Why Am I Topping My Driver?
- Improper Stance. One of the most common reasons for topping a driver is an improper stance. ...
- Wrong Equipment. Some golfers are lucky because they can fix their topping problem by purchasing new clubs. ...
- Too Much Weight Hanging Back. ...
- Reverse Pivot. ...
- Injury Or Pain. ...
- Fear Of The Ground. ...
- Arms Not Connected. ...
Full Answer
How do I stop topping the ball with my driver?
It can be a problem when using the irons but, more often than not, it’s topping the golf ball with a driver and hitting the fairway woods that can be so frustrating. To deal with the problem, first we need to understand what is happening. The best way to do that, is to visualise the club contacting the ball above the ball’s equator.
What happens if you top the golf ball?
Topping golf shots is one of the most frustrating mistakes that you can make on the course. In addition to not getting any real distance out of the shot, topping the golf ball can be an embarrassing mistake that will leave you not wanting to play golf with others, as you are afraid of doing it again.
Should you top a golf ball with the driver?
Topping a golf ball with the driver could well become a thing of the past. Without the need to visit the library, or the local pro for a refresher course on a regular basis. No longer will you have to listen to those teaser remarks from your golfing colleges such as, “you burned a few worms with that one”.
What causes a golf shot to top up?
Lifting your head right before impact is likely the leading cause of topping golf shots. You can do everything right throughout the entire swing, but if you lift your head early, the shot can go all wrong. The real problem here is the chain reaction that occurs when you do lift your head up out of the shot.
How do I stop topping the golf ball with my driver?
0:082:51How to Stop Topping Your Driver | Hit More Solid Drives - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipHand drop it down scratch the knee of your trail. Leg from there keep that posture. Put the club orMoreHand drop it down scratch the knee of your trail. Leg from there keep that posture. Put the club or your hand on the club.
Why do I always top the ball with my driver?
Typically, a ball is topped because the club has not gone far enough down towards the ball or you catch the ball on the way up, instead of at the bottom point. A lot of things can cause this to happen: A club that's too short. An awkward stance.
Why am I topping my driver all of a sudden?
0:231:52Topping your Driver? What are the Main Causes? - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipYou're. So much on the upswing your club just brushes over the top of it. So to prevent that I wantMoreYou're. So much on the upswing your club just brushes over the top of it. So to prevent that I want you just to be careful to not line the ball up any further than your left armpit.
What causes me to top the golf ball?
Lateral motion in the backswing moves the swing arc backward. If it isn't then moved forward in the downswing, the low point of the arc is behind the ball, often causing a thin or topped shot.
How do you not top a golf ball?
0:061:00One Quick Tip to to Stop Topping the Golf Ball - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo much about the golf ball. Focus on that finish get consistent with it get that new motor memoryMoreSo much about the golf ball. Focus on that finish get consistent with it get that new motor memory going and then put it back down onto the grass.
How do I stop skying my driver?
0:586:17How To Stop Skying Your Driver - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo first of all if you're sky in the drive on the golf course. Rather than change your golf swingMoreSo first of all if you're sky in the drive on the golf course. Rather than change your golf swing one very simple thing is to do is just tea that ball low.
How do you stop topping hybrids?
1:215:15This is how you STOP TOPPING Hybrids and Fairway ... - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipIf you get behind the ball ball lean back you start to work up too quickly you can see how you wouldMoreIf you get behind the ball ball lean back you start to work up too quickly you can see how you would catch that ball sort of halfway up it not a good strike.
Why do I duff my driver?
1:055:20Why You Duff Your Iron Shots Explained - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd for the reason as to why your Duff the shot is a little bit of that. Early sort of release ofMoreAnd for the reason as to why your Duff the shot is a little bit of that. Early sort of release of the club. So what sometimes we call us a casting of the club.
Why do I struggle to hit my driver?
The main reason why you can't hit your golf drive anymore is because your gripping the shaft too tight, not having enough swing speed, or your using the wrong golf club. There are many possible reasons why you can't hit your driver as well as you did before. You may be: Holding your driver with a grip that's too tight.
Why do I keep hitting my driver so low?
First, hitting low drives will always mean that you are falling short of your distance potential off the tee. Getting the ball higher into the air should mean more yardage on your drives, which will lead to shorter approach shots – and hopefully lower scores.
What Does Topping Mean In Golf?
The word “topping” in golf describes the event where the sole of the club brushes over the upper part of the golf ball. This leads to a loss of power at impact, along with a minor launch, causing your ball to go nowhere.
How To Stop Topping My Driver?
The ugly truth about how to stop topping the golf ball lies in hours of consistent practice. However, hitting ball after ball will be futile if you don’t work on the correct elements of the problem.
