Fat Shots Though Swing Seems Correct

[yanni]

I am hitting almost all balls fat (sometimes I top also) for example with a 7 iron (Drivers with tee are no problem). The reason for this is that I am hitting the ground first and then the ball. It should be the other way around. First ball then divot. I am keeping arms straight, hold the lag as long as I can and move the weight to the left a bit. When doing practise swings next to the ball the club hits the ground about 2-3 inch after the ball. This shows me my technique is "correct".

As soon as I move the club over the ball I am hitting ground before the ball. So it seems my mind is focussing so much on the ball it is impossible for me to hit the ground after the ball. I practise this extremly slowly with practise balls. But still it does not work. Did anybody have the same problems and are there any exercises or solutions to this?

Thanks alot. 

Edited September 6, 2016 by yanni

[iacas]

2 hours ago, yanni said:

This shows me my technique is "correct".

It doesn't. That you hit the ball fat, however, does show that your technique is wrong.

Work on your golf swing. If you're trying to "hold the lag" you probably aren't. Good players almost universally don't try to "hold" the lag.

[yanni]

Yes I know the swing is not correct when hitting the ball. But its correct when NOT hitting the ball. This is the strange thing to me.

[arturo28mx]

Try a half swing where your left arm only gets to 9 o'clock position (horizontal). It helps a lot in identifying what you are doing wrong. It really helps. Once you can hit correctly with a half swing go try a full swing.

[Marty2019]

2 hours ago, yanni said:

Yes I know the swing is not correct when hitting the ball. But its correct when NOT hitting the ball. This is the strange thing to me.

Maybe it's anxiety.   I see a lot of players who make nice practice swings but then when it's time to hit the ball, it's a whole different swing.   They get all tensed up and try to swing too hard (I think). 

If you are making good practice swings but bad real swings, it's probably mental.   Maybe you tense up and try to force the club into the ball, creating an early release and a fat shot.   Of course, I'm just guessing.  Try relaxing your hands and arms a little on the down swing. 

You should video yourself and compare the practice swings to the real swings. 

I had a similar experience recently where during my warmup for a round, I hit everything fat, and I could not figure out why.   Fat, fat, fat.   For the life of me, I could not stop hitting fat shots.  Weird thing was, once I teed off, I didn't hit any fat shots.  I made great contact.   Golf can be pretty baffling sometimes. 

 

Edited September 6, 2016 by Marty2019

[Rainmaker]

I certainly had the same problem and I think a lot of people do/did.  I would make a good practice swing and then get over the ball and hit it fat . .or thin . .or whatever.  My practice swings always felt good.  I always put the divot after the where the ball would be . .if there was one.  I went so far as to video my practice swing and it looked a million times better than my actual swing.

But . .it was not mental.  Not mental in the sense that I could merely relax or whatever to immediately resolve it.  What resolved it for me was lots and lots of practice . and lessons.  My swing mechanics are so different now from when I had those realizations about my practice swing.

The first real *breakthrough* I had was losing the ball focus.  I have no idea how that happened except I just kept practicing and taking lessons and somehow one day I just realized . .duh . .I'm aiming the energy of my swing in the totally wrong place . .at the back of the ball.  So then I thought - man . .now I got it!  Ehhhh  . .no, not really.  What losing the ball focus did for me was enable me to *start* learning the swing.  With the ball focus, I was more or less doomed no matter what.  There was, and still is, a heck of a lot more to go, though. 

I tried in the past to intentionally lose the ball focus - it didn't work for me.  For me, anyway, it was not something I could work on directly but something that happened by itself as a result of general improvement in all areas of my swing. 

 

 

[iacas]

4 hours ago, yanni said:

Yes I know the swing is not correct when hitting the ball. But its correct when NOT hitting the ball. This is the strange thing to me.

It's actually not that strange.

[yanni]

This is very interesting. I am wondering if other people do actually focus the ball ? In the beginning I focussed 3 inch behind the ball and it really worked great. It seems I cannot do this anymore though.

[Patch]

Do a search (google) and read up on what the various reasons are for hitting a fat shot. Once you understand what the possible cause(s) are for this critter, the corrections are more easily understood. 

