How to Eliminate the one foot divot with short Irons

[rapper]

I am getting to within 75 yards, and nearer the green, and try to take half a wedge shot but take a designer divot that goes further than the ball,some times on a slight incline and even level ground.
I never usually take divots with my irons...ive tried a gap wedge and the same result,how should I play the shot and should I use a sand iron?if I catch it right it inevitably ends up well through...costing in me shots galore....

 

[bobmac]

Where is the ball positioned, front middle or back in your stance?

 

[hovis]

there could be lots of reasons.

club path too out to in?

weight too much on your lead leg and getting in front?

dipping down too much as you come into the ball!

handle too far forward at impact?

 

[rapper]

ball mainly in the middle of my stance.

 

[rapper]

dipping down sounds familiar..should I be using either a lob or sand wedge?

 

[bobmac]

ball mainly in the middle of my stance.

Narrow stance or normal stance?

 

[hovis]

dipping down sounds familiar..should I be using either a lob or sand wedge?

depends on the shot mate. the only way to know for sure is to post a video of your swing or see a pro.

 

[rapper]

normal stance

 

[bobmac]

normal stance

Try standing with your heals 3-4 inches apart

[video=youtube;Msi1tmtG3jo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msi1tmtG3jo[/video]

 

[the_coach]

I am getting to within 75 yards, and nearer the green, and try to take half a wedge shot but take a designer divot that goes further than the ball,some times on a slight incline and even level ground.
I never usually take divots with my irons...ive tried a gap wedge and the same result,how should I play the shot and should I use a sand iron?if I catch it right it inevitably ends up well through...costing in me shots galore....

at address do you set-up with a forwards leaning shaft ? (hands/handle a bunch in front of the ball)
& any forwards press before taking the club back ?

 

[rapper]

no not really club and ball centre of stance

 

[the_coach]

no not really club and ball centre of stance

if set-up is all okay & ball position - then a couple of things worth considering with the part pitch shot technique

first off it's not really the club being used as such so pw/gw/sw/lw whichever is really going to make any real difference to the issue - & for sure the club choice should be around what type of shot trajectory wise you want to play or have to play thru what the hazard situation is to kinda dictate the shot flight choice

the swing arc is for sure to "v" shaped - so steep-ish down with maybes a bunch of wrist angle maybes too much weight left &/or too much a tad to much shift left &/or too much trying to have the hands lead the handle with the latter meaning to much handle dragging laterally which has the effect of keeping a whole bunch of 'lag' angle late in towards impact so then you really got to dump that angle both very late & steep in a very short space of distance & time in order to be able hit the ball - so a mixture of some of all that will be playing into why low point is so far target side of the ball hence the ball & huge divot issues

thing is with the shorter pitch shots from 75 yards in it's not about having a swing that more mirrors a full swing action as there is no real need to look to have to generate real distance

it's a ways easy with say a hands to just below shoulder height backswing length with a pretty smooth co-ordinated hip & upper body rotation thats more in-sync with the arm swing to be able to generate the club speed to get that distance without a need for a real big 'set' with the wrists (leaving extra height flop type shots out of the equation for now) & without 'trying' to hold any lag - in fact doing that is a big cause of this type of issue or just general inconsistent ball contact (fats & thins)

the swing arc of these shorter pitch shots is better visualized as a more "U" shaped arc - so its a shallower club head approach to & through impact - so that leads to more consistent contact plus then ball & a smaller norm divot pattern

couple of keys to having a more "U" shaped arc is realizing that the chest upper body have to rotate both back & thru the swing that's there is no real weight transference needed so weight can be 55L - 45R approx thru the whole swing & that the spine & head stay pretty centered thru the whole swing - so it's more the chest/upper body rotation with a synced arm swing that is the engine to providing the distance - so not just a more arms hands & wrists swing 'down' into the ball

any golf swing full or even part pitches the hands & handle reach the lowest point in the swings arc at around opposite the trail thigh - from there they 'level out' a tad then move forwards/upwards & inwards(leftwards for RH)

so the 'cure' is about developing a new skill set to be able to produce the part wedge swing that is more "U" shaped thru some of the stuff outlined above (for sure a 1 to 1 lesson is a real good ways to achieve that)

drill that have used with folks for part pitch shots that has some good success - is take 2 bag towels (or 2 alignment sticks) place them longways at 90º to the target line & 10 inches apart (so there's a 10 inch gap - that 'area' is where the downswing into impact plus the thru-swing after has to operate without the club hitting either towel -or stick)

place the ball approx 2&1/2 - 3 inches aways from the back towel(stick)

so the swing into impact is still steep enough to miss the back towel but the bottom of the arc is also shallow enough through impact to be more of a ball then 'brush' the matt (or take a small divot on grass) but then rises (because of the continued rotation of the upper body in-sync with the arm swing) to miss also the front towel(or stick)

 

[SocketRocket]

You are hitting the ground before the ball, you need to hit the ball then the ground after the ball.