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[Rick Sides]

Got a question for the group.  I know its not architecture related, but figured one of my fellow golfers my be able to give some help.  My golf game is coming along well, but I still have trouble hitting my irons "fat" My divots are striaght, not too deep either, I just hit behind the ball sometimes.  Any advice will help. Thanks guys

[Sean Leary]

Stop hitting behind the ball...

[Kalen Braley]

Move the ball further back in ur stance? 

[Padraig Dooley]

Hit the small ball before the big ball!!!!!

Seriously, it's not wise to give advice unless the swing can be seen, there are multiple reasons for hitting fat shots.

[JSlonis]

Rick,

There are few common causes of fat shots...

*  Loss of extension/width in the swing.  Usually seen with guys that pick the club up too abruptly in the backswing.  This causes a narrowing of the width in the arms and causes inconsistent contact.  An easy cure for this is to get the club traveling back low and slow in the backswing while maintaining the width between the hands and your body.

*  Lack of proper weight shift in the downswing.  Keeping too much weight on the right foot during the downswing and into impact.  This will cause the club to bottom out too soon or make you "pick" the ball.  Make sure your weight is getting into your left side through impact.

*  Lack of "lag" in the club during the downswing.  Sometimes referred to as "casting".  It's basically a swing in which the club is released too early. I've seen this in a lot of golfers who try to help the ball up in the air instead of letting the club do the work.  The hands need to lead the clubhead into and beyond impact.  This will help the swing shallow out and get the bottom of the swing arc in front of the ball where it belongs.

There is a good book that came out this year by Bobby Clampett that just deals with impact.  It's called the Impact Zone, and it's an easy read that makes a lot of sense.  Basically from all the High Def Slo Mo cameras it's been proven that for the top levels players the most bottom part of the swing occurs 4 inches in front of the golf ball.  This means they are maintaining the proper lag in the club through impact.  This is why good players hit the ball farther with their irons compared to even an average player with the same swing speed.  With the hands leading the club, the loft is decreased slightly through impact.  You'll see just the opposite in the average player, the clubhead gets past the hands which adds loft and moves the swing bottom more toward the ball instead of 3-4 inches in front.  This leads to "fat" shots.

Hope this helps!

Jamie

[Padraig Dooley]

Rick,

There is a good book that came out this year by Bobby Clampett that just deals with impact.  It's called the Impact Zone, and it's an easy read that makes a lot of sense.  Basically from all the High Def Slo Mo cameras it's been proven that for the top levels players the most bottom part of the swing occurs 4 inches in front of the golf ball.  This means they are maintaining the proper lag in the club through impact. 

Jamie, nothing like a bit of medicine from 'The Golfing Machine' to cure golfing ills!!!

So for example Rick, if you hold a club with a flat left wrist which in tandem gives a bent right wrist and then start to unbend the right wrist, the clubhead moves further from the body, which when related to impact means the clubhead goes further into the ground, ie keeping the right wrist bent makes it difficult to hit the ball fat.

[Mike Benham]

Like this ?

[Padraig Dooley]

Or like this?

[JSlonis]

Padraig,

No doubt.  There is a lot of knowledge in the "Yellow Book". 

My dad bought me that book when I was a freshman in high school.  He obviously didn't open it up prior to buying it.

I remember first looking at it and trying to decifer just a few things, but at that age, it was a hopeless venture. Thankfully there are a lot of great instructors who have broken down the Golfing Machine and made it more accessable to players to understand.

[JSlonis]

Tiger at impact...

[Alex Miller]

A good drill i do is to set up with the ball about 6 inches outside your left foot. Try to hit the ball clean and with a draw! Seriously, this WORKS

[Kenny Baer]

That impact position by Tiger is amazing; look at that shaft lean, wow. 

I am of the belief that the difference between all scratch and + handicap/pro golfers and everyone else is the lean, how far your hands are in front of the ball at impact.  Even very good players, 2-5 handicaps, have less than 1/2 of that shaft tilt.  The lesser the player the less his hands will be in front of the ball at impact.

Any pros care to comment on that?  What is you guys opinion? 

As far as how to avoid hitting it fat; what has helped me is to picture turning in a barrel without changing my head position.  Tiger obviously has a great swing but he has a head dip that would cause most of us problems.  Think about trying to maintain your head position throughout the swing.  That is the easiest cure but there are many reasons for hitting it fat.   


Why thinking about keeping my head position the same throughout the swing has helped me hit it more solid is common sense; if your club is addressed in the right position at address then if you don't change the position (up or down) of your upper body then the club should return to the same point at impact.  

