I wanna be a "trapper" not a "sweeper"

Hello all. I am 18 handicapper and frequently play with some single digit handicappers. I tend to sweep the ball with my irons and am certain this leads to my inconsistencies. I want to be able to trap the ball with that "ka-thud" my playing partners hit. Any tips or drills that I can take to the range to help me hit down on the ball and pinch it as opposed to sweeping it?

Thanks in advance!

If you want to be a great striker of the ball then you need to hit it in or very close to the clubs sweetspot, simply hitting "at" the ball will not improve anything.

The ka-thud will be the clubface striking the ball in the centre of the clubface then swinging on to make a divot. Divots do not create ball flight they are only the symptom of a well struck ball with a mid to short iron.

You mention inconsistencies, what are they? I think they may have other causes.

Here is a tip for you....pick a blade of grass an inch in front of the ball and focus on that blade of grass through out your swing. Make sure you get your weight transferred to your left side, swing down through the ball.
golfseeker

Fixed it for ya

You need to swing the Iron at a steeper angle, unlike the sweeping action of a wood on a tee shot. Try during the start of your up-swing, instead of stretching your arms out to form a sweeping upswing, try to pick up the Iron earlier & force it on a steeper swing plane. With your eye fix on the back of the ball, then it is a matter of copying that steep angle on the downswing & hit it.
Try to imagine a " U " shaped swing may help.

Steeper swing is it.

If your clubs are too flat, you may be tempted to sweep instead. Have your clubs checked for lie angle. The test for lie angle is often done with an impact tape under the clubhead to check where the clubhead touches the ground. If it's too flat, it touches at the toe, if it's too upright, it touches at the heel.

Since you may adjust your method to suit the clubs (you sweep instead of hitting down), practice swinging steeper for a while before you have your clubs checked for lie angle. That way, you'll have a good idea of what the clubs can do with the new method and when you check them you'll use the new method instead of the "adjusted" method.

A trick for when you check them is to hold the club in the middle of the grip, not at the extreme end of the grip. Choke down a bit. Choking down will make the lie appear too flat because it effectively shortens the club. Anyway, when your irons are properly adjusted to you, a steeper swing will feel much more natural than it does now and the result will be much better as well.

Brad:
I'm going to play the devil's advocate here.
I'm from Missouri on this topic, which has got
to be one of the most least understood of
all the pro's jargon.
So, first off, is it a worthy goal for a self-confessed
sweeper with an 18 to attempt to go directly into
some kind of mystical tour pro technique? I'm not
sure what's the matter with sweeping, either, if you
do it consistently. But back to trapping.
Jerry Heard described trapping in his privately
distributed "Secrets of the Big Money Players"
(a good book I had but was "borrowed" without
permission and never returned) and even at that,
I defy most golfers to comprehend Jerry's explanation,
such as it was.
You have to "show me" before I'll believe that
the ball is somehow pinched between the ground
and the club, especially with the wedge. This shouldn't
be a problem with todays high speed digital cameras.
At 1600 frames per second, it should be an easy thing
to prove photographically, just as Tiger's video clearly
shows the ball having left the driver before the tee has
traveled one third distance across the sole plate.
Hey, then I'll believe it.
In the first place, in order to pinch the ball, or capture
it between wedge and turf, some downward force above
has to be applied above the equator, I would think. So,
experts, show me where I am wrong.
I think trapping is what the pros call it when they
play the ball back and hit down on it, having an effective
loft of the wedge more like a seven iron. That's what I
think they mean. There might be some ground resistance,
yes, If they can somehow make the ball scoot along the
ground for a millisecond, but, I gotta see it on film.

Hi Ed,

I am repeating something I commented on in another thread so please excuse me if you have read this before.

At impact the ball sits on the clubface for something like half a millisecond, in that time it will be compressed by the massive force placed on it by the clubface. The ball will start to slide on the face and gradually start rolling as it looses friction, at the same time it will spring back into its original shape thus propelling it's self forward. The velocity, loft and direction of blow will determine the spin, speed and angle the ball flies.

