How did YOU learn to hit down on the back of the ball?

[Deleted member 18121]

Yesterday morning I shot what turned out to be my best round at the club I joined in July. I shot a 16 over 87 - you'd think I'd be chuffed to bits, but I'm not.

My driving was great, putting good and my scrambling was some of the best I've done all year......but what the torrential rain and soaking conditions did for me is prove to me that I don't hit the back of the ball properly. I was constantly hitting fairway shots fat and coming up short....it really proved to me what I think could be the major flaw in my game.

A few weeks (back for the first time ever) at the range I placed another ball approx. 12 inches behind the target ball and tried hitting it without clipping the back ball - with moderate success.

Is this the drill you'd recommend? Is there anything else you think I could/should be doing?

Cheers all

Adam

 

[hacker_al]

Hi Adam,

This is something I struggle with too.
My pro recommended placing a towel flat on the floor about 3 inches behind the ball. Simply out miss the towel, hit the ball.
It's easy too see from the towel if you've been successful or not.

My ball striking is improving as a result but I haven't put enough practise in as I should if I'm honest!

 

[Snelly]

Hitting down the back of the ball? I have never thought about or learned about it and the drills you suggest sound rather odd. They sound like a recipe for thinning, topping or shanking the ball.

My tip would be stop thinking about this so much. Hitting down the back of the ball sounds like a tip for tennis rather than golf.

Forget about it. It is unnecessary mental clutter.


Or ask James.

 

[Deleted member 18121]

Hi Snelly

I thought this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydJZ9bFQQ24 was a "known" video on these forums for that exact kind of thing.

Do you leave a divot behind or in front of the ball?

Adam

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I don't think I did, or ever thought about it. I learned to swing a golf club, hitting the ball is just a result of my swing.

 

[3PuttCharlie]

A good drill I use:

get in a bunker and draw a line in the sand, then try to hit the line out of the bunker (no ball involved)

when I first did this I was consistently around 2-3" inches behind the line, despite being adamant in my mind I would hit the line

I fat a lot of iron shots in the wetter weather and this drill helps me fix things

It's simple and gives immediate feedback

 

[Deleted member 18121]

A good drill I use:

get in a bunker and draw a line in the sand, then try to hit the line out of the bunker (no ball involved)

when I first did this I was consistently around 2-3" inches behind the line, despite being adamant in my mind I would hit the line

I fat a lot of iron shots in the wetter weather and this drill helps me fix things

It's simple and gives immediate feedback

That's a very interesting way of doing it. I'll see if I can get down the range and empty their bunker.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I am hitting down and compressing the ball much better this year as a result of work I did last winter. HOWEVER, this improvement in ball striking has come about by swinging on a better path and collecting the ball on the way through and not as a direct swing thought or deliberate attempt.

 

[Snelly]

Hi Snelly

Do you leave a divot behind or in front of the ball?

Adam

I have never thought of this until now but I would say that a divot before the ball means a fat shot? I don't know or care though as I am trying to hit a golf ball in a specific direction. Whether I take a divot or not is of little consequence. If I consider it, the only time I am interested in a divot is when I have hit a shot straight left as I then want to see if the club came through on the intended line or not. If it didn't, invariably I know I have hit from the top to a greater or lesser extent.

I don't think that any of this is beneficial if you have a handicap of 21 though. No offence intended by the way but whether you hit down the back of the ball or not should be pretty low down on your list of priorities if you still need more than a shot a hole.

My advice would be to forget about where on the back of the ball you are hitting it and instead, focus on where you want the ball to go. See the club hit the ball. Dispense with your pre shot routine and be ready to play when it is your turn. Learn to chip and putt a bit better.

This back of the ball stuff can't be that important. At your level of play, when on the course, just hit the ball with the swing you have as best you can and try and make sure your grip, alignment and swing tempo are as good as they can be. Think about navigating the course to get a bogey on every hole. If that means 2 x 7 irons and a wedge to a par 4 then so be it. 18 bogeys beats 21! Any pars would be a bonus.


Golf is very simple. Thinking about hitting down the back of the ball can do nothing but over-complicate the task in hand. just my opinion of course.....

 

[Snelly]

I thought this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydJZ9bFQQ24 was a "known" video on these forums for that exact kind of thing.


Adam

I couldn't watch this. I have no time for people called Chuck and I found his hair style offensive.

 

[Khamelion]

On my very first lesson the lass told me that to compress the ball you need to hit down on hit compressing it into the turf so that it rolls up the club face, the club then continues through and removes the turf in front of the ball.

Now while I can't argue with that, as you see the pros do it all the time on approach shots, long to mid iron shots tend not to take divots, unless you have fatted it.

So hitting down on the ball I do not think is necessarily the right course of action to being able to hit a clean shot.