[Dick Kirkpatrick]

Instead of looking at the back of the ball, look at a spot just in front of the ball at address.

[Mike Benham]

Tiger obviously has a great swing but he has a head dip that would cause most of us problems. 

On The Tiger Channel the other night, they had a recap of the 2001 Masters and Tiger's swing was controlled, free and easy as compared to his current swing which seems to be less so ...

I think his 2001 swing was just fine the way it was ...

[Rick Sides]

Alex M,

Do you mean that you put the ball six inches in front of your left foot?

[Rick Sides]

JSlonis,
Thanks for the advice.  Great picture of Tiger! Tell Mike Quick , Rick from Little Mill says hello.  We will have to have you come out to Little Mill and play sometime.

[Bill Brightly]

Kenny.

I have been fooling around trying to hit my irons with my hands ahead of the ball and I REALLY like it! The ball jumps off the club face! Need to practice it some more, but I think it will add a club and I seem to hit it MUCH straighter.

Do you think it works on the driver? That is one club I fel you have to release the head "with the hands" if u know what I mean.

[Kenny Baer]

Mike,

I saw the same thing; why he would ever want to change that swing who knows.  The first time I really noticed his head dip was at that seasons next major, the 2001 US Open at Southern Hills.  01,98, and 04  were my favorite Masters.

Bill,

I do not see how it could hurt; a buddy of mine went from about a 4 to a 0 handicap by only hitting half shots and making sure his hands were leading the club through impact.  What you say is true but your swing will naturally adjust; getting in the proper impact position with your shorter irons will only help your entire game, especially your chipping.  It is true that with your driver your hands are not quite as far ahead of the ball at impact but with really good players they are still slightly ahead, even with a driver.

[Alex Miller]

Rick,

Yes I do. Practice with it there and try to hit a draw, you'll have to get your weight shifting forward as has been talked about without coming over the top. Only practice with this, then move it back to normal ball position and put a good swing on it. You'd be suprised how much this helps.

[Bill Brightly]

 a buddy of mine went from about a 4 to a 0 handicap by only hitting half shots and making sure his hands were leading the club through impact. 

As a 4 Handicap myself, I am liking the sound of that!!! Can't wait for 2010!

[Will MacEwen]

If you can practice out of a fairway bunker that may help.  No tolerance for fats.

[Bob_Huntley]

Bobby Clampett's Impact School is having a session this month at Quail Lodge Golf Course in Carmel Valley. I was out there a couple of months ago and Bobby had me try his method. It is the Golf Machine and  Ben Doyle to the ultimate and when practised properly is an eye opener.

I tried an experiment and deliberately focused on a blade of grass inches in FRONT of the ball and was amazed at the results.  Was never succesful in taking it to the course however, but that is just me.

Bob

[Kevin_Reilly]

As with any swing flaw, there is a training aid to fix it...this one is good:

http://tourstriker.com/

[TEPaul]

"The fat shot."


That question has probably concerned me and confounded me more than any other single aspect to do with the dynamics of the golf swing. It is also one of the reasons I have always so much admired Tom Watson and his golf game (and swing) over the years----eg he is total "sweeper"---seems to have never really taken much of a divot with any of his shots (I guess unless he actually tried to or meant to).

On the other hand, although Watson is a remarkably smart guy, there did come a time in his career when he was at the top of the game and for some reason he figured (or so he said) he had gotten to the point where it would be possible for him to essentially hit every shot perfectly.

From that point on Watson's career peaked and things started to go downhill for him and his game.

[Kevin_Reilly]

That question has probably concerned me and confounded me more than any other single aspect to do with the dynamics of the golf swing. It is also one of the reasons I have always so much admired Tom Watson and his golf game (and swing) over the years----eg he is total "sweeper"---seems to have never really taken much of a divot with any of his shots (I guess unless he actually tried to or meant to).

Exhibit 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-4UEn5q0R4

On the other hand, although Watson is a remarkably smart guy, there did come a time in his career when he was at the top of the game and for some reason he figured (or so he said) he had gotten to the point where it would be possible for him to essentially hit every shot perfectly.  From that point on Watson's career peaked and things started to go downhill for him and his game.

He actually now says he found the "secret" in 1992 at 3:15 pm one afternoon at Harbour Town.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6cntSpVbZo

[Tommy Williamsen]

I practice 60 degree wedges off hard pan.  After a couple of hours you get really good.   Where I have the most trouble is on wet ground where the ball settles down a tad.  I have a good short game but the shot from 20 yards in on wet soggy ground baffles me, no matter what club I hit.