Hitting behind the ball on pitches and chips

[jhonts]

Hello,
When chipping and pitching the club (90% of the time) hits near or just behind my right big toe. Of course if I move the ball back to line up with the right toe i hit just a little bit behind the ball still. As you can guess it caused skulled or fat shots depending on how well I bounce the club into the back of the ball.
How I set up if it helps. I know it's tough without video.
- Open stance (20-30 degrees open to target)
- Ball just left of right foot
- Club pressed forward a little

Thanks in advance if anyone has some advice.

[jscerbo]

Re: Hitting behind the ball on pitches and chips

The reason for your fat shots are: the ball is positioned too far forward in your stance. This is what happens when the ball is played too far forward. The left wrist breaksdown and the shaft passes the hand. This can cause a thin shot or a fat shot. Most likely you have too much weight on your right foot.

You need to
B-Ball back(off of right foot) You need to play the ball further back
L-Weight on left side You need to place the majority of weight on your left foot
T- Tilt the shaft forward slightly

Performing all of these actions ensures crisp contact.

[Ian Hancock]

Re: Hitting behind the ball on pitches and chips

Hi Jim,

It sound to me like you are doing everything right with the ball position and hands ahead of the ball at address etc,

This could be a simple case of trying to lift the ball (probably with a very tight grip)..........


Now you have the set up try hitting the ball downward towards the ground when chipping and always make sure you accelerate through the ball (slow back faster through), also wait for a second before looking up at where the ball has landed, and remember you must maintain a light grip.




Hope this helps


Ian.

[nanabush]

Re: Hitting behind the ball on pitches and chips

Good info...

But I have one question also.
Usually I am stuck somewhere less than 30 yards into the pin. You talked about stance and I have tried everything. So far this year my stance is the ball is even with my back big toe, I have been skulling it too quite often infact.
Should I put the ball more to the center? Say an inch or 2 off the back big toe?

Is there a shot that you would do (chipping wise) with the ball closer to the front foot?

[ph_kingston]

Re: Hitting behind the ball on pitches and chips

No, for the little chips shots around the green and short pitch shots the ball should always be positioned near your right foot (assuming you're right handed). This doesn't always guarantee that you're not going to either hit it fat or thin but it's certainly going to help. Other things to look out for are:

1) Are you standing too close to the ball? Some people really crowd the ball at address but you've still got to give the club room to swing along a natural path otherwise you'll hit it fat or lift the club and hit it then.

2) Are you staying down on the shot? Like all other shots you've got to stay down through the impact zone otherwise there's a high chance that you catch it thin with far more noticeable results than a full shot.

3) As Ian mentioned, are you hitting down on the shor or trying to scoop the ball up? With a positive stroke downwards you can actually hit these shots quite hard and they'll bounce and grab on the green. With some practice and confidence you'll find that these shots aren't quite so delicate as you maybe first thought.

Hope this helps

Paul

[nanabush]

Re: Hitting behind the ball on pitches and chips

KINGSTON... Thanks...

After reading your post a little more I thought I would go out in the backyard and try a few chip shots. I am a RH golfer and I looked at my stance and the ball was about 2 towards the middle not on the back toe. Then I noticed that I crowded the ball, for some reason I hover over the ball almost like when I putt.

So I tried lining up with the ball right on my toe, enough room for a little swing instead over hovering over and WOW... ... I couldn't frickin believe it...

Out of about 10 balls about 3 were within 3 feet of target about 5 were about 10 feet and 2 went crazy... ( I WAS PEEKING, I couldn't believe it... )

THANKS.....

[kiwi]

Re: Hitting behind the ball on pitches and chips

I agree with Jordy one other thing to add NO head movement swaying or up and down.

[dannyra]

Re: Hitting behind the ball on pitches and chips

I have a lot of the same problems you are. I really make sure that my weight is on my toes on these shots and I have become a lot more consistent.

[Ian Hancock]

Re: Hitting behind the ball on pitches and chips

Guys,
There are only a couple of things that make you hit behind the ball.......

Your hands must lead the clubhead into the shot/chip, if your hands are ahead then it's almost impossible to hit the chip fat/thin.......just try some slow chips keeping the hands ahead using the shoulders only to swing.

The second reason for hitting fat shots is comming to much from the inside, some better players who have mastered the "over the top" action in there full swing and now come from the inside on full shots, if this is exagerated and you now come to much from the inside you will find that your driving is fine but your chipping is poor. Comming to much from the inside when chipping will cause a fat shot.................Try standing facing a wall in your address position and take the club back, if you immeadiatly leave the wall with the club head then you are to much inside, flip side if it feels different/difficult to follow the wall for a couple of feet you are comming to much from the inside.





Hope this helps


Ian.