 

[Deleted member 18121]

I have never thought of this until now but I would say that a divot before the ball means a fat shot? I don't know or care though as I am trying to hit a golf ball in a specific direction. Whether I take a divot or not is of little consequence. If I consider it, the only time I am interested in a divot is when I have hit a shot straight left as I then want to see if the club came through on the intended line or not. If it didn't, invariably I know I have hit from the top to a greater or lesser extent.

I don't think that any of this is beneficial if you have a handicap of 21 though. No offence intended by the way but whether you hit down the back of the ball or not should be pretty low down on your list of priorities if you still need more than a shot a hole.

My advice would be to forget about where on the back of the ball you are hitting it and instead, focus on where you want the ball to go. See the club hit the ball. Dispense with your pre shot routine and be ready to play when it is your turn. Learn to chip and putt a bit better.

This back of the ball stuff can't be that important. At your level of play, when on the course, just hit the ball with the swing you have as best you can and try and make sure your grip, alignment and swing tempo are as good as they can be. Think about navigating the course to get a bogey on every hole. If that means 2 x 7 irons and a wedge to a par 4 then so be it. 18 bogeys beats 21! Any pars would be a bonus.


Golf is very simple. Thinking about hitting down the back of the ball can do nothing but over-complicate the task in hand. just my opinion of course.....

Yes, it seems that in wet conditions striking the ground before the ball creates a fat shot.

Respectfully, I disagree with everything else you said.

 

[CMAC]

On my very first lesson the lass told me that to compress the ball you need to hit down on hit compressing it into the turf so that it rolls up the club face, the club then continues through and removes the turf in front of the ball.

Now while I can't argue with that, as you see the pros do it all the time on approach shots, long to mid iron shots tend not to take divots, unless you have fatted it.

So hitting down on the ball I do not think is necessarily the right course of action to being able to hit a clean shot.

tell me this wasnt a PGA pro? if it was maybe she was trying to convey a 'feeling' but the only time you hit the ball into the turf is when you top it

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Yes, it seems that in wet conditions striking the ground before the ball creates a fat shot.

Respectfully, I disagree with everything else you said.

I have to say I kind of agree with Snelly on this one. You shouldn't be trying to hit the ball, the ball should just get in the way of the swing. If you believe you have a major flaw in your swing, "fixing" it in this way is unlikely to work long term. Don't get me wrong, I am no expert on the golf swing but a drill such as this is likely to cause you to do something in your swing that may make you miss the other ball,towel or whatever else you place behind but in doing so you are likely to be building in another fault. Much better IMHO to forget about the ball and learn how to swing properly.

 

[Slime]

I only managed to get to grips with hitting down on the ball, and therefore compressing it, when I started to adopt the principles of Stack and Tilt. I became far more consistent.
It just seemed to make things a bit more 'obvious' and I'm enjoying my golf more as a result of this.

Slime.

 

[Deleted member 18121]

I only managed to get to grips with hitting down on the ball, and therefore compressing it, when I started to adopt the principles of Stack and Tilt. I became far more consistent.
It just seemed to make things a bit more 'obvious' and I'm enjoying my golf more as a result of this.

Slime.

That sounds interesting, was there a video/article that you found helped the most? I'd be interested to read.

HawkeyeMS and Snelly - thanks for your input guys and I don't mean to sound flippant, as I know its the nature of forums, but I asked a question based on something I wish to work on in my game, not to then be told to do something else and ignore my question. Without seeing me play you don't know my strengths/weaknesses. I believe that improving my striking could improve my game, I don't really slice the ball, I definitely don't hook it but do think that I'm losing out by not hitting the ball cleanly. This was 100% evident in my game yesterday.

As for my handicap being 21 - I don't play competitions any more, I played 5 just to see what it was all about and decided it wasn't for me. I've only been playing golf regularly for just over 1 1/2 years and have carded 79-87 on numerous occasions (ranging from +8 to +16).

Again, I don't want to come across as rude so thanks for your input.

 

[AlbertsTache]

"shakes head and walks away from thread in disbelief"

 

[harpo_72]

Alright simply put, the divot is caused by the low point of your swing, if your quite steady it should be directly down from your sternum. Put the ball an inch to the back of this point and then swing... You'll be hitting down and then through ( if your a finisher)

 

[Deleted member 18121]

Alright simply put, the divot is caused by the low point of your swing, if your quite steady it should be directly down from your sternum. Put the ball an inch to the back of this point and then swing... You'll be hitting down and then through ( if your a finisher)

That's food for thought, I've been told (on more than one occasion) that I do have the ball quite far forward in my stance - could (potentially) be a simple fix.

 

[harpo_72]

That's food for thought, I've been told (on more than one occasion) that I do have the ball quite far forward in my stance - could (potentially) be a simple fix.

The other issue is you could be struggling with your weight shift, stack and tilt is aimed at reducing this. Meaning if your weight shift is out of phase the low point of your swing can be anywhere. Hence hitting the ball will be inconsistent.