Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro
During this swing tip we are going to have a look at how to cue hitting the ball fat. Hitting the ball fat can occur for a few different reasons, but the main thing that’s happening when you are striking the ground before the ball, is that as you swinging the club back down to the shot, you are releasing the club early. So if you look at the angle that you set your left arm with the club on your backswing, if you are releasing early, you are coming at that position and create more of a straight line with your left arm and the club, so that’s releasing and that shouldn’t happen until you are actually striking the ball. So if you are hitting the ground first, as you are on your downswing, if you are releasing the club early and creating this straight line too early, you’ll have gone into the straight line position which sees the club head its full extension, its full distance away from you. So, now as you swing into the shot, you'll catch the ground early and then make an upward movement into the ball, so you really well hit the ground early, hit a fat shot, so let's look at how to correct that then.
When you are on the driving range, one of the best things you can do to improve this release without even really having to think about it, is set up to your golf ball and then take another golf ball, you place the second golf ball opposite your right foot, you can now start to make swings where you take your take backswing and as you swing down, you are going to work on keeping that angle between the left arm and the club for a lot longer until you get into this position. So this would show that the hands are now opposite the right thigh, but the shaft of the club is horizontal, you haven’t gone to this straight line look yet. Once you've got into this position, so your hands now appear to the left of the ball we’ve popped in the way, I can now drop the club head down, it will clear the first ball but it will strike down and hit the second ball. So start to practice doing this without the ball in initially, hover the club so that you don’t move the ball out of the way in the backswing and then as you swing down work on keeping hold of this angle pulling this angle down and then once you are here, release the club down to hit the floor. So just start to do that, really slowly and gently down to this position then release the club down. So that straight line with a left on the club, shouldn’t occur until you strike the ball.
Once you starting to do that and you feeling more confident just keep the pace up, so that you are starting to make a faster swing and that ball will tell you if you've released early or not. So if you do release a club early you'll see more of it, where you actually catch that first golf ball that would show that you've created your straight line too early, the club heads now low so you'll catch the ball that was in the way and that’s one of the main reason to hitting your fat shots. So try that drill once you starting to strike the ground without hitting the ball opposite your right foot, you can try that at full speed actually hitting the ball, keep the ball opposite the right foot as well, and if you start striking down correctly and releasing the club correctly so you don’t hit the first ball opposite your right foot, you'll start to finally get a much better strike, much more consistency and a lot longer golf shot.
2013-08-09 Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro
During this swing tip we are going to have a look at how to cue hitting the ball fat. Hitting the ball fat can occur for a few different reasons, but the main thing that’s happening when you are striking the ground before the ball, is that as you swinging the club back down to the shot, you are releasing the club early. So if you look at the angle that you set your left arm with the club on your backswing, if you are releasing early, you are coming at that position and create more of a straight line with your left arm and the club, so that’s releasing and that shouldn’t happen until you are actually striking the ball. So if you are hitting the ground first, as you are on your downswing, if you are releasing the club early and creating this straight line too early, you’ll have gone into the straight line position which sees the club head its full extension, its full distance away from you. So, now as you swing into the shot, you'll catch the ground early and then make an upward movement into the ball, so you really well hit the ground early, hit a fat shot, so let's look at how to correct that then.
When you are on the driving range, one of the best things you can do to improve this release without even really having to think about it, is set up to your golf ball and then take another golf ball, you place the second golf ball opposite your right foot, you can now start to make swings where you take your take backswing and as you swing down, you are going to work on keeping that angle between the left arm and the club for a lot longer until you get into this position. So this would show that the hands are now opposite the right thigh, but the shaft of the club is horizontal, you haven’t gone to this straight line look yet. Once you've got into this position, so your hands now appear to the left of the ball we’ve popped in the way, I can now drop the club head down, it will clear the first ball but it will strike down and hit the second ball. So start to practice doing this without the ball in initially, hover the club so that you don’t move the ball out of the way in the backswing and then as you swing down work on keeping hold of this angle pulling this angle down and then once you are here, release the club down to hit the floor. So just start to do that, really slowly and gently down to this position then release the club down. So that straight line with a left on the club, shouldn’t occur until you strike the ball.
Once you starting to do that and you feeling more confident just keep the pace up, so that you are starting to make a faster swing and that ball will tell you if you've released early or not. So if you do release a club early you'll see more of it, where you actually catch that first golf ball that would show that you've created your straight line too early, the club heads now low so you'll catch the ball that was in the way and that’s one of the main reason to hitting your fat shots. So try that drill once you starting to strike the ground without hitting the ball opposite your right foot, you can try that at full speed actually hitting the ball, keep the ball opposite the right foot as well, and if you start striking down correctly and releasing the club correctly so you don’t hit the first ball opposite your right foot, you'll start to finally get a much better strike, much more consistency and a lot longer golf shot.
