Divot after the ball

[jclark]

Short and sweet question. Is it optimal to have the divot start at where the ball was, after, an inch after?? What? At what point would it be bad? 3? 4 inches past?

[canadianpro]

As mentioned somewhere before...High handicap - before the ball

Mid handicap - at the ball

Lower handicap - 1 inch past the ball

Scratch player - 2 inches past the ball

Tour Player - 4 inches past the ball

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by jclark

Short and sweet question. Is it optimal to have the divot start at where the ball was, after, an inch after?? What? At what point would it be bad? 3? 4 inches past?

Originally Posted by canadianpro

As mentioned somewhere before...High handicap - before the ball

Mid handicap - at the ball

Lower handicap - 1 inch past the ball

Scratch player - 2 inches past the ball

Tour Player - 4 inches past the ball

He's asking about where the divot should start .  I'm pretty sure these numbers refer to the low point of the swing.

Ideally, the divot should start just after the ball, I believe.

EDIT:  I looked around but can't find a picture I've seen on here several times.  It's a picture of grass with a white chalk line and a bunch of divots.  Some pro (Mike Bennett, IIRC) hit 15 or so shots with the balls all sitting on the chalk line.  Afterwards, none of the chalk is disturbed, and you can see that all of the divots start just beyond the line. (maybe 3/4" to 1" past?)

[jclark]

Ok. Most of my divots start 1 inch past the ball. Was wondering if that was normal...

[David in FL]

Ok. Most of my divots start 1 inch past the ball. Was wondering if that was normal...

No it's not normal. It's correct. ;-)

[Kujan]

As mentioned somewhere before...High handicap - before the ball Mid handicap - at the ball Lower handicap - 1 inch past the ball Scratch player - 2 inches past the ball Tour Player - 4 inches past the ball

I think he means these spots are where the divot starts.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by canadianpro

As mentioned somewhere before...High handicap - before the ball

Mid handicap - at the ball

Lower handicap - 1 inch past the ball

Scratch player - 2 inches past the ball

Tour Player - 4 inches past the ball

Originally Posted by Kujan

I think he means these spots are where the divot starts.

Nah ... he just misread what was asked.  This table shows the low point of the swing of a typical person in each category.  (Obviously its super general, because you can suck and be a high handicap with problems in other areas besides low point of the swing ... but for the most part its probably fairly accurate)  The tour pros divot starts somewhere around an inch or so past the ball and bottoms out 4 inches beyond the ball.