Hitting down on the ball

[slater170]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

ill give you one piece of sound advice..................
check out the "nail it" method!
you can find out all about it by clicking on the 3skillsgolf ad at the top right hand side of the home page!
ive had 1st hand experience of it this weekend and the improvement in ball striking was dramatic and instant!

[bdbl]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

Slats, I've got a sneaking feeling that you're impressed, either that or you're on commission

Without going into details that we should pay for, what in particular is different with the 3skills approach compared with other teaching out there?

[bill reed]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

hi
i agree with golfinguy that you should not think of it at hitting down on the back of the ball, slater's driving a nail into the back of the balls is better, what you should be doing is finding the lowest point of your swing and then putting the the ball back half to a full ball behind that so the club is still on the downswing when you first make contact and you pinch the ball with the club head and the ground. thinking about hitting down does make you chunk into the back of the ball a lot and really it should be a free swing that just happens to catch the ball before the club head reaches its lowest point in the swing.
i think you should be thinking about swinging the club thought into a high finish rather than hitting into the back off the ball.
bill

[BrianW]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

You need to strike the ball on the sweet spot of the clubface, hitting down on it's own means nothing in creating good ball flight and we can forget about trapping or pinching the ball into the ground to create spin, it does not work that way.

To prove this place a ball on a tee and strike it on the sweet spot with an iron, did the ball fly well? it was not pinched into the ground or necessarily hit down. Every club by design has it's individual loft, lie and shaft angle. Only when the club strikes the ball with respect to these angles will the club be working as designed. So! when using a shorter iron you will need to hit with a descending blow into the back of the ball to enable the ball to be struck in the centre of the face, if it struck the ball on a flatter plane it would hit the ball low on the face creating a low flying thinned shot as the leading edge contacted the ball. Longer clubs are not hit down on the ball, why? because they have less loft and can gather the ball on the sweet spot whilst the club is on a more level path.

[bulldog2k]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

Usual preface - I'm a 22HC - don't listen to me - what do I know? - etc...

In addition to all of the above, I also think there's an important distinction between a key swing thought, and what actually happens. The advice 'drive the ball into the ground' isn't so much about what's going to happen as much as a helpful mental key, in the same way as saying to a slicer, 'think about taking it away on the inside' doesn't cause them to actually do it, but rather have a vision in their head of a feeling they're trying to capture.

You don't actually have to plough a 6 inch deep divot in order for the advice to produce a useful and workable result, in other words - but that's just my take on it...

[bill reed]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

hi
i think it a bit like saying hit the ball with the driver on the upswing but you dont try and hit the ball like that you just move the ball forward so it ahead of the lowest point you swing your driver, i think it the same with wedges and shorted clubs.you move the ball back or ajust your stance so the ball is behind the lowest point and you make contact with the ball before the ground. i think hitting the golf ball first and then the big ball( the earth) second, i think this is a better way to think of it rather than thinking hitting down on the back of the ball as it puts an image in your head and your body reacts and sometime it makes you really dig into the ground and you do hit the 6 inch deep diviots.
only time i think of hitting into the back off the ball is if i hit a punch shot with little follow through as i dig into the ground.
bill

[slater170]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

Slats, I've got a sneaking feeling that you're impressed, either that or you're on commission

Without going into details that we should pay for, what in particular is different with the 3skills approach compared with other teaching out there?

no commission honest
hone the 3 skills and you wont ever need any swing thoughts again!

[BrianW]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

Usual preface - I'm a 22HC - don't listen to me - what do I know? - etc...

In addition to all of the above, I also think there's an important distinction between a key swing thought, and what actually happens. The advice 'drive the ball into the ground' isn't so much about what's going to happen as much as a helpful mental key, in the same way as saying to a slicer, 'think about taking it away on the inside' doesn't cause them to actually do it, but rather have a vision in their head of a feeling they're trying to capture.

You don't actually have to plough a 6 inch deep divot in order for the advice to produce a useful and workable result, in other words - but that's just my take on it...

BDG,

Yes you are correct that key swing thoughts help.

For me I need to understand what is actually happening to be able to work out how to combat undesirable outcomes in the game, guess that's the Engineer coming out (As robin suggests). There are many things in the golf swing that are subjective, thus leading to differing opinions, which is also interesting.

I believe that understanding why and how one hits down at the ball does in fact make the task easier to learn. I can remember once being told to blindly hit down at the ball and trap it into the turf to get it in the air and being confused on how I should actually hit down on it, this caused me to make an excessively steep downswing that resulted in the ball being struck high on the face resulting in high and weak ball flight. I then proceeded to get into more problems with clubs with less loft as I just mashed a nice toupee out from under the ball that scuffed it a few yards whilst straining my wrists.

