Pete Finch – PGA Teaching Pro

So we now know that hitting down on the golf ball is very, very useful as long as we have an appropriate amount of loft. But one of the basic fundamentals of striking down on the golf ball, what do you need to be putting in place to help ensure that you can do this? Now the first thing you need to understand is where your swing arm is bottoming out within your technique. Swing arc is basically just a big circle that the club head takes around the body. If that circle is bottoming out and it has its low point after the ball, that means that the club is travelling down through the points of impact, if you hit the ball first and then the turf; that's when you create a nice, little divot. So first of all we have to run this down the arc, meets the bottom up after the ball, but what do you need to get correct within your body positions, what do you need to get correct within your swing to try and help ensure that strike?

Now first of all during your set up – I've got a 9-iron here and this can change as the ball position changes, but the fundamentals here do remain the same. As you're getting setup, with my 9-iron ball position which is in the center of my stance, my standing position here is pretty much bank over the ball. As I take the club back and I turn fully from the top of the back swing, my weight wants to be shifting off to the left hand side and something that you see with all the very best players is their standing position with the irons will start to shift so it is over and even beyond the golf ball towards the target. What that means is that your angle of attack is increasing; the swing arc is bottoming out even further towards the left foot, so to the top, is that the way you shift left with the hips is moving through the ball and getting that standing position over or even a little bit beyond. The angle of attack then goes downwards and it impacts what you should be seeing is that shaft leaning towards the target, left arm and left wrist nice and firm.

If you're coming into impact and you've managed to shift your way, you've managed to shift your sternum, but your hands are back in the club is in this position, what you are doing is that tell-tale sign of trying to help the ball up into the air. A very quick drill that you can use and a very easy way to see where you are at impact, is getting yourself set up, again you can use a 9-iron for this. It's only taking a little bit of a half swing, so just so the left arm is parallel to the ground, shifting that way through, striking the ball and then holding this finish position. If you can get the shaft nice and straight, you can get the left arm nice and straight, the left wrist nice and straight; that will show that the wrists haven't broken down and you've tried to flick the ball back into the air. So again that set up, only that half swing, stand in position first of all over the ball, then moving through beyond, striking down and through, and then just trying to ensure that if you hit the shot, left arm and shaft are in a nice straight position, and then you're listing out for that ball first and turf contact.