How long before you stopped hitting topped/fat shots?

[mdl]

Originally Posted by BugDude

Sometimes you have to do something radically different to get new results.  I had hit a plateau and didn't break through until I started playing once every other week for a couple months.  No range or practice in between.  That cleared my mind and allowed me to forget the technical junk.  Paralysis by analysis.  I got my head out of the way and just went out and enjoyed playing golf.  Getting creative, focusing more on smart course management and less on technique.  It has been fun.

Interesting...  Not sure I'm capable of totally turning off the analysis even with a schedule like that.  But interesting...

[clayton62]

Originally Posted by dak4n6

I'm not going to address the time line aspect of this thread (kind of silly), but rather the implied technical part. I fatted and thinned for 15 yrs until I started putting my weight forward. The bottom of your swing is obviously behind the ball. It should be under or just in front of the ball. So, take your CG (center of gravity) and move it to your left about 1 or 2 inches, and keep it there throughout the swing. Cured my fat/thin forever.

Look for the abundant info and discussion on the 'Stack 'n Tilt' on this forum and the net.

dak4n6 has hit the nail on the head - as far as I'm concerned.

High handicappers almost never make ball first contact - and if you hit off of mats that problem gets hidden.

I'm 49 and started playing at 43. I spent the first 4 years making ground-first contact. That is no fun. I had my breakthrough by goofing around with Stack and Tilt. I'm not necessarily a fan of that swing school, but one thing it does do is require the majority of your weight to start forward at address and STAY forward through the swing. By not swaying off of the ball I got my first taste of ball-first contact, and it was sweet. Bobby Clampet focuses on this in The Impact Zone as the number one issue, and I think he's correct.

For the hell of it - here is the current state of my short list of range reminders. Mind you - this is for MY swing, so no guarantee it will be useful to others.

1) Get the tension out of your arms. Shake out your hands and wrists and think "loose" and "whip-like". Staying loose through the swing is a real challenge for me, but on the 10 to 15% of swings where I can do it, the contact, ball flight, and power are COMPLETELY transformed.

2) FINISH YOUR BACKSWING. Many folks (like me) are so jacked up to smack the ball that they short-change the backswing and rush the transition, and that leads to a lot of bad stuff.

3) Swing at 80% speed. We've all heard this a million times - easier said than done - but if you can slow down just a little, breathe through it, your contact will improve.

4) Don't sway off the ball. Pros can get away with it. I can't.

5) Take the clubhead a little outside your hands. Taking it back too far inside is another common amateur habit that leads to getting stuck and coming over the top. A pro had me take it WAY outside - sort of like Fowler - not as a permanent change but just to get away from getting stuck. It helped tremendously and I have kept the slightly outside the hands takeback in my swing.

6) Think "low line drive down the first base line". Most high handicappers come across from outside to in. Visualizing hitting it towards the first baseman is a great tool for me. And thinking hitting a low line drive helps me stay through the ball and in the shot.

That's all I got!

[Cgjohnst]

I have never had any lessons before and have been playing for about 15 years(25 now). I had the issue of not hitting shots very cleanly until about two years ago. I never really tried to play for a good score. All my shots were trying to take the dangerous try-to-kill-the-ball shots. Since I stopped trying to kill the ball every shot, I very rarely mishit the ball. My first top/fat hit in about 10 rounds was actually this weekend. I tried to kill the ball while I was standing in a fairway bunker leaning way, way over with my ball in really thick rough. I tried to make a hero shot and it barely cleared the fairway bunker haha. I would recommend just to keep your eye on the ball. That has been a huge help for me. I feel like my shots have improved and my confidence has soared since I've started keeping my eye on the ball all the way through. I don't lift up my head until I'm almost through my full swing. Good luck!

[joey23lj]

Right out of 8th grade havnt tpped a ball i forever

[wedgehammer40k]

Disclaimer: total golf time: 4 months

I've taken one Pro lesson (more on the way) and it has helped me a lot with my swing. As beginners I think we tend to try and over hit the ball using a lot more upper body movement than is required - we try to crush the ball with power but all you need is good technique  to allow the body to "swing" through the ball rather than try and "hit" the ball. My topping habits come out of poor technique caused by trying to smash the ball into orbit.

