Hitting down on the ball

[timchump]

Hi All

I've been pondering about my game recentley, how i can improve.

One area i've noticed is im pretty good at driving, but not so good with irons, less consistent and less distance relatively speaking.

I think the reason i'm good with the driver is i hit slightly up on the ball, and bad with irons is i'm doing exactly the same thing!

Can anybody recommend any good drills to help hit down on the ball, achieving some good forward shaft lean?

Also is there such a thing as hitting down too much on the ball with the irons?

From looking at the pro's on the box there doesn't seem to be such a thing a la dustin johnson etc

thanks

 

[garyinderry]

yes, in soft soggy conditions, if you hit down too much your will take big chunks like i do and the ball wont go very far. when its dry you can take bubba divots and the ball will still go a reasonable distance.

cutting down my divot size is something im trying to think about. when im hitting well and taking big divots i dont let it worry me.

in soft conditions, my last swing thought is 50p divot. it reduces the size of them although i still struggle to take very small divots.

 

[pendodave]

The reason most of us hit up on the driver is because we tee it forward of the base of our swing.

Rather than thinking of hitting down on your irons (which might lead to all sorts of unintended consquences), perhaps you just have to make sure that your iron swing consistently bottoms out just in front of your ball placement. If you think about the swing, and place your ball correctly in your stance, then you will hit a slight descending path on your iron shots without introducing the 'hit down on ball' thought into your mind at all...

Teachers like shawn clements (who's a bit of an acquired taste tbh) really emphasis the 'swing the club', not 'hit the ball' swing thought as a good way to deliver the required outcome.

I haven't searched, but there's probably about a million and one vids on the 'tube along these lines.

 

[Wolfman]

I think set up changes and ball position make the difference not the swing

You are trying to catch the ball before the ground at the bottom of the swing arc

Drivers with ball forward you are pass the bottom and on the way back up for an ascending blow

Try moving the ball back slightly with irons and make sure you have shifted weight to front leg at impact ( a must )

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Simple answer - get a lesson. I have worked hard over the winter and I'm really compressing down on the ball with my irons now. It was a result of some swing changes but also understanding where the swing arced out at the bottom (ball position) and making adjustments to my address accordingly

 

[SocketRocket]

Dont worry too much about the divots right now, they will happen as a result of hitting the ball better with your irons.

To stop you flipping your wrists and keeping your weight on the back foot try these images when hitting your irons.

Imagine the ball has a nail tacked into the back of it that is just above the balls equator and sticking up (at around 20 degrees for mid to short clubs and 10 deg for long clubs and fairway woods) Now when you swing your club imagine there is no loft on the club face and you want to drive the nail down through the ball.

Another image is that there is a low bough of a tree around 10 yards infront of you and feel that you want to hit the ball under the bough.

These two drills and images will help you create better contact with the ball and should improve your game.

I hope this helps you

 

[ScienceBoy]

One thing my pro mentioned that I like is how to imagine the face of an iron.

Groves 1 and 2 result in those skinny thin shots.

Groves 3 and 4 result in decent shots but they dont feel fully under control.

Grove 5 results in those strong controlled feeling shots.

This helps me get a mental feel of where I should be hitting the ball to get the strike I am looking for. To get to grove 5 you have to hit down on the ball without delofting the club.

 

[patricks148]

One thing my pro mentioned that I like is how to imagine the face of an iron.

Groves 1 and 2 result in those skinny thin shots.

Groves 3 and 4 result in decent shots but they dont feel fully under control.

Grove 5 results in those strong controlled feeling shots.

This helps me get a mental feel of where I should be hitting the ball to get the strike I am looking for. To get to grove 5 you have to hit down on the ball without delofting the club.

what about groves 6,7,8 and 9

 

[duncan mackie]

I think the reason i'm good with the driver is i hit slightly up on the ball, and bad with irons is i'm doing exactly the same thing!

I think the reason you have problems (if you do) is in thinking about 'hitting up' or hitting down etc at all - they should be a simple function of set-up; then you push the button and 'swing'. How you set up will dictate how the clubhead impacts the ball.

Any other way of looking at it will cause problems.

Yes you can nulify set up elements with a whole load of swing elements, but that's another issue.

Whilst you can study books, articicles, videos and then try and diy with mirrors it's the first lesson with the pro, and will cover basic grip issues as well becasue they are so closely related.

I realise it's a broken record respose in here to some, but everything else just follows from it as Pentodave and Wolfman point out.

 

[timchump]

thanks for all the replies guys

a lot of good swing thoughts for me to try!

think i will start with the set up and ball postion as a lot of you have said, and go from there

when i do conciously try and hit down on the ball my swing starts becoming very steep, doesn't feel nice at all,

at the moment i don't have conscious swing thoughts about hitting up or down on the ball.

my iron play isn't nearly as good as driving, i'm trying to think of a logicial reason to as why, driver being supposedley the harder club to hit.

have come to conclusion it's probably the "strike" of the iron which i think hitting down more on the ball will help

hopefully from all your comments i can get it where i want it to be

thanks

 

[JustOne]

what about groves 6,7,8 and 9

Chin splitters!

 

[bobmac]

[video=youtube;bJ2oBmW37eY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ2oBmW37eY&list=PL7Uf2W3sfvqYBJ3OUldKvQT7ZWYEmPOyW[/video]