Some Quick Fat And Thin Golf Definitions (Video) - by Pete Styles
Some Quick Fat And Thin Golf Definitions (Video) - by Pete Styles

If we're going to investigate this fat and thin chip shot idea, the first thing we've got to consider is exactly what do those shots look like. So this first ball I'm going to set up to hit, I'm going to hit this ball thin. Sometimes we talk about topping to ball or skinning the ball. And basically it's a normal address position. I've got my 54 degree wedge here, which is my sand wedge, but as I'm coming down to hit the ball I'm actually going to focus on hitting above the equator which is the class sort of thin or top shot, and we'll generally see the ball shoot along the floor. Now if that lands on a green that's going to shoot across the other side of the green and go much further than I intended it to do. And actually, if the chip shot had to go over a bunker, that ball wouldn't have gone over the bunker, that ball would've hit the lip of the bunker or the pond, and it would've rolled straight back in, potentially causing further problems.

So thinning the golf ball like that is quite a big issue. And often what we find for a golfer is the more they're worried about the thin shot the more they hit it. They're quite eager to look up to see whether they've got the ball on the green. They're quire tense in their hands and arms, and they get a bit up quick, and then they send the ball straight into the hazard that they were trying to avoid anyway. So it's really important if you are guilty of thinning the golf ball too much that you don't get eager and quick to see where it's gone, but you stay really nicely down on the ball. Conversely to the thin shot, is the next one is going to be the fat shot. Now this could be a golfer who is desperately trying to scoop the ball up on to the green to try and hit the ball high, and they just get down a bit too early. The club hits the ground before it gets to the ball, and when the club does it the ball it doesn't have any power to it. So we often see golfers who fat the ball leaning back, hitting the ground, and the ball doesn't go very far at all. And again, that's probably going to finish short of the green or in the bunker or the pond, and of taking a divot, but it's before the ball. Now the concept of taking a divot on its own is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't want you to put you off from taking a divot, but we must imagine the divot is the ball and then the divot rather than the divot being before the golf ball. That would be the main issue. So as we're striking the ball taking a divot is fine slightly after the ball, but definitely not lifting up and catching it clean. And that would be the fat and the thin chip shots. 2016-10-14

If we're going to investigate this fat and thin chip shot idea, the first thing we've got to consider is exactly what do those shots look like. So this first ball I'm going to set up to hit, I'm going to hit this ball thin. Sometimes we talk about topping to ball or skinning the ball. And basically it's a normal address position. I've got my 54 degree wedge here, which is my sand wedge, but as I'm coming down to hit the ball I'm actually going to focus on hitting above the equator which is the class sort of thin or top shot, and we'll generally see the ball shoot along the floor. Now if that lands on a green that's going to shoot across the other side of the green and go much further than I intended it to do. And actually, if the chip shot had to go over a bunker, that ball wouldn't have gone over the bunker, that ball would've hit the lip of the bunker or the pond, and it would've rolled straight back in, potentially causing further problems.

So thinning the golf ball like that is quite a big issue. And often what we find for a golfer is the more they're worried about the thin shot the more they hit it. They're quite eager to look up to see whether they've got the ball on the green. They're quire tense in their hands and arms, and they get a bit up quick, and then they send the ball straight into the hazard that they were trying to avoid anyway. So it's really important if you are guilty of thinning the golf ball too much that you don't get eager and quick to see where it's gone, but you stay really nicely down on the ball.

Conversely to the thin shot, is the next one is going to be the fat shot. Now this could be a golfer who is desperately trying to scoop the ball up on to the green to try and hit the ball high, and they just get down a bit too early. The club hits the ground before it gets to the ball, and when the club does it the ball it doesn't have any power to it. So we often see golfers who fat the ball leaning back, hitting the ground, and the ball doesn't go very far at all. And again, that's probably going to finish short of the green or in the bunker or the pond, and of taking a divot, but it's before the ball. Now the concept of taking a divot on its own is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't want you to put you off from taking a divot, but we must imagine the divot is the ball and then the divot rather than the divot being before the golf ball. That would be the main issue. So as we're striking the ball taking a divot is fine slightly after the ball, but definitely not lifting up and catching it clean. And that would be the fat and the thin chip shots.