Ball over heels

Hi, everyone!



I hope you can help me out here.



Like BigdazUk, I have a problem hitting behind the ball on my approach shots, well sometimes I do. The reason I am asking this question in a different thread is that the problem seems to happen most often when the lie I get after my tee shot places my feet below ball. As soon as I walk up and see that I don’t have a flat or nearly flat lie (a common occurrence here in the Philippines), I know I am in serious trouble.



I’ve tried two approaches to remedy this problem. The first is to choke up on the shaft a bit so that the club is shorter and easier to hit. In my mind this should work, since the major problem is the disparity between a normal flat lie and the elevation that ball has relative to my feet on the fairway. Nonetheless, I top the ball nearly every time I do this, with the ball being slammed first into the ground and then jumping out for maybe 25 or 30 feet. This is followed shortly thereafter by my bellows to the trees.



My thinking is that by choking up I’m actually forcing myself to top the ball, when all I really want is to hit it as squarely as I do when the ball is lying flat. For all the common sense I believe I am practicing, it does not work at all.



This failure has lead to my second option, which is to assume my normal stance and then step back away from the ball a bit (anywhere from three to four inches). The only reason I am doing this is that someone who is “in the know” told me this is a good solution to my problem, that and my other solution has not worked at all.



I tried this on a few courses over the last few weeks with my 7 iron and then later with my 5 iron, and I admit that occasionally I did get the ball just right and got the distance I wanted as well. The bad news is that I can easily still hit behind the ball when I do this, in fact, I do this quite often. In essence I have made no real progress, since I can swing as I normally do with the ball above my feet and “get lucky” also. It is a major frustration to say the least to have the same result with two different stances. This only adds to my confusion.



What am I missing here? Choking up seems logical but doesn’t work. Stepping back a bit doesn’t make sense to be honest, but it is the only thing that has had any effect, marginal though it has been and really not that much better than my normal stance.



Lastly, what possible drills could I use at the range for this problem when the range is itself a flat surface?



Any help would be greatly appreciated!



Cheers!

Ball below feet?

Remember that the flight pattern will follow the slope (I'm pretty sure that's props to Greg).

Grip the club normally. The thing I do is to bend my knees more. The other option is to bend more at the waist, but I personally don't like the way this feels, as your weight tends to move out over your toes more.

As you've learned, by choking up, you have to get yourself much closer to the ground than you would have, having played the club at full length. So keep it at full length, add more knee flex, and swing away.

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For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Here is the way I play when the lie is not flat without being too fancy. To me,

Ball above feet (I think this is what you are talking about)-
1) Grip down the club slightly
2) Stand slightly taller and imagine you are hitting the ball off a tall tee and that you must "sweep" the ball.
3) Swing.

For the shot above, the ball will tend to draw so aim more to the right. The more the ball is over your feet, the more it will draw so aim accordingly.

Ball below feet -
1) Grip the club normally
2) AsLowpost mentioned, bend the knees more and feel like you are letting the arms hangdown more.
3) Swing. It is extremely important to keep your head down, otherwise your will definitely hit it thin.

the ball flight is the opposite of ball above feet.

If you thinking its already going to be a fat or a thin shot, then you are most likely going to do that. The most important thing for any golf shot is to imagine what you are going to do.

Thanks for the advice, guys. Sorry if my way of expressing my problem is somewhat confusing. It is perhaps a reflection of my actual confusion.

I tried the knee flex bit yesterday at the Army course here in Makati City. I wanted to see how I would do on various fairway shots, so I only hit a five iron off the tee, leaving me lots of second shot wiggle room for the approach. The knees flexing more worked, or I so I think, with my short irons. Aside from pulling a few right (I’m a lefty), I got good connection and nice loft to the green, even on a couple of tricky lies.

My longer irons were not as fluid. I hit my four and five irons using this method, but I still seemed to hit behind the ball to varying degrees. The good news is that this worked well for my hybrid 4 iron, which I clobbered three times. I have absolutely no idea why, however.

Anyway, I at least feel I have something to try for the 36 holes coming up this weekend. Thanks again.

Cheers!

Isnt the combination of 1 & 2 going to take him too far from the ball, I would have said do one of them, but not both.

I stand further away and have a more flatter/more rounded swing than normal. as you say more of a sweep that hitting down.

I guess it depends on how much the ball is above your feet. With step 1) and 2), adjust how much you do each one depending on how much the ball is above your feet.
The reason why I say do step 2) as well is because you want to feel that your body is going with the lie of the ball.
Everyone has different ways so if only doing step one works, then just do that.

I mean just do one of them, not necessarily the first one.
My preference would be for a flatter swing.