, most players want to contact the ball at bottom of their swing, or slightly on the upswing. Same basic swing, but swing shape will differ.

I take full balanced practice swings then try to repeat the motion in slow motion. I let the position of the clubhead decide where to position the ball. Some days the driver is farther ahead in my stance and some days it's farther away from me, but it's always at a point where I can comfortably return the club head. I do this at home of course, so that when I get to the course people don't point and laugh (as much).

Regarding the swing bottom, for me it's a feeling as much as an actual position. I anticipate driving the club head through the ball on that same path. When I place a tee at the leading edge of my ball, the best feeling shots have a shallow divot with the divot bottom a few inches ahead of the tee.

[Petden]

I am having a difficult time hitting down on the ball as well. This is definitely something that should be practiced a lot. Sometimes i see that I have hit down on the ball as there is a nice white spot on the club face but most of the time i know im scooping it. What is a good technique for keeping for hands in front of the club.

One other thing. I was at golftown testing out the new pro combo's which are actually very nice, the long irons are so easy to get up in the air and the mid irons give you a very nice feeling, and the scoring irons well, the blades are a little tougher to hit well, but they seems to feel nice through the swing, and the weighting of them felt good. But the question here is how, when the face is tapped can you tell if you are hitting down on the ball. Since the face was tapped the groves werent able to make contact with the ball and it told me that i was getting between 4800-5300 rpms with a PW.

I like playing more difficult courses for the simple fact that it works on course management and it requires a bit more skill trying to incorporate a draw or a fade. Just a preference.

[GaijinGolfer]

One thing that you might want to focus on that would help is instead of trying to hit down on the ball, just make the same swing you would as a practice swing and think that instead of hitting the ball, hit through the ball and just let the ball be in the way of your swing.

[hacker23]

Originally Posted by nevets88

I never liked the phrase hit down on the ball.

Hit

through

the ball.

100% agree.

By thinking "hitting down" I always end up using too much arms/hands since i'm trying to manipulate my swing to "hit down" at the ball.

Instead, I take my regular smooth swing, keeping my arms/hands quiet... the club head automatically strikes the ball first then takes a divot thus "hitting down" at the ball w/o thinking it.

[Zeph]

We can probably help you, but it becomes a lot easier if you could provide a video of your swing. There are lots of elements that can be preventing you from hitting it solid. Focusing on hitting down is not always such a good idea since there might be other things causing it. It may work, but may also not work.

[Petden]

I will try to post a video. But i know that my hands are not in front of the club they are both passing the ball at the same time. When I focus on trying to make my hands lead i usually lose mechanics and the swing feels "strange" most of the time. There are those few times though where everything feels smooth and contact is pure and the ball sticks to the green like its super glued there.

What I try to do to keep my hands in front is to break the swing down. I start with the very short takeaway and try to follow through at a normal speed. However this only helps my sub 60-70 yard  game. It's when I make a full swing that i struggle with adding spin.

[iacas]

I don't think we've ever told anyone to hit "down" on the ball.

You will hit down on the ball if the ball is behind the low point of your swing and you don't do something - like flip - to change the location of that low point.

[Petden]

I am not trying to nit pick I just want clarification. But isnt hitting the ball before the low point the same as saying to strike the ball with downward motion? Maybe i misunderstood and thats why I am struggling.

[Zeph]

Originally Posted by Petden

I am not trying to nit pick I just want clarification. But isnt hitting the ball before the low point the same as saying to strike the ball with downward motion? Maybe i misunderstood and thats why I am struggling.

That is correct.

Imagining hitting a spike at a shallow angle into the ground is less bad than "hit down", but I agree with Erik that consciously trying to hit down on the ball is usually not a good way to fix the problem. Trying not to hit down on the ball might actually work better. Trying to hit down on the ball can easily cause you to flip it, when you really want to work on not flipping it and holding the flying wedge. This is where video comes in. You can usually tell very quickly the reason for hitting it fat with a good video from face on.

This picture shows where you should strike the ball on the clubface.

[mosnas]

Originally Posted by 596

When I start hitting fat shots I no longer "look at the ball".  I start focusing on a spot as much as 3-4" in front of the ball, I don't "look" at the ball.  This MAY change your impact point just slightly ahead of where you were hitting the ball and allow you to hit the ball and groung at the same time.  I adjust my "look" with each club I swing.  My 60* is 4" in front, my mid irons are on the grass "just in front", my long irons and woods are "on the back" of the ball.  This changes the bottom of my swing arc just enough with each club.

Your "spots" may vary : )

I have zero idea if this will help you.

I know this post is old but I would like to thank you so much.  This helped me hit down on the ball 100% better it added a solid 15 yards to my shots and they were flying straight and long. Thank you very much for this tip