Snowboard analogy

I went snowboarding some years back now, it was my first time at it. In the first week of learning I was exhausted after only a few hours because all my movements were greatly exaggerated - gradually I began to "silence" my body and as my technique improved  changing direction no longer involved massive over rotating lunges but rather subtle shifts in weight and balance  as I transitioned from edge to edge on my board. The better you get, the more the cognitive/muscle memory refines and movements become more precise. Which is why as it has been pointed out that quality is better than quantity when it comes to practice.

The timeline issue (there is no time line!)

I think most sport minded people tend to have goals and aspirations and are competitive by nature. I think its natural to get frustrated when things don't go as planned, to me it seems just when I start to hit the ball well and consistantly to a point where I think "Hell yeah I've done it, I've cracked the secret code I have total control I AM THE MASTER" the next shot comes off my leading edge in a grotesque fashion shooting 20 yards straight into a ditch! Most professionals are always talking about improving, I don't think there is a Pro out there who thinks they have no room for improvement. So, the time line is infinite, set goals along the continum (realistic goals) and enjoy your improvement - because improvement is a certainty.

[AmazingWhacker]

Anybody see Rory's huge chunker yesterday?  Forget which hole but it was around a 170 yard drive.

I would say no timeline . .but the point at which I stopped hitting *tons* of fat shots was when I learned about keeping a flat left wrist.  Although the fatties disapeared, the thinnies came out with a vengeance.  Those didn't start to go away until I fixed my swing plane and learned to make a full turn in the backswing.

Over the course of  a round now I might hit 1 or 2 fat shots, 20 or so thin shots that are not too bad (still go most of the distance) . .and a couple of toppers.

[GaijinGolfer]

I dont think it ever stops.  Even the pros hit bad shots sometimes.

[inthehole]

Been playing almost exactly 2 years, 3 times a week on avg.     Still hit em fat a few times a round, but seems there's degrees to fat shots - I don't often get the slobby fat shots that go 20 yards - my fat shots now are just slightly obese - maybe 2/3 the distance I was playing - still not good, but not as bad as they used to be ...

[bwdial]

Originally Posted by inthehole

Been playing almost exactly 2 years, 3 times a week on avg.     Still hit em fat a few times a round, but seems there's degrees to fat shots - I don't often get the slobby fat shots that go 20 yards - my fat shots now are just slightly obese - maybe 2/3 the distance I was playing - still not good, but not as bad as they used to be ...

Me too... my Rosie O'Donnell's have become Christina Aguileras as of late.

[SoundandFury]

Yeah, I've actually noticed that as well.  Last round I played I hit my 6i fat a few times.  Ball seemed to go about 100-120, and while that still sucked, it's a lot better than the 15 yard uglies.

My wedge shots from 75 yards in though...bad as ever.

[phan52]

I can stop hitting topped/fat shots? Really? When?

[Odogesq]

Originally Posted by bwdial

Me too... my Rosie O'Donnell's have become Christina Aguileras as of late.

LOL. Awesome.

[onesome]

Probably when you either stop raising up or squating during your backswing is when thin and fat shots become less frequent. This by far is the most common reason but may or may not be yours, go somewhere that you can get a reflection of yourself swinging a club and watch how much up and down movement you have during your swing and work on eliminating as much as possible, however try to resist making yourself too ridgid to avoid this just try and keep yourself a steady distance from the ball throughout the swing.

[mmoan2]

Originally Posted by onesome

Probably when you either stop raising up or squating during your backswing is when thin and fat shots become less frequent. This by far is the most common reason but may or may not be yours, go somewhere that you can get a reflection of yourself swinging a club and watch how much up and down movement you have during your swing and work on eliminating as much as possible, however try to resist making yourself too ridgid to avoid this just try and keep yourself a steady distance from the ball throughout the swing.

Agreed - It's uncommon, in my experience, for people to squat too much, but very common for golfers to lose the athletic squat in their back leg on the backswing; golfers tend to straighten their rear leg in the backswing as they raise the club, causing a lot of vertical body movement. This can also be exacerbated with too much forward spine angle tilt. I had both of these problems for a while. I've found that if my setup and takeaway are excellent - which shouldn't be too difficult because they are simple moves to master -  and my "swing thought" is to rotate and stay flexed, I rarely hit fat shots any longer. It's normally when I really try to kill the ball that my spine angle gets wacky and I hit fat again. Each of us is only so flexible. Don;t feel you need to get yor club to parallel to have a powerful swing. JB Holmes is a beast and he's nowhere near parallel.