Why Am I Topping My Driver?
Golf coach Dan Whittaker explains that leaning back is one of the three most common answers to why am I topping my driver. Since we need to connect the ball on the up, we amateurs lean back at impact to prompt a high launching drive.
Drills To Help You Stop Topping The Golf Ball With A Driver
Whittaker suggests that an approach to keeping your face on target at the impact is to work on your swing plane. He recommends employing a swing stick. It must be positioned 2 inches ahead of the ball and approximately 2 inches above it.
FAQs
The cause of gaining excess heights on your drives could be a weak loft, excessive backspin rpm, and a flexible shaft. However, before changing your equipment, take a deeper look at your swing mechanics.
Final Thoughts
Now that you know how to stop topping the golf ball with a driver, it is time to start working on the drills mentioned above.
How to get more clubhead speed?
Throwing the Clubhead. Sometimes you try to gain extra clubhead speed by flipping your wrists at impact, but all you do is straighten your wrists before the clubhead reaches the ball. That makes the club reach the bottom of its arc farther back in your stance, instead of in front of the ball. The clubhead then swings upward sooner ...
What happens if you swing too far forward?
If the ball is too far forward in your stance, it's easy to hit it fat. The clubhead reaches the bottom of its swing arc before it gets to the ball. If you adjust your swing so you don't hit the ground, the clubhead will be swinging upward by the time it reaches the ball. When that happens, you have no chance of hitting the bottom half of the ball.
What happens when you lean toward the target?
If you lean toward the target at the top of your backswing, you'll tend to lean away from the target during your downswing. This changes the bottom of the swing arc. If you manage to avoid hitting the ground before you hit the ball (a fat shot), the clubhead will be swinging upward when it reaches the ball – and that's the recipe for a topped shot. ...
What is it called when a ball is bouncing?
But many players make contact above the ball's equator, resulting in a low-flying or bouncing ball. This is called "topping" -- also "skulling" or "thinning" -- the ball, and there are several common reasons that it happens.
Can you swing up on a golf ball?
Unless the ball is sitting up on thick grass, which would give you a chance to get under it, you'll either swing up on the ball ( as with poor ball position) or stand up during your downswing. But most of the time, you'll still top the ball.
Is standing up bad for the ball?
The ball might be in a bad lie, lower than your feet. In any case, standing up increases the distance from you to the ball; if you hit the ball at all, you probably are going to hit the top half.
Who is Mike Southern?
He is the author of the instructional golf book "Ruthless Putting" and edited a collection of swashbuckling novels. Southern was trained in electronics at Forsyth Technical Community College and is also an occasional woodworker.
How to throw a golf club toward the ground?
It can be helpful to practice this by placing a ball in your right hand, from your golf posture. Allow the elbow to fold as it would in your backswing and then throw the ball so that it hits the ground.
What ruins a golf swing?
Nothing ruins a great golf swing like a loss of balance. Assuming you’re in a good set up to start, it only takes a small loss of balance to cause you to top the ball. A good check of balance is holding your finish until your golf ball lands.
How to get the ball down to the ground?
1. Bad Posture. Good posture is the basis for solid contact. Bowing forward from your hips so that your hands can hang below your shoulders can put you in balance and also get the club down to the ground. Too much knee flex or squatting can often make it extremely difficult to get the club down into the turf, and therefore get the ball into the air.
Why is my ball not rolling across the ground?
In simplest terms, in order to get the ball up into the air — and not rolling across the ground — is to hit down into the dirt. (GETTY) If that’s not happening, there may be a few reasons why. Here are some of the most common I see: 1. Bad Posture. Good posture is the basis for solid contact.
How to brush grass without a club?
Keeping your hands away from your sternum can help to maintain the width of your backswing, making it easier to brush the grass. One of my favorite drills for feeling this is to hold your lead wrist with your trail hand. From here, make your backswing without a club and feel your trail arm pull your lead arm wide.
Why is it so hard to keep your head down?
The problem with keeping your head down is that it limits your body’s ability to move athletically. If you attempt to keep your head down, it’s very difficult to allow your body to rotate properly on your downswing to get the club down to the ground and the ball into the air. 7. Tension in hands and arms.
What happens if you stand too far away from the ball?
If you stand too far away from the ball at address, it’s almost difficult not to top the ball without a heroic move. Reaching for the ball — where your arms often get into a diagonal position — will often lead to a thin shot or a top.
What does it mean when you hit a driver low off the bottom of the club face?
They key thing to know about topping a driver, or hitting it low off the bottom of the club-face, is that it means that you are likely backing up out of the stop or standing up and coming out of your posture.
Who is the coach of Elite Golf?
