Hitting down on the ball.

[edshaw]

Look, this is an extension of a thread
that ran its course, on an issue that
really is important to understand. I
am going to provide my understanding
as it is, open to all corrections and
criticisms.
The club head follows and arc and it
moves in a direction that is the result
of three components: toward the
target line, toward the ground, and
(the big one) toward the target.
When we talk about hitting down on
the ball, there is no intent to bang
down on the ball, but rather, in the
process of making a right swing, to
let the natural downward component
affect the strike action. This means the
ball is taken before the club head
bottoms out, as it invariably will.
With irons and fairway woods, the
ball has gone before the point of full
extension of the arc. It hits the ball,
then tries to bury itself in the turf,
meets resistance, and creates the
beaver pelt that your buddies laugh
about.

[BrianW]

Re: Hitting down on the ball.

Hi Ed,

Hmmm, this is quite a technical subject and can lead to some subjective views.

Here are some of mine to be kicked around:

It is really a misconception that we have to hit the ball into the turf to be able to compress it into the clubface to generate spin and lift. If we place the ball on a tee and strike it on the centre of the clubface with any club the ball flight will be suitable for the club even though the ball was not compressed into the ground. The ball will have been compressed onto the clubface for something like half a millisecond when it springs back into shape, slides up then as it looses grip rolls up and off the face with spin and velocity proportionate to the speed it was hit, the loft of the club and where on the face it was struck.

The reason we want to hit down with irons is to create the most effective ball flight, so the ball must not be struck too low or high on the face, low creates a low ball flight with unpredictable distance, high creates a high ball flight with a loss of distance. The ball needs to be struck central (In the sweet spot) not only in the lateral but also vertical centre of the face, then the club will impart a predictable ball flight for it's design. So, we hit down to enable us to make contact with the ball in the centre of the face.

There is a whole lot of other technical explanations to this but it is the way I see it and open to further debate please?

[takinitdeep]

Re: Hitting down on the ball.

Its a little different depending upon which club one is using and what the player is trying to accomplish. For example, with driver, 3 wood and long irons there is more of a sweeping motion into impact with the hands still ahead. With mid and short irons, there is more of a trapping motion at impact with the hands more ahead.
I wouldn't say hit down to someone who does not already understand the swing dynamics because a beginner or less informed player may take it too literally.