Why do I Thin the Golf Ball (Video) - by Rick Shiels
Why do I Thin the Golf Ball (Video) - by Rick Shiels

Oh, the thin shot, the one that comes right off the bottom edge of the golf club. It’s not a shot you want to hit on cold day because it hurts the hands a lot. I’m going to tell you why you thin the golf ball today; give you a couple of easy drills to help you fix that and stop you form hitting the middle of the ball and hurt your hands. Couple of things first is ball position. This is the ball position drill that’s going to help you -- when you practice, make sure you have got the right ball position as you set up.

So with the mid-iron and you want this in the – just in front of the middle of your stance. So a lot of players might play this too far forward, therefore hitting a bit too much on the way up, therefore catching that bottom edge of the golf club. So this is one of the ways that you can stop that. If you place the ball down at the moment, you might not know where your ball position is because it’s hard to figure out. Once you set-up, what I’d like you to do when you feel comfortable over there, if you just get two golf balls, put one on your left toe, one on your right toe and just step behind it and work out where – which golf ball, this one’s closest to. Now I can see just from here, this one just edges it, just slightly close as that ball position is just in front of the center where I want it for mid-iron.

If it was back here you’d be able to recognize that’s too close to the right ball, that’s too far back in my stance. We tend to want to look for a pitching wedge and sand wedge in the middle of your stance, driver practically just inside that golf ball and each golf club -- you go open in a set, just ever so slightly goes closer to your left foot. So you’re pitching way sand wedge nine, eight seven, six, five, four, three, three wood driver.

So once you have done that, the next thing is think about striking beyond the golf ball more. So you should hit the floor and you should hit the floor just beyond the ball. So once you have set up and you’ve got your ball position in just in front – center with the seven irons, I want to feel like you are striking here, almost past the golf ball. Commit to it, be confident I want you to just hit the ball first, the turf after and strike it pain free. That came right out the middle there was no vibration of the golf club at all. That’s how you stop thinning the golf ball and striking the golf ball an awful lot better.

 2013-06-26

Oh, the thin shot, the one that comes right off the bottom edge of the golf club. It’s not a shot you want to hit on cold day because it hurts the hands a lot. I’m going to tell you why you thin the golf ball today; give you a couple of easy drills to help you fix that and stop you form hitting the middle of the ball and hurt your hands. Couple of things first is ball position. This is the ball position drill that’s going to help you — when you practice, make sure you have got the right ball position as you set up.

So with the mid-iron and you want this in the – just in front of the middle of your stance. So a lot of players might play this too far forward, therefore hitting a bit too much on the way up, therefore catching that bottom edge of the golf club. So this is one of the ways that you can stop that. If you place the ball down at the moment, you might not know where your ball position is because it’s hard to figure out. Once you set-up, what I’d like you to do when you feel comfortable over there, if you just get two golf balls, put one on your left toe, one on your right toe and just step behind it and work out where – which golf ball, this one’s closest to. Now I can see just from here, this one just edges it, just slightly close as that ball position is just in front of the center where I want it for mid-iron.

If it was back here you’d be able to recognize that’s too close to the right ball, that’s too far back in my stance. We tend to want to look for a pitching wedge and sand wedge in the middle of your stance, driver practically just inside that golf ball and each golf club — you go open in a set, just ever so slightly goes closer to your left foot. So you’re pitching way sand wedge nine, eight seven, six, five, four, three, three wood driver.

So once you have done that, the next thing is think about striking beyond the golf ball more. So you should hit the floor and you should hit the floor just beyond the ball. So once you have set up and you’ve got your ball position in just in front – center with the seven irons, I want to feel like you are striking here, almost past the golf ball. Commit to it, be confident I want you to just hit the ball first, the turf after and strike it pain free. That came right out the middle there was no vibration of the golf club at all. That’s how you stop thinning the golf ball and striking the golf ball an awful lot better.