I hear a lot of confusing information being given regarding the golf swing, especially with regards to altering the characteristics of a club rather than using the club that was designed for the shot.

Anyhow, that's how I see it. Phew!

[braveheart]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

Its been awhile since Ive posted, so hello everyone. Too many tips and swing thoughts plagued me for awhile. I have tried many things this past season to alleviate my tendency to catch things a little bit fat. Funny thing I often hit the ground before the ball and still actually get very good distance out of it. Better golfers than me see this and just say Im just missing it, try moving the ball back a hair (then Im pushing to the right and hitting the ground harder). Ive read a good book recently by Bobby Clampett called The Impact Zone -Mastering Golf's Moment Of Truth. He talks about moving your swing bottom forward by focusing on a spot in front of the golf ball with your hands with all clubs. He shows pictures of pros where they contact the ball and says the divot should extend 4" in front of the golf ball. Ive tried it and am starting to see better results, especially with irons. See if focusing on the front of the ball does anything. Might be worth a look for you.

[bill reed]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

hi braveheart
your bobby clampet tip sounds much like the hogan one, with hogan he said the impact point was about inside off his left ankle, and that was when both arms would start to extend and that was also when the ball was well on it way, when he made contact with the ball he still had some bend in his right elbow and it was not till both arms extended and his wrists were about to turn over that he felt he was at his impact zone. i think bobby clampet and many other pros are the same in the thought that the ball gets in the way of there swing to get to there impact zone and thats always past where tha ball is.
ps.
i remember reading a book a long time ago and it was bobby clampet but it was very deep and took a lot of reading, went into the full swing in depth. is that the same book as i would like to read it again now i understand more about the swing than i did 15 or 20 years ago,
thanks
bill

[braveheart]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

bill reed,
This book came out in 2007. First edition in April. Thanks for you intelligent response and further explanation.

[ilovegolf]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

Well I have been playing golf for a few years, not very much, but time to time. I usually get frustrated and quit and put the clubs away until I get an invite and pick up the clubs again. I love to play, but hitting my Irons on the fairway just embarrasses me, because I always chunk and top the ball, no matter what this always happens, a good turf shot is very seldom.

All the time I have been playing golf nobody ever taught me to actually hit down on the ball nor did I ever hear anyone ever talk about this. By just recently learning this, it may change everything for me. I really have no problem's driving or putting it has always been hitting my Irons.

Now here is my question, I am going to start practicing hitting down on the ball on the fairway and rough,but should I hit down on the ball when I am teeing up my Irons??I can hit my irons great off a tee by just sweeping it like a driver. I get the ball high up in the air and strait. My problem with my Irons is always on the ground. Thank for any help

This may work for you, I was having the same exact problem as you are, your post could have come from me.

At set up put more weight on your left side, not so much as to throw you off balance but enough to feel like your more over the ball, when you swing tro to feel like your swinging with the ground, this will produce more follow through to your target and cause you to hit down on the ball without any extra thoughts about it. Simple is better.

I truly hope this helps you, it did me and I quit the game so many times because of the exact problem you described, I am just starting to enjoy hitting with the "Big Boys"

Bill

[ubizmo]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

when you swing tro to feel like your swinging with the ground

What do you mean by this? I don't understand what it would mean to be swinging with the ground.

[ilovegolf]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

This may work for you, I was having the same exact problem as you are, your post could have come from me.

At set up put more weight on your left side, not so much as to throw you off balance but enough to feel like your more over the ball, when you swing tro to feel like your swinging with the ground, this will produce more follow through to your target and cause you to hit down on the ball without any extra thoughts about it. Simple is better.

I truly hope this helps you, it did me and I quit the game so many times because of the exact problem you described, I am just starting to enjoy hitting with the "Big Boys"

Bill

What I was trying to say "Swinging with the ground" is a swing thought, trying to feel like you're swinging the club parallel to the ground even after contact, this swing thought has made my divot much more consistent and my finish with the club is higer than ever before.

After contact the ball flight is directly towards my target and I feel like it is the two things I mentioned.

I am in no way trying to be a golf instructor, these are just tips that have dramatically improved my ball striking and brought about some enjoyment.

Bill

[cayrbee]

Re: Hitting down on the ball

I struggled with this for years. What I tried one day was off the wall grip for me. I kept the left hand the same[one knuckle] BUT I moved my left thumb over to the right @ 1 oclock more under the pad of RH. Thus creating a gap between thumb & knuckle on the LH. Worked on the first ball & still is mashing the ball into the ground & taking a nice divot. Good Luck !