When a professional golfer has the opportunity to hit a wedge shot into a green, he or she is sure to see that shot as an opportunity.

With proper execution, the ball can be placed close to the hole, and a short birdie putt will be created. If you give a professional golfer a handful of wedge approach shots during a round, it’s likely that a few of them are going to turn into birdies.

Of course, the story is a little different when talking about the amateur game. For an amateur golfer, a wedge shot might feel like an opportunity – or it might feel like trouble. If you aren’t confident in your ability to strike wedge shots cleanly with a full swing, you’ll come to dread these situations when they arise. It is rather common for amateur golfers to struggle with fat or heavy wedge shots, which means the club hits the turf before hitting the ball. If you deal with this problem in your own game, you already know that hitting the ball fat is going to cause your shot to come up well short of the target. Improving your wedge play so you can hit the ball the right distance should be one of your top priorities as a golfer.

In this article, we are going to offer a number of pieces of advice, all with the same goal in mind – to help you strike clean wedge shots. Hitting the ball heavy time after time is incredibly frustrating, and it might even take away some of your enjoyment of this game. We are going to cover both full swing wedge shots and chip/pitch shots, as fat contact can be a problem in either area. By the end of the article, we hope you have all the information you need to get to work on eliminating this issue from your play once and for all.

It should be noted that all golfers hit some fat shots. When we say that you can ‘eliminate’ this problem, we mean that you can remove the pattern of hitting fat shots over and over again. As long as you play this game, you’ll always catch one or two shots fat along the way. That’s just part of golf, and that’s fine. Don’t be too hard on yourself if you happen to hit one or two shots fat during an otherwise solid round. It’s only when this issue becomes consistent that you should take action and work to find a solution.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

Three Possible Causes

It’s easy to feel lost when you keep hitting your wedge shots fat over and over again. You feel like you are going to hit a good shot, you pick out your target carefully, you make the swing – and once again, you hit the turf before the ball. Golf is known to be a frustrating game and continuing to hit fat wedge shots can certainly contribute to that reputation.

The first step to get back on track with your game is to figure out exactly what you are hitting the turf before the ball. What is going wrong? It’s virtually impossible to fix this problem if you don’t understand it. Take a moment to read through the list below, which contains three possible causes of fat shots.

• The slide. We are going to start with this point because it is one of the most common issues in the amateur game. By ‘the slide’, we mean a lateral slide away from the target during the backswing. Rather than rotating your body away from the target as you swing up to the top, you will slide to the right and move your center of gravity at the same time. This is a major problem, and one from which you might not be able to recover. If you slide during the backswing, you’ll arrive at the top with your body badly out of position. You are going to be too far to the right and your weight is going to be stacked on top of your right foot. Instead of rotating to the left in order to swing down toward impact, you’ll have to slide left in an effort to get back over the ball. Most of the time, this is not going to be successful, and you’ll hit the shot fat. Even if you do manage to slide back into position, your contact will be weak because you won’t have rotated properly. Simply put, if you are going to get rid of the tendency to hit fat wedge shots, you have to stop sliding. The golf swing is a rotational motion, and any lateral motion which takes place is simply a by-product of your rotation. The slide usually starts as soon as the club goes in motion, so pay particular attention to the way your body works in the first six inches of the swing. If you can make it through the takeaway without sliding, you’ll be well on your way to a successful swing.
• Giving up on the swing. This is another point which is extremely common in the amateur game. When you give up on the swing, you don’t move aggressively through the ball all the way into the finish. Instead, you slow down as impact approaches, trying to guide the ball up toward the target. In the moment, this might feel like the right thing to do. However, by trying to steer your shot, you’ll lose swing speed and you may not get to the ball before you hit the turf. Even with a wedge, you need to swing through to a full finish, just like you would with any other club. Don’t think of the golf ball as being the finish line for your swing – rather, it is just a point along the way. When you do a good job of swinging through to a full and balanced finish, you will stand a much better chance of making clean contact.
• Overactive hands. Many amateur golfers use their hands too actively in their golf swings. This can lead to a long list of issues, including the inability to strike the ball cleanly at the bottom of the swing. While your hands do have a role to play in the golf swing, that role should not be a particularly active one. Instead, your hands should be quiet and passive for most of the swing while your big muscles drive the turning action. Specifically, you want your shoulders to lead the way in the backswing and your hips to lead the way in the downswing. Where you’ll get into trouble with fat shots is when your hands are too active during the downswing as the club is approaching the ball. Ideally, you would hold onto the angle between your left arm and the shaft of the club for as long as possible, resisting the temptation to release the club prematurely. If you give in to that temptation and let your right hand fire the club toward impact, you might wind up with a fat shot. To work around this issue, think about pulling the butt end of the club down toward the ball for as long as possible. At some point, you will need to use your hands to release the club into impact, but that point should be delayed deep into the downswing, so you don’t wind up with heavy contact.

