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A fat golf shot is a shot where the club head has struck the ground before it has struck the golf ball. When the club head strikes the ground, the speed that it is moving at is transferred into the ground rather than into the golf ball.

By the time the club head gets to the golf ball, it is travelling at a much lower speed and the golf ball will not fly very far and the shot will fail to reach the target as it falls short of the length that is required.

In order to stop hitting fat shots with your short irons, you need to ensure that you have your weight and your body correctly positioned through impact. Fat shots tend to happen when you have too much weight on your back foot, your right foot if you are a right handed golfer, and this causes you to lean back and away from the target through impact. This position can feel like you are going to get the club head under the golf ball and hit the shot really high and height is what you are looking to achieve with a short iron shot. However, leaning back with your weight on your right foot means that your centre of gravity moves to the right of the golf ball. As a result of this, the bottom of your swing arc moves to the right of the golf ball and the club head strikes the ground on the right of the golf ball rather than it striking the ground where the golf ball is for a clean, crisp hit.

To stop hitting fat shots, you need to ensure that your centre of gravity is positioned opposite the golf ball or even slightly to the left of it, so that the bottom of your swing arc is where the ball is, allowing the club head to strike the ball cleanly. To achieve this, you want to set up with slightly more weight on your front foot, your right foot, than usual. To achieve this, position your head slightly to the left of the golf ball and make sure that your hands are also forward of the ball in your address position. To achieve the correct hand position, create a straight line from your left shoulder, down your left arm and then down the shaft of the golf club.

This will get the shaft of the club leaning forwards and slightly towards the target and your hands will be forward of the golf ball. From this position, you should now find that you have more weight on your left foot and that your centre of gravity is opposite the golf ball. Maintain this centre of gravity position as you swing the golf club and you will hit much crisper, cleaner golf shots with your short irons.

If your weight is on your back foot when you hit a shot with your short irons, then your centre of gravity will be too far back behind the golf ball. This is important as the bottom of your swing arc will tend to be opposite your centre of gravity. Putting weight on your back foot will promote you to strike the ground before you strike the ball.

If you lean back away from the target as you strike the golf ball, this can feel like you are going to create more height on the shot and get the ball into the air. However, leaning back moves your centre of gravity to the right of the golf ball and this will result in you striking the ground to the right of the ball, rather than striking the ball first.

If you release the golf club early, you create a straight line between your left arm and the shaft of the golf club before the club head gets to the ball. Releasing the club puts the club head at its maximum length from you and if you do this before the club head is at the ball, the club head will strike the ground before the ball.