Divet

[iku]

In one of my previous posts someone mentioned that you have to take a divet with your irons, always. Is that true?

If yes. How do you do it? I tend to leave just small marks and the odd divet when I try to spin the ball back.

I assume that if you take a divet it means that you hit the ball before the club head has reached the lowest point of the swing. Is that correct?

 

[Aztecs27]

You don't *have* to take a divot.

A friend of mine plays off 10 or 11 and does just fine (and has done for nearly 20 years) by "sweeping"/picking the ball off the grass.

That said, I take a small divot (big divot with wedges)

I'm sure someone will be along shortly to correct me.

 

[LanDog]

"Divet?"

 

[iku]

Yes, if I can't spell it no wonder I can't take it...

 

[pokerjoke]

I always try to take a divot with the short irons as it seems to give a better strike,and it shows you have hit down on the ball.
However i was reading GM the other day and in the piece about Seve[great piece]it mentioned that Seve just tried to scorch the turf.
But if you watch the pros most take a divot.

 

[LanDog]

Yes, if I can't spell it no wonder I can't take it...

 

[One Planer]

I take a divot, even off the tee.

However I dont tend to take one with the longer clubs. My divots seem to stop at my 7 iron. I just leave a brusing on the surface from here on in.

like Aztec, I also tend to take a large sod of earth with my wedges.

 

[john0]

Tom Watson has managed a fairly successful career without hardly taking a divot

 

[ScienceBoy]

Our fairways are too firm to take a divot, being an inland links they are like rock with some grass growing on them. Even when the grass is lush the ground underneth is too firm.

I take a bit of one, its not a huge clod and its not a 'clip off the top'

 

[shanker]

I watched Miguel Angel Jimenez here a few years ago and he just swept it off the turf with 5 or 6 iron and longer.

 

[Region3]

I don't try to take a divot, but mostly I do.

If you don't I wouldn't worry about it as long as you're hitting the ball well.

 

[richart]

I have been known to take some whoppers, but I do punch all my irons. Good thing is they come out in one big piece, and are easy to replace, once I have walked 30 yards to collect them.

There are a few Pro's that might take small ones, but the majority take big ones, off the fairway and the tee. I played with a top hockey player the other day, and he played with his hands behind the ball, and took no divot at all. His hand eye co-ordination was fantastic though, and his margin or error pretty small. When he did take a divot it was a fat.

 

[stevie_r]

I generally just seem to 'scar' the turf, probably not getting a steep enough angle of attack and sweeping the ball forward, would this be responsible for what I feel is a ridiculously high trajectory at times?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I am trying to hit down on the ball more now and compress it so any divot I take is hopefully after where the ball was. I don't tend to be a huge divot taker even with my short irons and to be honest I'm not consciously trying to take one or not when I play the shot. All I want is a decent contact and forward momentun, ideally airborne in a straight line

 

[kid2]

Take this from one who has a pretty steep angle of attack and generous divots...
I might be wrong but this might be one positive to take from having an out to in swing path...
Lately iv been shifting my weight more centrally in my posture and it seems to have the effect of an in to out swing path and very shallow divots....

I guess with the out to in swing that some of us have we might have too much weight on our toes in the posture causing a lack of imbalance in the downswing...
Then again i could be just talkin ball cox

 

[RGDave]

You don't have to take a divot. Then again, you don't have to hit the ball properly to play reasonable golf.

I love all these folk who "try" to take a divot. I try to hit down on the ball with my irons, but doesn't mean I always do.

If I hit my irons nicely, I get one.