How Senior Golfers can Stop Hitting Topped Golf Shots (Video) - by Dean Butler
How Senior Golfers can Stop Hitting Topped Golf Shots (Video) - by Dean Butler

Right. Okay so what causes topping in golf shots and what indeed is a top. Well, surprise, surprise, a topping the golf ball is where you hit the top of the golf ball and it can be caused by actually coming up and hitting the top of the ball or it can be caused by you hitting down on top of the golf ball. So almost like the two extremes, isn't it? But let's go for a few sort of incidents of what causes the actual topping, a very, very common shot in the back of the golf. First of all, if you tend to grip too tight with your hands, the muscles become very, very tense and what this is going to create, it’s going to create a bit of a lifting action of the ball.

So first of all, if you are guilty of that thinking, so first we do is grip, so let's check that out first of all. Let's just lighten that pressure, so what sort of pressure should we have. Well, it's a bit like the old toothpaste tube, take the cap off, put your hands on, if the toothpaste comes out, you are on your gripping too tight. I really hear you say, yeah really. Grip it light, take that toothpaste tube and the cap off, hold it. How light would you need to grip that, so that nothing came out? Now you have got the idea of the pressure that you should have on a grip now, the golf club. So you don't need to grip it, as if you are hanging on for dear life, just grip it nice and light, okay. So let's assume that, we have got that right, relax those hands and from here, again one of the main reasons for topping the ball is possibly having the ball too far back in the stance. And that would make you swing the club up and hit down on top of the ball. Or if you have got the ball excessively too far forward, it will create a lifting action, because again you are hitting that ball so late, that everything is actually coming up. So, secondly just check that ball position, so we have done the grip, we have done the ball position. Okay, well we will remove that golf ball now, you have gone for the aim, you have gone for the grip, you have gone for the ball position. Now, if you swing the club back and it would be better seeing it this way and you tend to swing the club a little bit up right, that means that you tend to go and swing the club straight. So I can’t see on the camera because my arms have gone and covered my face. If you go up, what goes up, yes you guessed it, it comes down. And we are back into that chopping scenario again, isn’t it, that chopping. So you can see there is all these things and there is lots and lots more, we can actually say. So how do we actually go about curing that top, well, we have already talked about lightning the pressure of your hands, changing that ball position. So within three or four golf shots, you should be able to think right, I had it too far forward I had it too far back. But one of the most common ones is when we come into the hitting area, it is actually keeping the head down too much. If I keep my head down, I end up hitting down on top of the ball. I am squeezing it because by keeping my head down, it's actually making my body drop into the ball. So you can see, there is just another way of topping the shot, so what you're going to do really I think here, is if you go to the practice ground, you can't do this on the golf course. Go to the practice ground, get somebody to video you, mobile phone, go and see the pro ideally, because this is something that he can sort out within half an hour. When you are on your own and you are going through this list, yes you will get there with patience and you know not many golfers have patience. But if you have got patience, focus on what we're pointing out here. And you will be able to eliminate the causes of what that top were, but ideally get somebody to film you, have a mirror in front of you and go through to actually check this that we have talked about. But again there are many reasons why you top the ball. Ideally if it still doesn't work after about a good 30 to 45 minute practice session, then go and see your PGA Pro because he will sort this out for you. 2013-10-28

Right. Okay so what causes topping in golf shots and what indeed is a top. Well, surprise, surprise, a topping the golf ball is where you hit the top of the golf ball and it can be caused by actually coming up and hitting the top of the ball or it can be caused by you hitting down on top of the golf ball. So almost like the two extremes, isn't it? But let's go for a few sort of incidents of what causes the actual topping, a very, very common shot in the back of the golf. First of all, if you tend to grip too tight with your hands, the muscles become very, very tense and what this is going to create, it’s going to create a bit of a lifting action of the ball.

So first of all, if you are guilty of that thinking, so first we do is grip, so let's check that out first of all. Let's just lighten that pressure, so what sort of pressure should we have. Well, it's a bit like the old toothpaste tube, take the cap off, put your hands on, if the toothpaste comes out, you are on your gripping too tight. I really hear you say, yeah really. Grip it light, take that toothpaste tube and the cap off, hold it. How light would you need to grip that, so that nothing came out?

Now you have got the idea of the pressure that you should have on a grip now, the golf club. So you don't need to grip it, as if you are hanging on for dear life, just grip it nice and light, okay. So let's assume that, we have got that right, relax those hands and from here, again one of the main reasons for topping the ball is possibly having the ball too far back in the stance. And that would make you swing the club up and hit down on top of the ball. Or if you have got the ball excessively too far forward, it will create a lifting action, because again you are hitting that ball so late, that everything is actually coming up.

So, secondly just check that ball position, so we have done the grip, we have done the ball position. Okay, well we will remove that golf ball now, you have gone for the aim, you have gone for the grip, you have gone for the ball position. Now, if you swing the club back and it would be better seeing it this way and you tend to swing the club a little bit up right, that means that you tend to go and swing the club straight. So I can’t see on the camera because my arms have gone and covered my face. If you go up, what goes up, yes you guessed it, it comes down. And we are back into that chopping scenario again, isn’t it, that chopping.

So you can see there is all these things and there is lots and lots more, we can actually say. So how do we actually go about curing that top, well, we have already talked about lightning the pressure of your hands, changing that ball position. So within three or four golf shots, you should be able to think right, I had it too far forward I had it too far back. But one of the most common ones is when we come into the hitting area, it is actually keeping the head down too much. If I keep my head down, I end up hitting down on top of the ball.

I am squeezing it because by keeping my head down, it's actually making my body drop into the ball. So you can see, there is just another way of topping the shot, so what you're going to do really I think here, is if you go to the practice ground, you can't do this on the golf course. Go to the practice ground, get somebody to video you, mobile phone, go and see the pro ideally, because this is something that he can sort out within half an hour. When you are on your own and you are going through this list, yes you will get there with patience and you know not many golfers have patience.

But if you have got patience, focus on what we're pointing out here. And you will be able to eliminate the causes of what that top were, but ideally get somebody to film you, have a mirror in front of you and go through to actually check this that we have talked about. But again there are many reasons why you top the ball. Ideally if it still doesn't work after about a good 30 to 45 minute practice session, then go and see your PGA Pro because he will sort this out for you.