Hot Tip: What Causes Fat Shots in Golf?
- Ball Positioning. A golf ball may be positioned in a variety of ways, depending on the stroke you’re playing or the sort of golfer you are.
- Weight Transfer. Golfers who hit the ball fat frequently exert too much weight on their rear leg during the takeaway and downswing.
- Movement. ...
How to stop hitting fat golf shots?
If you want to stop hitting fat golf shots you need to learn how to compress the golf ball through impact. With your irons, you want to have the feeling that you are hitting down and through the ball - this will help you find the ideal angle of attack. The top players in the world tend to hit down with a 7-iron by about 4˚.
Why do I get Fat shots?
A typical error that golfers make which can lead to fat shots is that they fail to keep this spine angle constant throughout the golf swing. Moving your upper body forward and down during the swing will lower the bottom of the swing arc, which can lead to fat shots. FIX: Keep your forward spine angle constant until impact is made with the ball
Why are my golf shots chunking?
Right now, you’re chunking golf shots because the low point of your swing happens before you reach the ball. There are a few reasons this might be happening. 1: Ball Position This is the most common mistake I see among amateur golfers.
How do you fix a fat shot?
The club hits the ground behind the ball, turf goes flying — and the ball goes nowhere. If you can get to the fat shot’s root cause — hanging back on your right leg through impact — you’ll fix it quickly. Grab your 7-iron, take your address position, lift your right foot off the ground, and then hit balls while standing on your left foot only.
How do I stop hitting fat shots in golf?
4:208:39HOW TO STOP HITTING BEHIND THE BALL INSTANTLY (No Joke)YouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipOkay we get the weight off the heel. Then the club will clear and you will instantly eliminate fatMoreOkay we get the weight off the heel. Then the club will clear and you will instantly eliminate fat shots. So you've hit a fat.
What causes you to hit a golf ball fat?
The main reason that a fat shot occurs, though, is that a player has unnecessarily moved their “swing center.” You can think of your center as one of two things, either your head or your sternum. I tend to use the head reference more often because it doesn't twist throughout the swing as the sternum does.
How do you stop fat shots?
One of the main faults behind hitting fat golf shots is the way your weight moves during the swing. The basic key here is that your weight should move towards your back foot in the backswing and then towards the target in the downswing.
Can a strong grip cause fat shots?
Fat shots. One of the other signs of an overly strong grip is the tendency to hit the ball fat, especially on short iron shots. As mentioned above, a strong grip makes it easy to release the club on the way down, and an early release could cause you to stick the club in the ground behind the ball.
How do I stop hitting irons fat and thin?
2:197:33How to stop hitting topped, thin and fat iron shots - 3 Causes - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd get back into a better shape. So start tilting in the other direction now. If I overdo that theMoreAnd get back into a better shape. So start tilting in the other direction now. If I overdo that the club's going to be coming too much down into the ground hitting a fat shot.
How do I stop hitting the ball fat?
The farther back the steeper the club will come down on the ball. The farther forward the ball is in your stance the shallower the club will come down on the ball. Of these two stances the more forgiving will likely be the forward stance for someone hitting a fat shot.
What causes fat wedge shots?
Fat and thin shots are caused by the same problem: The club bottoms out before the ball. The cause often is that the swing is out of sequence. When I get out of sync--say, an overactive lower body--I feel I'm late with my hands, so I release the club to catch up. And I hit it fat.
How do you hit irons pure?
5:2510:11HOW TO HIT YOUR IRONS PURE WITH THIS SIMPLE DRILL - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAnd you will be hitting your irons pure all right so it's pretty simple we grip down like this doMoreAnd you will be hitting your irons pure all right so it's pretty simple we grip down like this do our normal grip normal like setup but you're bent.
Why do I always hit my irons fat?
Hitting the ball fat is often a consequence of having an angle of attack that is too steep. To prevent this, feel like you take the club back with your arms whilst rotating your shoulders around your spine.
Why am I hitting behind the ball with my irons?
Golfers usually hit behind the ball because of poor pressure movement and casting. Usually the two go hand and hand and are seen to occur together. I would recommend that golfers practice small swings focusing on pressing into the lead foot to start the downswing.
How do you avoid hitting fat shots in wet conditions?
0:391:39Trouble Hitting Off of a Wet Fairway? - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipYou should make good clean contact with the golf ball regardless of what it's sitting on a dryMoreYou should make good clean contact with the golf ball regardless of what it's sitting on a dry fairway a wet fairway.
How to hit fat golf shots?
If you are hitting fat golf shots, the first place to start is with your address position. With your mid irons, the ball should be positioned slightly forward of middle in your stance so that your sternum is over the ball. Importantly, your hands should be a fraction ahead of the ball. This will encourage the downward angle ...
What is fat golf?
Hitting fat golf shots is one of the most frustrating faults in the game. It doesn’t matter how forgiving your irons are, if you are striking the ground before the ball, some technical swing changes are needed. Here, we will look at where hitting fat golf shots comes from and offer some pointers for how to improve your ball striking.
Where should weight be in golf?
The basic key here is that your weight should move towards your back foot in the backswing and then towards the target in the downswing. For some golfers, there is a desire to lean back through impact to help the ball into the air.
When hitting irons, should your divots start after the ball?
When hitting irons, your divots should start after the ball. For the best possible iron contact, you should aim to strike the ball and then the ground. This is a useful image to have in mind for any player who is struggling hitting fat golf shots.