As you might imagine, there are many other potential causes of fat contact that may be plaguing your game. The list above is simply a starting point, but it is a useful list because it contains three of the common issues that lead golfers to hit heavy wedges. While working on your own game, keep these points in mind and decide if any of them pertain to you specifically.

Three Possible Fixes

At this point, we’ve talked enough about what can go wrong in your golf swing. Now, we need to shift gears and talk about how you can fix your problems in order to hit better wedge shots. As a golfer, you know that progress is unlikely to come quickly – but that doesn’t mean it will never come at all. Be patient, work hard, and look forward to playing better wedge shots at some point down the line.

The three points below highlight some possible fixes that you can consider if you are trying to get away from hitting your wedge shots fat. Of course, any change you do make to your golf swing needs to be made within the context of your current technique. In other words, don’t try to fix a lateral slide if you aren’t actually sliding from side to side in the first place. Only make changes that actually address current problems in your game.

• Add flex to your knees at address. One of the best ways to work on getting rid of the slide in your backswing is to increase your knee flex at address. By settling down deeper in your stance, you will be more likely to rotate and less likely to slide away from the target. This is not an automatic fix, of course, as it is still possible to slide even with plenty of knee flex. However, using sufficient knee flex is going to help you feel grounded and balanced, and you’ll be more likely to turn nicely as a result. It won’t be as easy to sway to the right, so you will be less inclined to do so. It should be noted that this doesn’t have to be a dramatic change – even adding just a bit of knee flex can go a long way.
• Move the ball back in your stance. This potential fix doesn’t actually have anything to do with your swing technique. Rather, it is all about where you place the ball in your stance before making a swing. If the ball is too far forward, even a good swing is going to result in fat contact – you just won’t be able to reach the ball comfortably at the bottom of the swing. By moving it back, you’ll have an easier time reaching the ball without having to make some sort of compensating move, like sliding your body to the left. It does need to be noted that you shouldn’t place the ball much behind the middle of your stance, if at all. When the ball gets too far back, your swing will get quite steep and you’ll run into a whole new set of problems. For most players, lining up with the ball perfectly in the middle of the stance is going to be the best option. That will let you hit down nicely without having to reach awkwardly at impact.
• Try to hit the ball lower. When you think about hitting wedge approach shots, your first instinct might be to hit the ball as high up into the air as possible. Unfortunately, that is often not the best plan of attack. When you hit the ball high, you will make it harder to control your distance, and you will bring wind into the equation. Most pro golfers prefer to play their wedge shots lower to the ground, and you should consider this option as well. Not only will you gain the benefits of reduced wind impact and easier distance control, you may also find it easier to make clean contact. Sometimes, hitting the ball fat is a result of nothing more than leaning back a bit at impact, trying to hoist the ball high into the sky. By thinking about a lower trajectory, the temptation to lean back should go away, and your ball striking should improve.

The right fix for your game is going to be the one which directly addresses the problems you are having in your swing. It may take some time and experimentation to find the right correction, but you’ll get there if you stick with it.

A Simple Drill

It’s good to read golf instruction on something that is giving you trouble, liking hitting fat wedge shots, but sometimes what you really need is a drill to get you on track. In this section, we are going to outline a drill which is easy to use and will hopefully help you dramatically reduce the number of fat shots you hit from round to round.

If you would like to work through this drill during your next practice session, follow the step-by-step directions below.

• For this drill, you will need to be at a driving range with a grass hitting area. There is nothing wrong with practicing at a range with artificial mats when that is what’s available, but this drill won’t work without grass. Also, you will need at least one of your wedges, a standard wood golf tee, and some practice balls.
• The setup for this drill starts the same as any other shot you hit during practice or on the course – by picking a target. Select a target somewhere out on the range which is within comfortable reach of the wedge you have decided to use. Golf is a target-based game and you should never miss an opportunity to sharpen your skills with regard to hitting targets.
• Now that you have your target selected, there is one more step to complete before you can hit your first shot. Take your stance and line up with the ball exactly where you would like to have it for your swing. Then, before making your swing, reach down and push your golf tee into the ground behind your club head. Push the tee all the way into the ground so the top is flush with the top of the turf. Now, as you look down from address, you should see the following from left to right – ball, club, tee. Once you have achieved this setup, you are ready to make a swing.
• The idea here is to swing down into the ball in such a way that you leave the tee alone while making crisp contact at impact. If you hit the shot fat by any significant margin, you are going to dig the tee out of the turf. Simply by having the visual aid of the tee behind the ball to help you understand how to hit down properly, you should be able to make progress.
• Hit as many shots as you would like with this setup before going back to your normal practice routine. Even when you have stopped placing the tee behind the ball, be sure to keep what you have learned in mind, both during practice and out on the course.

