If you’re struggling with poor contacts on the golf ball and the ball is not flying as you would like it to, just consider the type of contact you’re getting. Are you hitting too high on top of the ball or are you hitting too much ground before the golf ball or are you getting both? A lot of people get a fat short and then a thin short, so the first one they hit fat, the second one they hit thin. The confusion then can then be, “Well how do I get the middle?

Because they felt the same in one hit here and one hit over the top for the ball. Where is that middle ground to get me with a good strike. And often the fat and the thin shorts can be caused by similar faults. The main problem, leaning too far back with the body weight, scooping with the hands or having the ball too far forwards, effectively all cause the same thing. They cause a swing that bottoms out before it gets to the ball, then it’s on its way up.

So if I bottom up before I get to the ball and I actually hit the ground, there’s your fat shot. If I bottom up then don’t hit the ground, then is on a rising arc and I hit the top of the ball, so I get one fat short and thin short but both from the same faults. The key to this is to check your ball position is more central, your hands are more ahead, and the ball strike is more downwards, then it’s okay to hit the ground because you are going to hit the ground after the golf ball. So if your ball strike is ball and then turf, hitting the ground will be a positive thing. So focus on the fact you are not leaning back trying to scoop the ball up. That can cause fats and thins. Taking the ground is fine as long as it’s after the golf ball.