Divots?

[Simon Woo]

I've read some of you guys and gals posting about divots and using that as a gauge if you are swinging correctly? Would appreciate some more info on that, as I am only practising on the driving range currently, mainly with a 7 iron.

I've seen a lot of people hitting the mat when they do their practice swings. Would that have anything to do with the divots? With my 7 iron on the range I try not to hit the mat/floor at all, so is that wrong afterall?

[GregJWillis]

Re: Divots?

You want to be hitting the ball on the decending angle of attack, so the club strikes the ball first, then continues to go lower (just a little) and the divot will start were the ball rested, and continue forward about 2-5 inches (ground softness depending.

[Simon Woo]

Re: Divots?

Thanks Greg. So if I am on the range with playing on a mat, I should feel the club hit the mat with every shot? Right now during those times when I seem to hit a nice square shot (feeling the sweet spot), my club doesn't touch the mat at all :P

[Simon Woo]

Re: Divots?

Thanks Rick for that confirmation. So it was indeed a huge clue when I saw all those people hitting the mats with their practice swings Will definitely try it out later this week - I've realised quite a couple of areas in my swing that need correction, and eager to try them out

BTW, this applies to all irons right?

[Ian Hancock]

Re: Divots?

Hi Simon,

The longer the iron.....smaller the divot because with longer irons the swing plane is shallower.....the further away from you the club head is, the shallower the swing will be.

A good little test on range mats is to take some talcum powder with you sprinkle a little on the mat where you ball is, when you hit the ball you will see the path of the club on the mat.

Good Luck


Ian.

[thr]

Re: Divots?

Hi Simon

I'm not such an accomplished golfer, yet. So someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

I've learned from my own experience that practicing off mats can be a bad idea.

I learned golf practicing off grass, but then after a couple of years changed to a course which used mats on the range.
Pretty soon I developed a bad habit - hitting behind the ball. At least that's what started to happen on the course after a couple of months.

It took me quite some time to realise why I'd begun to hit fat shots.
Practicing on mats was somehow encouraging me to hit fat.
Having been a fairly crisp hitter before I met the mat, it got that I couldn't even drive without taking a divot before the ball sometimes.

Eventually I managed to work out what was wrong.

Here's my theory:


There are two ways that mats can make you hit it fat.

Firstly, if you hit a fat shot on a mat, the club tends to bounce or skid on the surface, and still make a reasonable contact with the ball. So your ball flight will mostly be okay, if a little shorter than normal due to the energy lost in hitting the mat first instead of the ball.
This means that the feedback you're getting from the ball flight could be misleading and telling you that you've made a good shot, when in fact you've hit it fat.
We assimilate what we practice, so over time, you naturally accommodate this into your swing and before you know it, you're swinging the same way on the course, and making fat shots there too.
Only, on the course, a fat shot doesn't produce a decent flight and reasonable length like it does on the mats, it produces a short, erratic flight and mud spattered clothes.

You can try to minimise this effect by listening to the contact of the club with ball. It's difficult when you're in the middle of a swing to hear this, but if you make a swing and instead of concentrating on the swing itself, you listen carefully for the sound of impact, you'll hear a thud-snick when you hit the mat first and then the ball. When you hit the ball first, you'll hear a snick-thud instead, or maybe just a snick.



Secondly, though less influential, is the height of the ball in relation to the height of your feet.
When you stand on turf, your feet naturally sink into the sod a little due to your body weight. Whereas the ball, which weighs very little, won't sink at all and in fact "sits up" on the turf.
This means you're ball is actually a little bit above the level of your feet when playing/practicing on level grass.
But on a mat, your body doesn't really sink at all, so your ball is at the same height as your feet.
So when you practice on a mat, you get used to the ball being a little lower than it is on the course.
But you spend more time practicing than playing, probably. For sure the average golf hits more balls on the range than on the course. So you get used to an unnatural, slightly lower ball position in relation to your body.
And when you get on the course, your swing plane then puts your impact point where you're used to having the ball, which is lower than the ball actually is on the turf.
Actually, it's not the ball which is too high on the course, but your body which is too high on the mat.
To counteract this effect, take plenty of practice swings when you play on the course, concentrating on just clipping the turf, to get the swing plane right.


