Hitting ground behind ball

[robinhill]

Fairly new to this most frustrating game and have had half doz lessons now but I seem to be getting worse. I am constantly hitting the ground about 6 - 10 inches behind the ball. Different advice includes: move ball further back, move ball forward. keep right knee bent, keep left knee bent, don't pivot at waist, pivot at waist, move ball further away, move ball nearer and my favourite from my step son was take up knitting!
What is going so wrong? I really enjoy this game but taking 8 shots on a short par 3 is getting embarrasing. I have now booked a lesson from another pro to see if it's the quality of instruction that's at fault, but in the mean time can anyone offer any other advice.
Thanks.

[GregJWillis]

Re: Hitting ground behind ball

8-10 inches? Yikes.

Start this simple drill: Put your feet together and point your toes 45 degrees open to the target.

Once you have about 10-15 shots that hit the ball, spread the feet apart a little, but keeping the toes where they are. Hit another 10-15. Next, point the toes back to the ball. And see that happens. I bet you are now not swaying back so much anymore and keeping really good balance.

If not, and you were never able to hit the ball at all? Your step son might be onto something...

[robinhill]

Re: Hitting ground behind ball

Thanks for the advice, I'll pop down the driving range this weekend and try it out. If it doesn't work I'm off to needleworld to order some wool.
Cheers.

[bonzi_532]

Re: Hitting ground behind ball

Make sure your weight transfer is good also. I find that my problems hitting behind the ball come from not transferring my weight all the way. Make sure you have this

[ph_kingston]

Re: Hitting ground behind ball

Adding a little more complexity, make sure that you are not dropping down on the ball as you hit it. One of the bits of advice that you will constantly here is "keep your head down", if you take this too much to heart you can drop your head and shoulders into the shot. This then lowers the hands and results in you hitting the ground behind the ball. Rather than thinking "keep your head down" think "keep your spine angle constant" instead.

Good luck

Paul

[LowPost42]

Re: Hitting ground behind ball



Lots of good advice here, and now for my .02:

If your hips stay put, most other problems will fall away. If you don't sway (lateral movement), your hands (and club) should come right back to where they were. If you don't bob up and down (vertical movement), the clubhead will be slightly below it's starting position at impact (I'm not sure why, but every video shows it to be true).

Your best friend will be a camcorder/mirror, and v1home/masking tape, respectively.

The tape goes on the mirror (use a friend) with a little cross showing your hips level and centered.

[robinhill]

Re: Hitting ground behind ball

Many thanks for all the useful advice. I played 18 holes on Saturday and went round in 103 - my best ever. Sunday saw me at the driving range where I developed a drill that really improved my swing and strike.
I started with a 3 iron and the ball placed further back opposite back foot and just chipped a few balls into a 10 yard net, gradually I brought the ball further forward and increased my swing until the ball was much further forward and I was using a full swing at 100% power. At this point the balls were sailing straight down the range and further than I had hit before. I used this drill with all my clubs including the driver (I was even chipping more accurately with my driver than I could with my 9 iron).
I'm not sure if this drill will work for anyone else but it seems to have worked for me.
Once again, thanks for the great advice it all seems to have helped.
Robin.

[AlanN]

Re: Hitting ground behind ball

Robin,

I hope this new drill continues to pay dividends. I have suffered from this fault, intermittently, over the past couple of years.

In my case, I have a tendency to pick the club up, rather than keeping it low to the ground in the take away. This results in an over steep, narrow swing and a very deep divot (often before the ball is struck).

This is just an additional point to be aware of.