Gord is right. One of the biggest mistakes a beginner will make is think that the club is designed to help lift the ball up, so you swing thinking that if you help the club do this lifting up thing, it will be even better...when the exact opposite is true. To make the ball go up, you have to hit down on it. Newton’s law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The angle at which the club descends on the ball is the angle that the ball will leave (plus and minus the club being used).

What scares a beginner the most is the feeling of pain in the hands you get in a missed hit...either the ball missing the center of the face shattering the shaft and grip, or the feeling of the club smashing into the ground.

This comes with time hitting the right spot enough times to know how far can you release the club down. Not enough and it is thin, too much and it's fat. There is no way I can tell you exactly how much is too much or not enough. You have to just experience it and remember the feelings.

Simple drills help facilitate this feeling: The short 3-9 drill. Where you take the club to the 3 o'clock position back and only swing it to 9 o'clock. The ball will not go far, but you will be more apt to make good contact and get the positive feedback you will need to begin a fuller swing. Trying to swing full too early and not have the feeling yet will create negative results. Also practice on tees. I know you don't get them on the course, except from the tee box, but this starts at the beginning stages and gets you past this first issue of making solid contact first. Then you can lower the tee a little each time to build on until you won't need it anymore.

Hand position is critical for proper impact: They have to be slightly ahead of the ball...period. Anything less and you will have the club beating the hands to the ball and you have just reduced the mass at impact significantly which results in any miss (ball on face or club on ground) being exaggerated dramatically...F=ma (Force = Mass x Acceleration). If only the club face is being accelerated onto the ball and you do not add the mass of the hands, arms and even some of your shoulders (if you get those around enough), then you are cheating yourself of effortless force. All solved by keeping your hands a little ahead of the ball...very simple thing to a huge problem. It's also the solution to perfect chipping. No more chilly-dipping.