If the ball is struck low on the clubface it will fly low and normally fast (Thinned, topped and screamers). If hit high on the clubface it will fly high (skied ).

Now! to the point in question: The ball needs to be hit in the sweetspot to give the most effective ball flight. Off the tee we can hit any shot without hitting the ball into the ground. Longer clubs we want to sweep off the fairway and in doing so we are contacting the sweetspot due to their lower loft contacting the ball (including the putter). Mid to short clubs have more loft that make it impossible to contact the sweetspot while sweeping the ball away, you would hit the ball low on the face creating lower ball flight. What we must do is hit down into the ball with these clubs so that the sweetspot makes contact. We are not pinching or compressing the ball into the turf, that is a misconception, we are compressing the ball on the optimum part of the clubface for that half a millisecond creating the appropriate flight for the loft in use.

To return now to the original question. You should be sweeping the ball with everything lower than a 5 iron, if you are sweeping with mid to short irons check your ball position, sternum position and swing plane.

__________________
Best Regards
Brian

________________________________
Funny o'l game!

Perhaps the term pinch in the other posts is simply a way of describing a well hit shot with the proper club lag. If you let a club get ahead of your hands in a swatting move, you de-loft the club, lose distance and get a sort of weak thump instead of the tha-wack... sorry to make all this sound like a bat-man comic I think a lot of players assume that lag is obtainable by steep swing planes, which robs them of distance.

No matter the club, I try to keep it low to the ground on the way back---increasing the arc, club head speed with the proper club lag will produce the shots that some call pinched shots.

I try to hit all my clubs the exact same way---this in itself has added consistency to my game....

opinions---everyone has one.

__________________
SumoSid
"Moments of Greatness followed by Moments of horror."

I've looked at v1 software with the face on views of grant waite and aaron baddely and others and notice where their hands are centered at address and then at impact. At impact the hands are ahead(toward the target) of where they were at address=At address in front of sternum, at
impact under left arm pit. Maybe this would help.

Brian:
Thanks for that explanation. Now, that
makes sense.
You know as well as I that
many out there, including many who are
knowledgeable, will lead us to believe the
trap shot somehow involves squeezing
the ball between the club and the turf.
For example, search "trap the golf ball
on Google and this is what comes up:

5 Keys to Consistency - tips on being a better golfer Golf Digest - Find Articles

Thanks for all of the input. I suppose there could be an issue of semantics when I use the terms "pinch" and "trap". Sumosid is correct in his assessment that my use of these terms is a description for a well struck ball. I suppose my question really boils down to how to go about hitting down on the ball. I notice that when I am able to hit down on a shot it flies straighter and farther than when I sweep a shot. So I believe that there must be something to hitting the ball then the earth. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking to make huge divots like the pros. I just want some range exercises to get me to hit down on the ball and hopefully improve my game.

Thanks again. This is why I enjoy this forum.

You will get tons of advice on what to practise to get club lag on this site--which is what I think you are asking about. Greg Willis has a great website to reference for practise tips.

4 me, a slight forward press to straighten out my left wrist at the beginning of my backswing helps. (I am a right handed golfer).

Move the ball back in your stance. This will force you to have a steeper swing path.

Set up a drill like this. ....... this is ball one.
..................................... this is ball two.

Strike ball two. After ball two is gone see where your divot is . It should be on the target side of ball one.

Similar to picking out the blade of grass in front of the ball, I was given a little "Tip" by a pro that really helped me become a better ball striker. On the range he had me set the writing on ball facing the target then I had to keep my eyes on the writing throughout the swing so I was focused on the front of the ball. It immediately made a huge difference and I now use it when I'm in any tight lie situation. I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, but If I have a 240+ carry with my three wood, I look at the front of the ball and have much better results than looking at the back of the ball. I hope this helps you to.

Regards,

D J B Z