What Should I Focus On To Stop Topping The Golf Ball? (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles
What Should I Focus On To Stop Topping The Golf Ball? (Video) - Lesson by PGA Pro Pete Styles

So here is a question that I get asked fairly regularly, but I wish I got asked this question more. And the question is how do I stop topping the golf ball? And the problem with people not asking me the question is they’ve probably ask their mates the question first. So we’ve all been there you are playing around the golf and you are relatively newcomer to the game and you top the ball down the par five, three or four times in row, scuffing the top of the ball and it runs across the floor, and everyone turns to the maze and says how can I stop doing that? And there is the problem, because the answer coming back will be the wrong answer. 99% of the time; your playing partners will say you lifted your head, how many people have heard that line? You lifted your head and the guy thinks, oh yeah I must have lifted my head because he told me I lifted my head. Therefore they keep their head down more, they keep their head jammed down on the floor and that encourages a whole host of other problems in their swing, and will probably not cause a problem with topping the ball, because topping the ball is very rarely caused by lifting your head. Topping the ball is caused by lifting your chest and lifting your arms, they are the things that control the height of the golf club. Your arms control the height of the golf club simply because you can pull in and that would make you hit the top of the ball and lifting your chest causes the problem because you lift your shoulders and then your arms simply can’t reach the ball.

So from this angle bending my arms is a problem and lifting my chest which lifts my shoulders that’s the problem. And that’s maybe where people see the -- their head lifting, but the problem is you can keep your head down and still lift your chest up at the same time you know my head is down here but my chest is up, so I can still cause my same problem even though I’m desperately trying to keep my head down. The chest is the important thing, the hands and the arms are the important thing. Work on keeping the chest down the hands and arms extended then you will stop topping the golf ball. Here is the simplest and best exercise I could ever give you to stop topping the golf ball. I would like you to take your left foot and place it behind the golf ball, so I have got a white line to help you see this, but place your left foot for right handed golfer behind that white line, and then simply learn to hit that tee peg. To hit that tee peg I can’t possibly do that with my hands bent or my chest lifted I have to keep my arms extended and my head down, my chest down should I say. I really said the wrong thing that I should keep my chest down and my arms extended. By keeping my chest down my arms extended my head instinctively and naturally stays down. I’m not going to lift my head up if I am keeping my chest down, so its chest down arms extended learn to clip that tee peg, you could even pop a ball on the tee peg as well when you hit this it will probably go high and it will probably go to the left hand side for the right handed golfer. Don’t; worry about that as long as you have got good contact on this golf ball you know you’ve stayed down in the right position with the chest and with the arms through the impact area, and that will eradicate your top shots as quickly as possible, good luck with trying that exercise. 2014-08-12

So here is a question that I get asked fairly regularly, but I wish I got asked this question more. And the question is how do I stop topping the golf ball? And the problem with people not asking me the question is they’ve probably ask their mates the question first. So we’ve all been there you are playing around the golf and you are relatively newcomer to the game and you top the ball down the par five, three or four times in row, scuffing the top of the ball and it runs across the floor, and everyone turns to the maze and says how can I stop doing that? And there is the problem, because the answer coming back will be the wrong answer. 99% of the time; your playing partners will say you lifted your head, how many people have heard that line? You lifted your head and the guy thinks, oh yeah I must have lifted my head because he told me I lifted my head. Therefore they keep their head down more, they keep their head jammed down on the floor and that encourages a whole host of other problems in their swing, and will probably not cause a problem with topping the ball, because topping the ball is very rarely caused by lifting your head. Topping the ball is caused by lifting your chest and lifting your arms, they are the things that control the height of the golf club. Your arms control the height of the golf club simply because you can pull in and that would make you hit the top of the ball and lifting your chest causes the problem because you lift your shoulders and then your arms simply can’t reach the ball.

So from this angle bending my arms is a problem and lifting my chest which lifts my shoulders that’s the problem. And that’s maybe where people see the — their head lifting, but the problem is you can keep your head down and still lift your chest up at the same time you know my head is down here but my chest is up, so I can still cause my same problem even though I’m desperately trying to keep my head down. The chest is the important thing, the hands and the arms are the important thing. Work on keeping the chest down the hands and arms extended then you will stop topping the golf ball. Here is the simplest and best exercise I could ever give you to stop topping the golf ball. I would like you to take your left foot and place it behind the golf ball, so I have got a white line to help you see this, but place your left foot for right handed golfer behind that white line, and then simply learn to hit that tee peg.

To hit that tee peg I can’t possibly do that with my hands bent or my chest lifted I have to keep my arms extended and my head down, my chest down should I say. I really said the wrong thing that I should keep my chest down and my arms extended. By keeping my chest down my arms extended my head instinctively and naturally stays down. I’m not going to lift my head up if I am keeping my chest down, so its chest down arms extended learn to clip that tee peg, you could even pop a ball on the tee peg as well when you hit this it will probably go high and it will probably go to the left hand side for the right handed golfer. Don’t; worry about that as long as you have got good contact on this golf ball you know you’ve stayed down in the right position with the chest and with the arms through the impact area, and that will eradicate your top shots as quickly as possible, good luck with trying that exercise.