One of the most common problems that golfers face when playing or practicing is hitting shots with a low ball flight. The main reason for experiencing low ball flight is that the club head has connected with the golf ball half way up the ball, or higher, rather than at the bottom of the ball.

In order to improve the height that you hit the golf ball, initially let us discuss how the golf club is designed to work, as understanding this will help you swing the golf club more effectively.

Looking at the club head, each golf club has loft, or an angle to the club face and it is this angle being presented back to the ball correctly that forces the ball up the angle and into the air. When you are experiencing low ball flight, either the club head is being incorrectly presented back to the ball because the lowest point of the swing is not at the bottom of the ball but in fact half way up the ball, or the lowest point of the swing is too early and too much to the right of the ball, resulting in the club head making an upward movement toward the ball and connecting part way up.

To achieve the correct height on your golf shots, the club head should reach its lowest point where the ball actually is and at the bottom of the ball, meaning that the club head needs to make a downward movement to the bottom of the ball.

To encourage this downward strike, try the following drill. Place a head cover from your woods to the right of the ball and on the target line (for right handed golfers). Ensure the head cover is just outside your right foot. Hover your club head above the floor so that you do not strike or move the head cover as you swing back and make some practice swings, slowly at first. Swing back above the head cover and then as you swing down, work on striking the floor on the left of the head cover, without striking the head cover. This will move the lowest point of your swing arc to where the ball is and ensure that you are striking down at the ball and allowing the club face to do the work of getting the ball into the air. Once you are striking the floor without striking the head cover, slowly begin to speed your movement up, ensuring that you are still striking the floor and not the head cover, until you are swinging your golf club at full speed. Now try the same exercise but introduce a golf ball and work on hitting the ground where the ball is.

This drill will really improve your ball striking and help you to achieve much higher golf shots, which will give you more length as well!