Hitting a thin shot (topping the ball)

[Jonathan Zach]

Hi all, i have been struggling with the iron thin shots for a while now. I normally play 9 holes par 3 courses, as a beginner, and about half of the holes ill hit a low, no distance shot. the rest of the holes would go better ! i dont hook or slice it, i think the thin shot is my only problem at the moment :)

I had a thought that i might be lifting the ball after impact. Should i just concentrate on making a descending blow and then let the club do the rest? i have no problem with chipping and pitching, the ball just airborne every time, and i never skull those shots.

or, is it being too close to the ball, setup issues?

thanks!

[boogielicious]

Hi all, i have been struggling with the iron thin shots for a while now. I normally play 9 holes par 3 courses, as a beginner, and about half of the holes ill hit a low, no distance shot. the rest of the holes would go better ! i dont hook or slice it, i think the thin shot is my only problem at the moment :)

I had a thought that i might be lifting the ball after impact. Should i just concentrate on making a descending blow and then let the club do the rest? i have no problem with chipping and pitching, the ball just airborne every time, and i never skull those shots.

or, is it being too close to the ball, setup issues?

thanks!

Welcome to the forum @Jonathan Zach .  Fat and thin shots can be caused by the same swing issue.  It is hard to guess what may be causing your issue without seeing it.  I would suggests posting a video of your swing in the Member Swings section to start.

It could be due to not getting your weight forward enough at impact.  Check out the thread below.  Getting weight forward moves the low point of your swing forward and helps make sure you make contact with the ball first.  Weight forward is Key #2.  There is a video in the second post.

[ev780]

Just my own story.  I know where you are!! I had about a year of standing over a ball and not knowing if I was going to hit the damn thing!  Hundreds of shots not getting past the ladies tee or skimming along the turf killing bugs.

For me it was that my hips had stopped turning.  In a failed attempt to stop the sway I ended up freezing my hips causing a whole butt load of problems, including OTT, casting, shoulders turning on the wrong plane, and on and on.  Got tuned up and contact is much, much, better now.  I am  using a swing thought that the hips are actually starting the swing.  I will fix that little problem later but for now it is helping.

Good luck.  I would rather fight a big ole pull than that stupid skull.  Miserable, Just plain miserable.

[EverythingGolf]

Thin shots could be caused by flipping, pulling your arms in, early extension, etc. That is why the best thing is to start a swing thread and get a FO (face on) and a DL (down the line) video of your swing.

Here is a thread on how to film your swing.

http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing

[mvmac]

I had a thought that i might be lifting the ball after impact. Should i just concentrate on making a descending blow and then let the club do the rest? i have no problem with chipping and pitching, the ball just airborne every time, and i never skull those shots.

or, is it being too close to the ball, setup issues?

thanks!

Typically the lifting sensation is happening because you have some issues with your swing that are occurring before impact. It's an issue that's tied to Keys 1-3 (tough to say exactly which one without seeing the swing) and the "lift" is you trying to avoid hitting the ground well behind the ball, it's your attempt to "save" the shot.

This would be a great drill for you to do, you can even take a similar type of swing to the course.

[Jonathan Zach]

Thanks for all the tips. I gotta make a swing video soon.

The drill looks interesting. So, hips are forward, and the shaft is forward at address correct ?

[mvmac]

The drill looks interesting. So, hips are forward, and the shaft is forward at address correct ?

Yep, like I said you can even play golf setting up like this.

[Jonathan Zach]

Is this kind of like the YouTube instructor Shawn clements sets up? Hips forward, little more weight on left side, shafts leaning forward.

[iacas]

Is this kind of like the YouTube instructor Shawn clements sets up?

Hips forward, little more weight on left side, shafts leaning forward.

Not as much as I do in this drill.

[Vinsk]

Great drill...Erik...I was actually doing this drill yesterday...my first 5 attempts were shanks....then I struck them quite pure. Unfortunate I couldn't "feel" anything better...just better results. Can you say what is the most common reason for shanking from this position? (Hips forward...hands forward)

[iacas]

Great drill...Erik...I was actually doing this drill yesterday...my first 5 attempts were shanks....then I struck them quite pure. Unfortunate I couldn't "feel" anything better...just better results.

Can you say what is the most common reason for shanking from this position? (Hips forward...hands forward)

Yeah… it helps you send the path outward more.

[nowayjoze]

Yep, like I said you can even play golf setting up like this. [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/115534/] [/URL]

This set up alone has helped my driver tremendously. Used to pull / pull slice and now I'm hitting nice push draws with the miss being a rare push - rarely pull. Has changed my game big time. Still working on this with irons, but need to set up neutral, and set that way dynamically. Otherwise, I don't feel like hitting down for some reason.

[EverythingGolf]

This is why key#2 is so important, it allows the path to be more from inside.