Trapping vs picking

Been playing for 30+ years and am ready to put in the time to get down to the low numbers, I have been told I pick the ball instead of trapping and would be better off in the long run with more of a trapping swing. On a recent clinic he had me setup up with my right foot on my toes to probably get the correct spine angle, I hit the ball very well from this stance so I'm wondering if there are any other drills/techniques to develop a more trapping/descending blow on the ball.I want to post a video of my swing ASAP I just am not very computer literate so it may take some time to get someone to help me out.

Put a penny in front of your ball.

Hit the penny.

In "The Elements of Scoring" Raymond Floyd advocates a shallower plane and picking the ball over trapping.  Not really sure why.  Possibly because he feels it leads to fewer fat misses.  I'm guessing that if one must miss, then thin is the way to go.  However the majority of professionals I see have a steeper plane and usually take a nice divot.  I personally prefer the steeper angle to trap the ball.

For me trapping the ball does two beneficial things. It produces an almost self correcting contact. I almost never hit big pulls, pushes, slices, or hooks when I hit down and achieve good trapping contact. Second, it gives gives much better distance with nice trajectory and great feel.

Although, I constantly have to work to hit the ball this way. Whenever I am tired, lazy, or have no mojo, I start creeping back to a more sweeping swing where I usually hit just a bit thin.

Hey MvMac, don't you mean you know you are doing it right when the ball launches LOW?

I have used the same kind of pump drill, visualising strongly where I want the clubshaft to be at impact - seems to work nicely.

And OP - picking the ball is fine. seems to give better overall distance control. I have been all - picker and muncher. Munching it makes it go further and lowr and more spin and you can hit it better of bad lies. But if ur in the fairway with a nice lie, I would take picking every day, as long as it doesn't cause you to come under plane to do it.

Goes high, but launches low?  With this kind of action, I'm launching it lower than ever, but hitting it higher than ever, so I'm curious about his response...

Thanks for all the responses and as I suspected there were some that advocated or felt there is nothing wrong with picking as did the instructor at my clinics, just my perception though is that "trapping"seems to be the more popular method among low handicaps. Before I think I was really releasing/casting at the bottom more than I am now and am probably hitting the ball more like a "real" pick than before. One thing I do is try and keep my right hand palm down through impact to increase the downward strike or deloft the club but I think I may overdo this because Ill restrict the release so much I'll have a pleasant shank, I don't let that discourage me because I know I'm overdoing it.One other thing is what is a good drill to keeping your left wrist flat at the top in line with your forearm?

MvMac - how does getting the shaft leaning more forward launch the ball higher - or am I misconstruing what you are working on?

Erik - good work on the swing, I can't help but feel that your right shoulder is very hunched up at around 40-45 second, and that relaxing it down into a more neutral position will allow the right arm to fold more naturally and hence shaft to work more up the line. I don't know the entire history of what you are working on though - I noticed it in one of the chipping vids too - very likely the reason for that tipping of the shaft you get on the downswing

interesting stuff, yeah I tend to hit a high draw so can relate to this.

so having the handle forward delofts the club, but also puts the effective path of the club more in to out which would allow a more open face to hit a draw which would mean more loft which negates the fact the handle is forward. IOW handle forwards and open face neutralise each other?

Wouldnt having the handle forward and hitting before the low point in the arc also hit the ball with a more open face naturally as the clubface is essentially in a more open position at this point in the arc?

Or are you changing your effective path by changing your swing direction to "in to out" also? or just purely through hitting on a different point in the arc?