What is the rationale to hit down the ball

[benben]

What is the rationale to hit down the ball? I've tried to hit down the ball, the ball rebounded much faster but I don't know the rationale behind. Would you shed some lights on it? Thanks.

[Ian Hancock]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

Benben,

This is a simple case of trapping the ball between the club face and the ground causing a squeezing effect.........................pinching the ball, thus propelling it further.


Hope this helps.

Ian.

[benben]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

Thanks Ian.

[Martin Levac]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

benben,

Hitting down will promote hitting the ball first, the ground second.

It will also deloft the club relative to gravity but not relative to itself. The launch angle will be lower and the spin rate will remain the same. This will produce a longer ball flight that will land more softly than with a longer club.

[GreeBoman]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

The rationale is that you are using the club as it was designed.
Irons are designed to contact the ball while moving down the through it, woods are designed to contact the ball while moving horizontally.
The Driver is an exception as it was designed to hit the ball while moving up through it.

[chessbum]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

Now I am confused. In AJ's "The Truth about golf" he claims you should always hit the ball at the "equator" not the north or south pole. To me that makes sense.

People also refer to "getting under the ball". I think this is incorrect too, again because I think hitting the "Equator" of the ball makes more sense because the club was designed with loft in it and that is what takes care of getting the ball in the air.

An so, "Hitting down" on the ball to me sounds like an incorrect visual.

Don't flame me on this one, I am just throwing out another viewpoint. Lately, people seem to be so antagonistic here it makes you hesitant to post another viewpoint.

Chessbum...

[GreeBoman]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

Due to the shape of the face of irons you are still hitting the equator of the ball when you hit down on it.
If the clubface was vertical (like a putter for example) and you tried to hit down on it then you would impact on the "top" of the ball.

Getting under the ball is when you contact an iron with the club moving upwards rather than downwards.
Unless you have the ball teed-up (and even then its not a "good" shot) you will hit a poor shot, most likely duffed shot.

Its pretty much impossible to not hit the equator of the ball with an iron, no matter how hard you hit down on it.

Try it with a club and see how mugh you can hit downwards before you miss the equator, basically you have to totally defloft the club (until its putter like) before you miss.
The loft means that the the leading edge of the club will always be "under" the equator.

[mont86]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

Does anyone have a video of a ball being struck by a i9 and i3?
Those two clubs would strike a ball different, right one down and one sweeping? I have heard that depending on what works for you, you can
either move the ball forward in your stance or keep it in the same place
just farther away for different clubs. In that case wouldn't all your ball
striking be the same?

[bill reed]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

hi all
the sweet spot on a 3 iron is lower than a wedge, that why a wedge has more face, with the wedge the ball is compressed less and runs up the face more inparting back spin due to face angle, but it still it a hit on equator. the longer shaft means more speed at inpact and ball flys of 3 iron more than it runs up face on a wedge, its the way the clubs are ment to work. its a bit like a pool ball, you hit it below equator to inpart backspin or above to inpart topspin, to sides to use sidespin, in golf the clubs do it for you if used right.
bill

[GreeBoman]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

Does anyone have a video of a ball being struck by a i9 and i3?
Those two clubs would strike a ball different, right one down and one sweeping?

well they are both down, just one is more down than the other. While you do "sweep" with the 3 iron you should still be hitting the ball before the ground, ie. you are hitting the ball on the way down.

I have heard that depending on what works for you, you can
either move the ball forward in your stance or keep it in the same place
just farther away for different clubs. In that case wouldn't all your ball
striking be the same?

Each club is longer thus changing the length and plane of your swing arc, a wedge is a much more vertical swing than a driver for example.

[mont86]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

Thanks Gree. Which of you keep the ball in the same location in your stance compared to moving it for the different clubs?

[Robert O' Keeffe]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

I think the term hitting down on the ball can be a bit confusing,i.e. the down factor being a reference to down the lne of attack. If we hit "down the line of attack" it will follow that the club face will strike the ball with the sweet spot and the rest follows. If we hit down the line of attack we will not come over the top etc. Of course we have to build in this hitting down motion with ball position etc for different clubs. A good way of getting a feel for this hitting down feeling is to place the ball back in the stance rather than the middle. Try it with a wedge and you will feel that your hands have to pull down to make a contact with the ball. You will also feel the club impact with the turf and produce a divot. If you get to understand this down feeling, then go back to the correct ball position and try the same movement

[GreeBoman]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

Thanks Gree. Which of you keep the ball in the same location in your stance compared to moving it for the different clubs?

np
well the ball stays in the same place (except for the driver) the stance gets wider and narrower depending on the club, thus making the ball appear to move.

[prakcom]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

Hi!
When we try to hit the ball below the equator without considering club construction, we are actually trying to scoop the ball with the club and making a divot with the club before hitting the ball. What I understand "hitting down" is to pinch the ball and the divot is made after the ball is hit. The ball position centered between the heels would create a hitting down shot but to get it like the pros would need lot of practice. Even the sound of their shots are different and the ball fly at lower trajactory and later balloons-up to land with very little roll (depending on the hardness of the greens). I have been trying this style for quite sometimes but had not been successful as yet.

Any suggestions....

[bill reed]

Re: What is the rationale to hit down the ball

hi all
tiger woods has replaced all his clubs 3 times this year and he does that so he has the best grove's on all his clubs and gets max bite on the ball but it dont cost him to have them changed and he also uses a pro nik ball that only made for him, the best we can do it keep out groves clean and try and get the best out our clubs.
bill