Steep Angle of Attack

[saevel25]

This is a problem i get into. When i hit an iron, it feels like the club is sticking into the ground, i can seriously feel the impact into my hands, like the clubhead hit concrete. I get away with this sometimes because i am good at hitting the ball and the ground at the same time, but this action causes a very high golf shot.

Any tips on how to get the swing to shallow out?

[Stretch]

Something doesn't quite add up. Yes, that kind of "heavy hit" often indicates a steep angle of attack, but if you are hitting down on it too much you're generally going to see low bullets, not high floaters. Increasing your angle of attack lowers your launch angle (all else being equal) and decreasing it raises your launch angle. If you are ballooning iron shots, the most likely explanation would be that your left wrist is breaking down around impact. You could also be too steep, but that's not what's directly causing the high ball flight.

[sofingaw]

Try to feel a low takeaway. If you bring the club back for the first couple feet or so pretty low to the ground, that may help to flatten you out. Unless you overcompensate wildly to 'correct' your new, flatter swing. Good luck!

[Zeph]

You can flip while being too steep, which could result in a high ball flight and deep divots. Cause can be weight too far forward, upper body dipping down or head moving forward. Do you have video?

[saevel25]

I know i flip at the ball, but i've flipped at the bal for years and can not take divots like i am now, or hit the ground hard like i do. So, its just wierd.

So with out the high ball flight, whats causes to steep of an angle into the ball.

[mchichioco]

Hey there, A year ago I had this same problem.... I remember I was popping up shots... Or hitting them extremely fat.... I went to a pro and figured I had a severe case of Out to in swing path. This causes a steep path because in order to go out to in you are usually in the wrong top position... From there you have no chance to swing it back inside... So for me what I did with my coach is I worked with my takeaway too make sure I wasn't starting why to outside. And then I worked with my top position making sure it wasn't way above my head... And lastly if you put a towel or head cover in your armpit and swing while making sure it doesn't fall! Again I don't know if this is your situation but I was doing the same thing as you and this is how I fixed it :)

[iacas]

You could take a lesson. Even from us; just sayin'... :)

[saevel25]

I actually plan on it this year. I've been meaning to for a while.

[onephenom]

Do the divots start past the ball or under the ball?

[saevel25]

Probably just past were the ball sits, but not out infront of the ball. So if you look straight down over the ball, imagine a line that cuts the front quarter of the ball, that's the maximum were they start, then i will sometimes get them just under the ball, or just behind the ball.

[onephenom]

Originally Posted by saevel25

Probably just past were the ball sits, but not out infront of the ball. So if you look straight down over the ball, imagine a line that cuts the front quarter of the ball, that's the maximum were they start, then i will sometimes get them just under the ball, or just behind the ball.

Then I think Zeph is spot on.

[mvmac]

Without see your swing, feel like the elbows are squeezing together on the downswing and like the right elbow is below the left at impact.  This is Golfingdad from a 5SK school last Friday.

[bjwestner]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Something doesn't quite add up. Yes, that kind of "heavy hit" often indicates a steep angle of attack, but if you are hitting down on it too much you're generally going to see low bullets, not high floaters. Increasing your angle of attack lowers your launch angle (all else being equal) and decreasing it raises your launch angle. If you are ballooning iron shots, the most likely explanation would be that your left wrist is breaking down around impact. You could also be too steep, but that's not what's directly causing the high ball flight.

To the OP:  I am working on a similar problem with my irons.  What you described is what happens to me.  I hit the ball very high, probably too high and the divots are massive and too big.  When I miss, I hit it fat.  I'm pretty sure that my issue is that on the backswing I am coming too far inside.  I've found that to fix this (for me anyway) is to make sure that I am making a very wide backswing with my arms fully extended.  When my backswing is too much inside and my arms are not full extended, I end up coming over the top with a very steep angle that leads to me hitting down on the ball but with a hugh divot and a ball flight that is too high.

I really like the idea of feeling like your arms are pushing against eachother.  The best piece of advice that I have ever seen regarding iron play was from Martin Hall on the Golf Channel.  He said when hitting an iron to envision a nail that is sticking out of the back of the ball and you want to hit the nail into the back of the ball.  When I've tried this it has worked and gotten me away from too steep of an angle.  The problem is that I then eventually drift to the other side of the extreme after a while in that I am not hitting down enough on the ball.  Thus I find myself constantly trying to hit down on the ball but not at too steep of an angle......hope this helps.  Good luck!

[CobraSvt]

This may be a little late, but I have found raising your hands and taking the club back straighter with a steeper swing path helps. As for the high shots, a steeper angle of attack definitely creates this if you have a higher swing speed. Most amateurs don't understand how a negative angle of attack makes the ball fly higher; truth is the spin. The average PGA pro has a negative 4.1 attack angle with a 6 iron. I have suffered with this for many years, I am a fantastic iron player from 7 iron in, better than average mid irons, and fantastic 3 wood. For the driver where you typically want an ascending attack angle I combat it with mid bend profile shafts i.e. The RIP Phenom in the Titleist 913 D2 with 10.5. As a final note, try the hand thing, and if you can try the new Aerotech Steel Fibre shafts in the i95 or i110 models, the results were incredible for me coming from the DG S300 Matt Kutcher, and Brent Snedeker play them, and more than 2 dozen other pros are testing them.

[payne7744]

You mean lift hands at address like Nancy Lopez?

[mvmac]

This may be a little late, but I have found raising your hands and taking the club back straighter with a steeper swing path helps. As for the high shots, a steeper angle of attack definitely creates this if you have a higher swing speed. Most amateurs don't understand how a negative angle of attack makes the ball fly higher; truth is the spin. The average PGA pro has a negative 4.1 attack angle with a 6 iron.

I suggest you do some googling on what spin loft is, your statement isn't correct.  You can increase spin in three ways: more negative AoA with same dynamic loft, more dynamic loft with same AoA, or more negative AoA and more dynamic loft simultaneously.  This is assuming the same clubhead speed and contact location on the clubface.

Spin loft is dynamic loft minus AoA. Jack hits a 5 iron with a dynamic loft of 15 degrees, AoA is -2*.  Jack's next swing has the same dynamic loft, same speed, same contact location, but he hits down 6*.  Jack's first shot has a spin loft of 17 and the second shot has a spin loft of 21.  The second shot will actually launch lower, AoA will "pull" the ball down.  Which why for drivers having a positive AoA can be beneficial for a lot of golfers.  Hitting up will tend to d ecreased spin loft resulting in high launch, low spin conditions that maximize carry.

[EverythingGolf]

MV, I have a question about AoA, is hitting more down on the ball the same as having a more negative AoA.

[iacas]

MV, I have a question about AoA, is hitting more down on the ball the same as having a more negative AoA.

Yes. AoA is angle of attack.