Hitting behind the ball and no distance w/irons

Hi Group,

Divots behind the ball and when I do hit it there is no distance or fat. I moved the ball back and forward and still cannot consistently hit it sweet or pinch it out by hitting down on the ball.

How do I set up to hit the ball first then the turf? I can do it maybe twice a round so I bail out and try to sweep it or pick it clean that leads to very weak shots. Woods and driver are fine.

Turf buster

Bobby P

straight left arm for right handed golfer, keep the head still, good posture, knee flex,smooth rythem, hands ahead of ball. there are all kinds of things that will cause this but most of the time it comes from casting( look for gregs right hand drill) and not keeping your head still,work on keeping head still take easy 3/4 swings dont wory about distance ( you'll hit it further anyway).good posture back straight chin up balance on middle of feet, the golf swing is a good steady rotation, dont try to kill the ball.

the general rule of thumb, is to set the club head first looking at your target, and then your feet last. However, if you are constantly hitting the ball fat, I think you may have other swing problems. One possibility, is that your swing is steep - i.e. you are lifting the club rather than turning the chest away from the target.

Have you been fitted? If the clubs are too long or heavy, it can result in this happening. I often do it due to swaying and dipping my back shoulder. I was told to look at front of ball with short irons and this has lessened the occurences for me.

I have found that this can be caused by an incorrect wrist cock. When turning on the back swing, if you allow your right elbow to move backwards, you will end up in a position that feels correct, but actually has a cupped left wrist, and a wide open club face at the top. This puts you on a very steep swing path, coming form the outside with an open clubface. The trick is to feel that you hold your right elbow level with your hip as you turn back, the wrists will cock naturally and correctly to a flat left wrist position at the top. Feels strange at first but cures the fat weak shot problem.

Interesting comments chappy. Sounds like advice I could take away with me. Thanks!

Thanks for all the replies. I'm playing this weekend and I'll keep these tips in mind. The wrist cock and cupped left wrist may be the big cause because I'm trying to get more club head speed with and early wrist cock and I can't get the timing right. I'm going back to the basics and try to move through the ball to my left side.

Irons shift the weight more on the left foot and woods/driver stay more even. Right?

Re: The wrist cock question. You are right in that an early set of the wrists will put you on a much better plane and lead to better contact into the ball

However at the risk of repeating myself on the forum and boring everybody then I really do believe this is something that you shouldnt conscioiusly think about

Most amateurs I see dont cock their wrists properly because they grip the club far too tight, have too slow a backswing and are trying to get their arms wrists and hands into certain positions as they go back. This will just kill your swing and also your rythmn

Here's something that may prove this to you

Take a club and hold it tight. Now just turn the shoulders back keeping the arms connected to the chest and that same tight grip and stop halfway back. See how the right arm is straight and the wrists have hardly hinged at all?

Now do the same but with a really light grip. Feel its the shoulders turning the club and the arms/wrists/hands just follow and again stop halfway. Now see how the club has set on end, pointing up to the sky, the club perfectly on plane. Your right elbow is tucked nicely into your right side, theres no disconnection between your arms and body as you havent tried to take the club somewhere with your arms and hands. Now because you have taken all the tension out of the hands/arms/wrists they can work as they are supposed to, as a NATURAL hinge mechanism supporting the turning of the bigger muscles in your backswing.

Now if you merely start hitting some shots with this half swing and really light grip by just turning the shoulders back and through, back and through concentrating on holding the clib lightly you will see how the hinge mechanism works the same through impact as the wrists unhinge when they are supposed to

Its this learning of giving up control of the club to the bigger muscles and removing all tension from the smaller ones that I think is the turning point for many golfers. Once they learn this I think their game improves immeasurably (for all shots inc short game and putting)

Have a go with that half swing, light grip and see how you get on

Hey Pnearn,
Tried your technique and it works. Also I moved through the ball ending up on my left side. So light touch, turn back then swing moving through the ball and finish. I was trying to meet the ball with the perfect club head angle and it locked me up.

Thanks,

bp