In summary, either of the above consequences of playing on mats, or both combined, will encourage you to hit fat shots on the course if you're not careful and compensate as indicated.

I'm not saying don't practice on mats - many of us don't have the option of practicing on grass. But you need to take a lot of care that you're hitting the ball first when you do practice on mats, and that you take care that your swing plane is appropriate to the real ball position when you're on the course.



I like to think that this is another example of where functional training is important. That means, practice or training focussed on the activity which you're training for. This sounds obvious, but many people, for example, go to the gym and perform exercises which, while making them fitter or stronger, may not be exercises which will actually help their golf game/swing.

Now I make my practice as close to the real game on the course as possible:

I take my time between practice shots; I vary the shots/clubs I play; I aim for specific targets; I follow my on-course preshot routine; And I always practice off grass when I can.

And if I do have to practice on mats, I take a lot of care about hitting the ball first, and make lots of practice swings the next round I play.

And guess what, now I never hit a fat shot. Well, nearly never.

Hope this helps.
Tom

[Simon Woo]

Re: Divots?

Thanks Tom. It all makes good sense! Too bad all the ranges I go to now all only have mats, and I have personally so far never made a real divot myself yet :P

Will be planning a trip soon to Batam (Indonesian island) and I hear they have some very nice courses there, so that will be my first chance to play on a real course

What exactly is a fat shot? My currents shots that feel good with my 7 iron on the mat are just snicks, no thuds. And that's why I started this thread on divots because I was starting to worry I was missing out on something :P

[thr]

Re: Divots?

Hi,
Indonesia, humm. Nice place, I hear.
So where exactly are you, then?

Anyway, fat shots.
They are shots where you hit the ground (or mat) before the ball.
Why they're called fat, I don't know, but that's the term everyone uses, so that's what I use also. :¬}

From your other thread about hitting the top of the ball, I think you're not having any fat shot problems. But don't imagine that they can't appear. Keep checking occasionally that your not making those thud-clicks on the mats.

So your topping shots, not hitting them fat. Seems that you need to concentrate on not lifting your head, as I mentioned in the other thread.

Could also be instead that you're slightly off balance with too much weight on your heels at address. When addressing the ball, you should have your weight evenly distributed between your toes and heels, and more on the inside of the soles of your feet than the outside. I find it helps to adjust my stance/distance from the ball until I feel my weight under my foot arches.
Another way to think about front-back balance is that it should be no easier for someone to push you forwards from behind than backwards from infront.

If you check your balance like this and take care not to lift your head, then that should stop you topping the ball.

Finally, make sure that the ball is not too far forward in your stance, i.e. too much in front of your left foot, and not too far away from you so that you're having to over stretch.

Tom

[Simon Woo]

Re: Divots?

Hi Tom,

I'm way over here in Singapore Two very nice Indonesian islands nearby are Batam and Bintan, which are each about 45 mins ferry-ride away, and I believe both of them have some nice golf courses

Wow I'm so excited! I managed to hit some pretty decent shots last night at the range. I just realised I have been using a terrible death grip on my clubs all this while, causing blisters and poor distance. Last night I was too tired so I tried a swing where I was hardly gripping the club, and boy did the ball fly! Oh well ok not exactly, but previously I was only able to hit something like 80yds with my 7 iron (and that was by really hurting my body!). But last night, with that relaxed grip and a "brainless" swing of the club, it hit the ball square and it went straight and even up to 100yds! (Sorry distances are estimates because I have to convert from metres to yards heh)

Too bad I was really too tired, and only had like 20 balls left.. Will give me body some time to rest, and hopefully will be able to duplicate those relaxed shots again this Friday. What really surprised me was that I realised I didn't even need to torture my body and hands, but was able to hit much further than before!

I basically tried to keep a few things in mind last night.. Head still, right wrist cupped (waiter style), downswing with the hip instead of hand first... And from there I didn't even have to concentrate so hard on hitting the ball per se, but just let the downswing take care of it!

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