Elite golf coach Dan Whittaker gives you a really easy drill to stop topping your driver and strike it more out the centre of the face. One of the more embarrassing shots in golf is the top, especially off the tee with your driver, but it is something many amateur golfers struggle with.
Who is Dan Whittaker?
Dan Whittaker is an elite golf swing and performance coach based at High Legh. For more information, visit his website or click here for more advice. Golf tips.
How to get fear of the ground ball out of your mind?
Simply by seeing the ball get into the air on a consistent basis, you can take the fear of the ground ball out of your mind prior to your next round. Hitting topped shots on the golf course is never a fun experience. You may have to listen to a few jokes from your playing partners, and your score will suffer as well.
How to hit top shot golf?
One way to hit topped golf shots is to use only your arms as you swing the club back and through. If your legs aren't involved in the swing, you will have trouble transferring your weight onto your left foot, and you will be prone to hitting ground balls as a result.
What is the difference between amateur golfers and professional golfers?
One of the big differences between amateur golfers and their professional counterparts is the way that the pros use their entire body in the golf swing. When you watch a professional swing the club, it is obvious that they are using their lower body and upper body together in harmony to hit powerful and accurate shots.
What happens if you don't hit down?
If you don't hit down, you will always run the risk of having the leading edge contact the ball first – leading to a topped shots. The problem is that hitting down through an iron shot requires plenty of confidence when you are actually out on the course.
What is poor balance in golf?
Poor balance. Many amateur golfers struggle with poor balance, and one of the side effects of that problem can be topped shots. You need to have your center of gravity in the correct place if you are going to strike the ball cleanly time after time.
Why is it important to get the ball in the air on each swing?
Golf becomes far more interesting when you can reliably get the ball in the air on each swing, because you will be able to start planning shot shapes, picking specific targets, and more. Put in the time now to learn how to get the ball in the air and your future on the golf course will be much more exciting.
Why is it important to stay on balance in golf?
Staying on balance will allow you to control the positioning of the bottom of your swing, which will allow you to avoid the dreaded ground ball. Arm-only swing. The whole body needs to be involved in a good golf swing – and when it isn't, bad things can happen.
What is it like to watch your golf ball fly?
One of the great pleasures in the game of golf is looking up after your swing and watching your ball soar through the air in the direction of the target. Even if you don’t hit a great shot every time, there is something satisfying about watching the ball fly that gives the golfers a great feeling of accomplishment.
How does a golf swing stay level?
Good golf swings remain level throughout the backswing and downswing, so the body remains as stable as possible and the job of delivering the club head to the back of the ball gets that much easier. To better understand this concept, think about other areas of life outside of the golf course that require precision.
What happens if you hit the ball too far left?
If you’ve got the ball too far left (closer to your lead foot) at address, your swing will find its bottom point before it reaches the ball. By impact, the clubhead is traveling up and over the ball, usually clipping it above the equator. If you’ve been topping the ball often, check your ball position first.
What is reverse pivot?
It’s true that the reverse pivot is a leading cause of slicing. It’s also responsible for a large percentage of topped golf shots. Briefly, a reverse pivot is when your weight shifts to the left on the backswing, then right on the downswing and follow-through – the reverse of a correct transfer.
How does rotation work in golf?
Rotation works in both directions, as well – you have to rotate away from the target if you are going to be able to rotate towards it with any kind of power and aggression.
What happens if you don't clear your swing?
If you aren’t clear on what is going on in your swing that is leading to the topping of the ball, you don’t stand much of a chance at all to fix it. The good news is that unlike some other parts of the golf swing, the issue that you are likely dealing with to create this problem is relatively easy to understand.
Is sliding from right to left a lateral movement?
For example, sliding from right to left while the club is in motion is something that will hurt your golf swing and rob you of power. However, for most people, it isn’t lateral movement that they need to worry about when it comes to topping the golf ball. Rather, it is vertical movement.
How to stay down when playing golf?
To help you stay down, think about keeping your right knee flexed and your right heel on the ground for as long as possible. This encourages you to stay bent at the hips and prevents your legs from straightening and lifting the clubhead farther off the ground. FIX 2. KEEP THE RIGHT SHOULDER LOW.
What causes a ball to swing over the top of the ball?
FAULT 1. EARLY EXTENSION. As you approach impact, you lose your original address posture and spine inclination to the ground, which causes you to practically swing over the top of the ball. This is often caused by the urge to help the ball into the air. FAULT 2.
Can you dribble off the tee?
Few shots in golf are more embarrassing than the topped tee ball. Unfortunately, there’s more than one way to dribble the ball off the tee. You can swing too steeply from the outside and skim across the ball, or even drop-kick it from the inside.
