4inch after ball divot

[Sai-Jin]

My typical divots are either under the ball, 1/2" after the center of ball or once in a while if I try really hard and I get lucky, it's 2" after the ball.

According to playperfectgolf website, scratch golfers have it around 2 inch after ball and pros 4 inches after ball.

So how can I achieve at least a consistent 2 inch after ball divot? What causes that.?

A couple of times I did manage to have a 4 inches after ball divot, but it feels weird and felt like my club is chasing after the ball

and my head has to remain EXTREMELY still .  (Impact felt good though)

Please help. Thanks

[P-Town Golfer]

I guess it has to do with how long you keep your wrist cocked or how long you lag the club and get your hands in front of the ball

[Sai-Jin]

I tried that and it's occurring much more often with my short irons and wedges, but with 7i and lower numbers, it's very hard to maintain that wrist cock / lag .

It feels like the club just wants to snap straight to my left arm. What is the proper way to do so? Just consciously hold the lag?

PS: Maintaining the lag feels even tougher with the driver, since it feels like I'll be out of control if I keep it that long.

[P-Town Golfer]

My guess would be to have a strong grip and to literally feel like the club is lagging behind your body, but I dont do that because mainly I just can't and its not something I'm trying to do. I have a weak grip and I just let the club release I dont try to hold it or anything and I still hit the ball first then make a divot, but not 4 inches ahead of the ball, thats crazy

[senorchipotle]

i'm not sure, so i must ask. do you realize that when referring to the 4" it doesn't actually begin 4" after the ball, but that is the lowest point in the divot where the swing actually bottoms out? divots start pretty much just after the ball, depending upon the length of the iron it's going to be deeper or shallower the longer the iron. some people, like myself, rarely take a divot at all. anything longer than a 7i i pretty much never take one unless i'm trying to hit a punch or a fade.

[Sai-Jin]

  senorchipotle said:

Originally Posted by senorchipotle

i'm not sure, so i must ask. do you realize that when referring to the 4" it doesn't actually begin 4" after the ball, but that is the lowest point in the divot where the swing actually bottoms out? divots start pretty much just after the ball, depending upon the length of the iron it's going to be deeper or shallower the longer the iron. some people, like myself, rarely take a divot at all. anything longer than a 7i i pretty much never take one unless i'm trying to hit a punch or a fade.

Hi

Ah, no, I wasn't sure about that actually. So that's great to know!!

So I'm wondering, I can't keep hitting my ball from the same spot a lot of times on the range, because I start taking a divot almost right under the ball, is this a good thing or I can improve?

on and off though, the divot starts about 1 inch after the ball.

Thanks for clarifying.

[senorchipotle]

yeah, if your divots are starting an inch after the ball that's good.

[Sai-Jin]

Thanks for the tips. I'll try to be more consistent in that, since right now the divot is around under the ball usually.

Senor, I got another question which is somewhat related to this... I got a new 3H which I have problems hitting.

I don't take a divot hitting it compared to my 4H Raylor. And it feels that the ball's launch angle is very low.

Hitting a 3H is not a sweeping motion like the 3W, rather a down hit as if I'm using a normal 3i isn't it?

And do I take divots with it?

[Zeph]

I'd say there are three important components to this.

1. Keep the head still.  Not moving back, not moving forward.
2. Get the hips forward and move weight forward onto the front foot.
3. Don't flip. This is a tough one for many. You can have all the other pieces, but without this one, you can still hit the ground two inches behind the ball. You can also hit the ground two inches in front of the ball without the other pieces. Flying wedges, flat left wrist, pressure points, accumulators, there are lots of words out there that define this component. In essence, you must reach impact with the hands in front of the ball. It can be a mental problem to get that position too. Many can get a good position on a practice swing, but fail miserably when there is a ball there. One thing that has worked for me is to imagine the ball is a nail I have to hit down into the ground at a shallow angle.

If you want more detailed tips, get your swing on a video and post it. We can't say what you struggle with without seeing a video.

[Sai-Jin]

1. Definitely not moving the head.

2. I think I"m starting to have a little problem in this one, I think I put my weight around 70-75% on address on the left side.

3. No, I don't flip.

How about you, how much weight do you put on your left side on address?

[Zeph]

I ideally want it to be 55/45 or 50/50. Haven't ever measured it, so I don't really know, but I feel more on the left side, which doesn't necessarily mean it's 60%+ . From my videos, I would say I'm probably around 50/50. Like Erik mentioned in the thread I linked to, it's impossible to spot those differences on a video. If you are used to moving weight back, it may feel like you are putting a lot of weight on the left side by stopping it, but it's rarely real. You can of course move the weight back and then forward if it works for you, but I believe keeping it centered on the backswing and moving forward on the downswing makes it easier. I used to move weight back on the backswing, so when I first started working on keeping it centered it felt like I was 70-80% on the left side. Today it feels perfectly normal.

What I don't want to do is move anything back at any point. Arms go back of course, but hips stays centered and head/upper body stays centered. From the top of the backswing, hips move forward, head stays still, arms/hands swing. 90% of the weight forward at impact.

[Sai-Jin]

Ok, thanks for the share. I'm going to try this out.

*Just tried it out, I was having at least 70% of my weight on left... the 50/50 weight seems to make me swing easier... will try this at the course soon*

ANother thing is... On address unless I bump my left hip forward , my shoulders are slightly opened.

This is on all clubs aside from driver (since I tilt back for driver address) .

What's your experience on that? I have been wondering about this for a while now, but I'm starting to work on details.