This is an easy drill to use, and it is one that you can return to time after time when you need to sharpen up your wedge ball striking.

Fat Chip and Pitch Shots

At this point, we are going to leave the topic of the full swing and talk instead about chip and pitch shots. It may be even more common for amateurs to hit these shots fat than their full shots, so this is certainly a topic worthy of our attention. If you are struggling to hit your chip and pitch shots cleanly at the moment, you already know how quickly the strokes can add up when you have trouble in this part of the game.

Some fat chip and pitch shots are caused by poor technique, but just as many are caused by poor thinking and pre-shot planning. Let’s walk through some of the common issues and how you may be able to correct them.

• Trying to help the ball into the air. Perhaps the leading cause of fat chip shots in the game of golf is trying to help the ball up into the air, rather than letting the loft of the club do the work. This is a mental mistake which will manifest as a physical mistake. When you try to help the ball get airborne, it’s likely that your right hand will become too active leading into impact, in an effort to add loft to the club and scoop the ball off the ground. This makes fat contact very likely. Do your best to resist this temptation and simply trust that the loft of the club will allow the ball to get off the ground without any trouble.
• Early head movement. You probably aren’t surprised to see this one on the list. One of the first tips that you hear when you get started in this game is that you need to keep your head still as the club moves through the hitting area. It is particularly tempting to move your head when chipping, as you are going to be anxious to look up and see where the ball is going. Fight this urge and keep your head still so you can improve your chances of a clean strike.
• Lack of confidence. Sometimes, fat chip shots are a self-fulfilling prophecy. You are standing over the ball worried about hitting it fat, so that’s exactly what you do. This is where quality practice sessions can come in handy. During practice, there is less pressure to perform, so you’ll probably hit more quality shots. As you rack up those quality shots and positive memories, your confidence will slowly grow. At some point, you’ll start to believe in your ability to chip well, and those lingering doubts about fat shots will fade away.

It’s no fun to hit the ball fat time after time. We hope that the tips in this article will set you on the right path, and you’ll be able to leave your struggles behind in this area of the game. Everything you accomplish in this game is built on hard work and persistence, so be sure to focus on correcting this error as part of your practice routine. Good luck!

The fat shot, the fat pitch shot, the one that when’ve you hit a great shot and you're about 50 yards away from the green and you end up fatting it and it goes no distance at all, you get down on yourself, you get really annoyed and you end up just 'it's so annoying and frustrated with the shot'. Don’t be! Let me give you some really easy drills to get you hitting the ball straight out in the middle of the golf club and striking it better, cleaner, making sure that when you hit the ball, you hit the ball first in the turf, just beyond. Why people fat the short wedges, it's because it’s a temptation to lift the golf ball up in the air. So you can see that as I hit, my body is almost leaning backwards and every single time when I will hit three or four inches if not further behind the golf ball. And it’s a way of getting higher and you think I've got to get it up there and how do I get it up there, I’ve got to lean back and scoop. You really don’t. The golf clubs are designed with lofts for a purpose; you don’t have to get the golf ball up in the air. The loft of the golf club will do it. You know I've heard the slogan, let the club do the work, there's nothing ever true when you come to this shot right here.

So when you set up, the first thing – a couple of things that are involved make sure you get your ball position spot on. So you want to get the ball smack bang in the middle of your feet. And if you just use a couple of balls to indicate that, put one on your left, out one on your right side, stand back and just make sure that smack bang in the middle so it's not closest to one or the other. The tendency is to play the ball a little bit too far back in the stance, so kind of playing it back here, and what ends up doing is I'm trying to get behind it still trying to lift it up, so just play it smack bang in the middle where you stand that’s the perfect way to do it. From there we are looking at not leaning the club back when we are coming to hit, so you end up flicking or leaning the club back, but just gently leaning the golf club forward as you are coming to hit to shot. So you are looking at getting that forward shuffling to do that.

A good example of that, I've this kind of made up training club here which is an extra long club. If I've got – I just run it down my left hand side at the moment. When I hit the shot, I don’t want the extra long grip to whack me in the side. So I don’t want to do that. So I'm going to practice making sure that I hit without flicking the wrists and hitting myself in the stomach which is not a pleasant feeling and I want you to imagine you doing this when you are on the golf course.

The ball's positions smack bang in the middle. I'm just going to pitch this to 50 yards and not let the extra long piece of the club smack me in the sides. So let’s give that a go. Oh perfect! And there I didn’t strike far I hit it perfectly clean, I hit the ball first, the turf after and on scave, I've not been smacked by the golf club. Practice that with a – no not sure on the club you can practice, but almost holding your driver in, just playing that feeling, trying to get that feeling of not clipping your side, but most importantly lean the shaft forward and do not try and get the golf ball up in the air, hit it low for your best results.