[Rainmaker]

7 hours ago, yanni said:

This is very interesting. I am wondering if other people do actually focus the ball ? In the beginning I focussed 3 inch behind the ball and it really worked great. It seems I cannot do this anymore though.

I'm sure some of the teaching pros would know more about exactly how common it is . .but from what I can see it's incredibly common.  It would almost be stranger for a newbie *not* to do it and I definitely know golfers who have been playing 20+ years that do it. 

[iacas]

6 hours ago, Patch said:

Do a search (google) and read up on what the various reasons are for hitting a fat shot. Once you understand what the possible cause(s) are for this critter, the corrections are more easily understood. 

Or, avoid Google altogether, and consider simply that your low point is too far back. Likely because your weight is too far back and you probably have a flip in there, too.

[Hacker James]

One thing that helped me was to place a broken tee as much as 3 or 4 inches in front of the ball and aim at that spot. This took my focus off the ball and I hit the ball first and the tee dissappears, then practice, practice, practice. Now I do not always take a divot, but I am seldom fat. I also have a vision problem in that I sometimes see double if my head is tilted in a certain direction. It is called an "upper right hyper". So when I miss, I have an excuse of "hitting the wrong ball". (nobody buys it though).

Edited September 7, 2016 by Hacker James

[No Mulligans]

You should figure out the actual problem and focus on that. Hitting fat is just the symptom. Post your swing in the my swing section of the forum. You might get some specific and better direction there. 

[Kalnoky]

@yanni  Yes, last year when I started playing, I hit lots of fat shots. The irons were so frustrating to me. 

My problem was swinging too fast. An aggressive backswing causes the body to sway. If you sway, the low point of the arc is behind the ball on the downswing = fat shots. 

Try easing into the backswing and gently accelerating into a good finish.  Practice the finish position repeatedly. That's where you need to end up, in a good finish position. This helped me a lot. I don't hit the ball fat anymore. Now I'm just innacurate.  

 

  

 

[Liko81]

13 hours ago, Rainmaker said:

I'm sure some of the teaching pros would know more about exactly how common it is . .but from what I can see it's incredibly common.  It would almost be stranger for a newbie *not* to do it and I definitely know golfers who have been playing 20+ years that do it. 

I've only recently moved away from this mentality. First off, I've been working on a "quiet eyes" technique. The ball, relative to your eyes' azimuth of focus, is a fairly large target, but at the same time the sweet spot even on duffhammers like my G10s is only about as big as the ball itself. Instead of focusing on the ball as a whole, if the ball itself is where I need to focus, I pick a dimple on the ball that I want to pass the center of the clubhead through as I swing. Aim small, miss small.

Second, I focus on the ball only if the ball is near the bottom of my swing path. For everything between my driver and about my 8 iron, the ball will be there, but for the shorter irons and full wedges, I'll be focusing on the front edge of the ball or even a blade of grass just in front of the ball, while for the driver I pick a detail on the teeing ground right at the leading edge of my clubhead (which is centered at address). I then work on maintaining a single plane to my swing, with my spine still (not leaning back or forward) forming the axis of rotation of my entire body, and the club more or less does the rest. It's not the most athletic approach, but it puts the center of the clubface on the back of the ball much more often than not.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, Hacker James said:

One thing that helped me was to place a broken tee as much as 3 or 4 inches in front of the ball and aim at that spot.

Yes, just don't do that playing golf. Good practice idea. Golfing Machine calls it "Aiming Point."

[70sSanO]

While there could be all sorts if things going on, I'm in the camp if improper weight shift.  I liken it to playing catch.  Your practice swings are like warming up with great form.  Your real swing is like trying to blow a fastball past Mike Trout.  Your arm speed weight shift are all out of sync and you bury that fastball into the ground 30 feet before home plate.

if you are not transferring your weight to you left side, not just a little, you're toast.  Add a backward sway or too much turn to generate more power and you will never catch up to where the ball is sitting.

John

Edited September 7, 2016 by 70sSanO

[Hacker James]

1 hour ago, iacas said:

Yes, just don't do that playing golf. Good practice idea. Golfing Machine calls it "Aiming Point."

Yup, in actual play I usually just spot a blade of grass a couple inches away.