Want to make DIVOTS!

[nkranga]

Re: Want to make DIVOTS!

This was my symptom....

When I play the average courses(maintenance wise) the have thicker fairways - more grass:so to speak, but the nicer courses have fairways like carpet-well maintained, Cut low. Now I have no problem hitting balls from these carpet like fairways. I assumed it was due to habbit of picking the ball(harder on carpet fairways?). Hence the need for DIVOTS! Do you agree ....?

Ranga

[BrianW]

Re: Want to make DIVOTS!

This was my symptom....

When I play the average courses(maintenance wise) the have thicker fairways - more grass:so to speak, but the nicer courses have fairways like carpet-well maintained, Cut low. Now I have no problem hitting balls from these carpet like fairways. I assumed it was due to habbit of picking the ball(harder on carpet fairways?). Hence the need for DIVOTS! Do you agree ....?

Ranga

No Ranga, I don't agree.

Look again at my comments regarding ball and body position. Divots are not the objective of the swing they are the result of a correct swing and positioning with medium to short clubs. The type of fairway is irrelevant.

[msklar92]

Re: Want to make DIVOTS!

would agree with brianw. If you are swinging correctly, the club hinges up on the back swing and naturally hinges down on the down swing. This is not my idea - see Greg Willis right hand drill. If this is done properly a divot will result as brianw stated due to th downhinging of the club. The divot should look like a dollar bill. If the divot looks more like a triangle with pointy end either facing towards or away from the taget then you are not coming into the ball squarely. If you are not creating divots, even shallow ones, you are likely swatting at the ball trying to pick it up rather than naturally let the club hinge from a proper right hand postion.

[rharris06]

Re: Want to make DIVOTS!

My mate played in florida at the magnolia course by disney land last week when he went on holiday and he said with there fairways it so much easier to strike the ball well, the club just cuts through the grass beatifully and the ball has a better ball flight!

[BrianW]

Re: Want to make DIVOTS!

My mate played in florida at the magnolia course by disney land last week when he went on holiday and he said with there fairways it so much easier to strike the ball well, the club just cuts through the grass beatifully and the ball has a better ball flight!

Hi Rickey,

I played at Celtic Manor a month ago and their fairways were splendid, I still made divots with my medium and short irons though.

[rharris06]

Re: Want to make DIVOTS!

yes celtic manor is great! and they have great facilities too! I only live 1 hour drive from there.

[BrianW]

Re: Want to make DIVOTS!

yes celtic manor is great! and they have great facilities too! I only live 1 hour drive from there.

Yes, I also live an hours drive but probably in the opposite direction.

I played the Roman Road course which is splendid, the clubhouse is palatial also.

[mont86]

Re: Want to make DIVOTS!

It's all to do with the sternum! The swing bottoms out in line with the sternum.

Place the ball in a sound reference position (In my case this is in line with my left armpit for all clubs) now move the right foot and sternum backwards or forwards from the ball to control where the swing bottoms in relation to the ball.

As we know some clubs must sweep the ball away and some hit down on it. For a mid iron (say a 7i) place your sternum just ahead of the ball, you will now hit the ball then bottom out just past making a shallow divot. For a wedge (say PW) place the sternum further ahead with the right foot closer, this will put your weight more on the front foot, your swing will bottom in front the ball thus making steeper contact into the back and a deeper divot. For longer clubs (say 3i) move the right foot and sternum further behind the ball so the swing bottoms out earlier and the club sweeps the ball with little or no divot. The driver is just further back again.

Brian I like the way you described the divot. I understood very well.

[rhexis]

Re: Want to make DIVOTS!

interesting thread. if you are worring about taking a divot then you are going to hit more fat shots than you normally would. what i do, and i think what is more important than taking a divot, is concentrating on compressing the golf ball at impact. i do that by making sure my hands pass the ball before the club head makes contact. this also de-lofts the club face giving a lower trajectory, more penetrating ball flight. a great drill to work on this is tee up a ball about 1/4 to 1/2 inches and with a 7 iron think about the hands going through first while making sure you break the tee in half. practice that and i bet you will be hitting crisper, longer iron shots.

[canadian_man_44]

Re: How to go from 'Picking' to 'Divot-ing' ?

Folks,

1) How do you practice hitting "down" on mats ?

2) Does it not hurt the wrist to hit down? On Mats? and on the course?

Ranga

DO NOT PRACTICE ON THE MATS!!!! PRACTICE OFF THE GRASS!!!!! I can't stress that enough. Every course out there has grass on the tee boxes and the fairways. Mats do not simulate the conditions of a course. The only people who should be using those mats are the guys who go to the driving range just to see who can hit the ball the farthest and who never plan on actually playing the game.

I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if someone has already put this theory forward. At one point in the past five years of playing I wasn't taking divots. This seemed to result in not hitting the ball solidly and sometimes topping or hitting the ball about halfway up with the bottom of the clubface. I think my head was telling me not to hit the ground but I'm no psychologist so I won't even get into that. The bottom line with me was that I was setting up with the ball too far away from my body. I moved in a couple inches and almost immediately started taking divots and hitting farther and more accurate shots.