So, for many golfers, getting the ball airborne and up into the air is often a bit of a problem. Sometimes they contradict themselves with the actions they’re trying to make and the results they’re trying to see. This problem actually stems from a lot of other sorts where to get the ball up in the air you would hit from underneath. So playing tennis, for example, ball’s in the air, racket’s underneath, you hit up, ball goes in the air. So from a golfing perspective, we want to get the ball up so we feel like we should be here hitting the ball on the way up. But it’s almost impossible to do that because the ball is already on the floor. So with the ball on the ground, I can’t come from underneath without hitting fat shots. So if you’re prone to fat shots on the golf course, just consider whether it’s the misunderstanding of how you’re trying to get the ball up in the air that could be the cause of this.
Now, the feeling in golf is actually you should strike down to help the ball go up. It’s not your job to head it up in the air; that’s the job of the golf club. So as the club impacts the golf ball, it will be traveling in a downwards motion taking a bit of turf after the golf ball and making the ball climb up the face and then spin up into the air. So, taking a nice, short club–I’ve got a pitching wedge here–I’m playing the ball out to the center of my feet. I really want to feel that I’m going to be hitting down into the turf. And as I hit down into the turf, the ball will jump up, certainly resisting the temptation of a feeling to stay behind the ball and help it up into the air and scoop it up, which would clearly result in some fat and heavy shots.
And experiment with this on the driving range. Stand on the range and try and hit this ball as low as possible. It’s almost impossible to hit it low with a pitching wedge. It’s got so much loft, it’s always going to high. But actually the feeling of trying to hit the ball down will, in fact, make the ball just climb higher up into the air, certainly getting a better contact and certainly getting loads and loads of spin on the ball, which is always nice for a good play as well. So the feeling in golf is hit down to make the ball come back up. And I hope that works for you.