Divot Problems

[Adnan Bashir]

i have been hitting the ball nicely but dont seem to get the divot right, most of the times no divot at all, so there is not much distance, and the feel of the shot is not great, anyone here knows how to hit a good divot ?

[GoNavy]

Re: Divot Problems

Making a divot is simply a byproduct of making a descending blow on the ball with your hands ahead of the club head, this is usually produced by a correct swing. My guess is you are flipping your hands through impact, thereby clipping the ball at the bottom of your swing (hands will usually be even with or behind the clubhead at impact). This is also the reason divots usually only occur with mid/short irons, swing is more upright, because they are shorter, and you are standing closer to the ball, and the ball is played towards the middle of your stance. Long irons, fairway woods are more of a sweeping hit, still not flipping, just played further forward in your stance to allow them to be hit at the bottom of the arc. Drivers are played slightly more forward to allow a slightly upward hit, the arc bottoms out behind the ball, without hitting the ground, hence, why it is on a tee.

The best way to stop flipping is to think of the shaft (handle end) leaning foward at impact, this will compress the ball into the ground, thereby putting backspin on the ball and making it get airborn. Golf is a strange game, gotta hit down to make it go up.

If you look at your clubs, they are designed with different lofts. What most new golfers don't realize, these lofts are based on the club being soled correctly, a PW requires a forward lean on the shaft, set them up on a table and see for your self, all the irons require this leaning for the lofts to be correct and to be hit correctly, a 6 irons just doesn't require as much lean as a 9 iron. So let say you hit a PW with 56 degree of loft, if you hit it with your hands even with the ball (no shaft lean, club is straight up/down) you basically just added a whole bunch of loft, much more then 56 degrees, and you didn't compress the ball, so your not getting backspin. That is why they don't feel good, or why it doesn't fly very far.

[james.welsh]

Re: Divot Problems

Everything GoNavy says is EXACTLY what my pro tells me every time I'm at the golf school.

The club is a tool designed to do a specific task. If you hold a hammer incorrectly you won't be able to drive the nail in as easily. Same with a golf club.

[Adnan Bashir]

Re: Divot Problems

Thanks a lot gentlemen, i tried yesterday to take it easy and treat each club to its designated and fair loft, the results were pretty good. however, there were other problems that i experienced yesterday, basically with line, but probably i was concentrating too much on the swing than on the line. i am sure i will get it right coming weekend. Another problem that i have been facing a lot is looking up before hitting the ball which really spoils the impact, or too much bending down on the ball so you hit behind the ball and basically duff it. I believe i need to work on my back swing a lot cuz i am going back too fast, so on the downswing, my body and head are not stable becuase of the speed. Can you please advise some sort of exercise or practice that needs to be done to get rid of this menace??

[GreeBoman]

Re: Divot Problems

TI believe i need to work on my back swing a lot cuz i am going back too fast,

look at it this way, no matter how fast or slow you swing back you *have* to stop because you are changing direction with the downswing.
The backswing is just there to setup the swing, technically you could walk up to the ball "pre-set" and just swing down.
Use a slower backswing to get yourself setup correctly, then accelerate away through the ball with your hands leaving the clubhead behind like a whip tip.

[GoNavy]

Re: Divot Problems

Too slow down your backswing, try to match it up with your weight shift, think of the weight as opposed to the club, move it slowly, but don't get flat footed, keep the weight on the onside of the right foot (instep), this will slow down the intial move away from the ball, which sets the pace of the swing, same on the downswing just move the weight a little faster, start down when you feel the weight moving. Body movement in caused mainly by being out of balance. Your body is going to do what it needs to do, to keep you from falling down. Your body has spent it's entire like trying to stay on it's feet, it does it quite well without you having to pay much attention to it. Swinging a golf club is a new addition to this balancing act, it well take time to learn, but eventually like walking, you won't have to think about it.

[GizzaJob]

Re: Divot Problems

All together now. "You've got to hit down on the ball, down on the ball, you want to hit down on the ball, if you want to make the ball go up, you've got to hit down on the ball". And that'll give you tidy divots too. Of course no divots mean that you're not hitting down on the ball. You're right about your diagnosis, and when you see them thar divots you'll see some much better shots.

I've been struggling with my divots all pointing to the left. Think I've ironed it out by concentrating on rotating my wrists, and setting up for a draw. Doesn't seem to work with my Driver though, but I think that's more about ball position on my drives, which I have positioned slightly left of my left big toe.

[BrianW]

Re: Divot Problems

All together now. "You've got to hit down on the ball, down on the ball, you want to hit down on the ball, if you want to make the ball go up, you've got to hit down on the ball". And that'll give you tidy divots too. Of course no divots mean that you're not hitting down on the ball. You're right about your diagnosis, and when you see them thar divots you'll see some much better shots.

I've been struggling with my divots all pointing to the left. Think I've ironed it out by concentrating on rotating my wrists, and setting up for a draw. Doesn't seem to work with my Driver though, but I think that's more about ball position on my drives, which I have positioned slightly left of my left big toe.

Your left facing divots will be caused by you hitting on an out to in swingpath, this should be causing slices or hooks depending how you close the clubface at impact.

I would suggest you work on getting a more in to out swing (If you need any help with that then please let me know). Try placing the ball further back in line with your left armpit.

[GizzaJob]

Re: Divot Problems

Your left facing divots will be caused by you hitting on an out to in swingpath, this should be causing slices or hooks depending how you close the clubface at impact.

Spot on with the diagnosis .

I would suggest you work on getting a more in to out swing (If you need any help with that then please let me know). Try placing the ball further back in line with your left armpit.

When I try a more in to out swing. Aha. I've started s*******g it! O borrocks! But I'll continue until I get it right, because when I does(about 1 in 10, 2 s****s, and 7 in between) it goes miles. Appreciate the offer. Hopefully I'll get it right soon.