Why do golfers hit fat shots?
One of the main reasons that golfers hit fat shots is they are desperately trying to get the ball in the air. Instead of keeping their upper body over the ball (where the sternum is directly above the ball at impact), they lean back through the contact.
Why do players lean back in the swing arc?
This causes the sternum to move away from the target and the lowest point in the swing arc moves back too - causing the player to strike the ground before the ball.
How to practice flatter swing?
To practice this flatter swing motion, try to hit from a side hill lie where the ball is above your feet. This will encourage a flatter swing plane.
What Causes Fat Golf Shots?
A typical golf swing works in a pendulum motion. In order to connect with the ball properly, the bottom of the arc of the swing should land a couple of inches behind the ball. This means you’re striking the ball on your downswing and taking a divot after you’ve hit connected with the ball.
Why do golfers hit the ball fat?
But many golfers will hit the ball fat because they address it too far forwards in their stance.
How to move weight in the wrong direction?
Laterally moving backwards on your downswing and pushing your hips out behind you will move your weight in the wrong direction, favouring your back leg. This will move your swing arc back a couple of inches, causing you to to come down much sooner and narrower on the ball, chunking the turf too early.
What is hitting the ball fat?
Updated April 26, 2021. Hitting a golf shot sweet is one of the best feelings in sport. But a lot has to go right for you to hit the perfect shot and one of the most common issues golfers suffer from is what’s known as hitting the ball fat. A fat golf shot is when a golfer miscues his swing and chunks the ground with their club before they hit ...
What happens when you hit a fat shot?
Typically, when you hit a fat shot, your downswing comes down a lot shallower onto the ball, meaning that your club will connect with the ground a couple of inches before the ball, preventing you from striking the ball flush.
What is the line A in golf?
Line A shows the swing arc of a good golf shot, connecting with the ball on the downswing, and bottoming out behind the ball. Line B shows the arc of a fat golf shot which hits the ground first and bottoms out before or underneath the ball. This shallow swing trajectory can be caused by a number of factors, from where you place ...
How to swing a golf ball?
Stay upright, but keep your head and body as still as you can until you make impact with the ball where the natural motion of your swing should cause you to rotate your pelvis into the shot, straighten your legs, and rise up opening your chest after impact.
Why Do I Hit Fat Golf Shots?
There are a number of potential reasons. First your center might be behind the ball, your weight is stuck on your back foot or you have casted the club. All three of these swing faults lead to poor contact and make the fat shot possible.
How To Stop Hitting Fat Shots
Practice the low point control drill for 30 straight days. Remember to keep your center in place, set your weight with 60% on your front side, and throw the club from the top. This will all but eliminate your poor contact shots.
Final Thoughts: Why Do I Hit Fat Golf Shots
There is nothing like heading to the course without having to worry whether you are going to chunk a shot or thin a shot. You can spend time focused on hitting the shots that the golf course demands. Once you have achieved the fundamental #1, you can start to play the game and develop your draw and fade to help you reach the next level.
What is a fat shot in golf?
In golf a fat shot – or a golf shot hit fat – is one that sees the club penetrating the ground before making contact with the ball. This is in contrast to a better shot that sees the clubhead making contact with the ball before it proceeds to penetrating the ground, as should happen in shots made with irons and wedges.
What is the error in golf that leads to fat shots?
A typical error that golfers make which can lead to fat shots is that they fail to keep this spine angle constant throughout the golf swing.
Why does swinging make you fat?
Swaying can lead to fat shots because it moves the bottom of the swing arc away from where it was set at address.
Why do fat shots occur?
The fundamental causes behind fat shots relate to the arc of the swing itself and more specifically to the position of the bottom of the swing arc. Indeed, in order to produce a shot that sees the club penetrating the ground before contact is made with the ball – such as the case with fat shots – the bottom of the swing arc needs ...
How to explain hitting fat shots?
Hitting fat shots from fairway bunkers are commonplace and can be explained by how deep your feet are dug in at address. Indeed, a sandy lie brings with it another variable in how deep your feet dig into the ground, in relation to the ball.
Why is my golf ball so far forward?
Is the ball located too much forward? One of the reasons your club may penetrate the ground before it hits the ball has to do with the placement of the ball itself in your stance , in relation to your feet. A ball placed too much forward – towards the target – can prove tricky to hit cleanly and can result in fat shots.
Why do you need to lower the bottom of the swing arc?
Doing so will reduce the number of possible positions the bottom of the swing arc can be found and should allow you to produce purer shots on a more consistent basis.
What Causes a Golfer to Hit it Fat?
Right now, I’m talking specifically about chunking your irons. As you may know from past articles on hitting stellar iron shots, you want to catch the ball on a downward motion. To put it another way, you have to make contact with the golf ball before you reach the low point of your swing.
What does it feel like to chunk a golf shot?
All golfers know the pain of chunking golf shots. You take a powerful backswing, you feel like you’re about to hit a quality shot, then you swing down and feel the club hit the ground. When you look up, you see a huge piece of turf traveling down the fairway. Meanwhile, your ball has only gone a few feet. The chunk shot is a common problem.
Why is the low point of a golf swing important?
This is significant because the low point of your swing follows the pressure in your feet. If most of your pressure is still in your back foot when the club comes back down, the clubhead is going to hit the ground well behind your golf ball. You wind up chunking the shot.
How to swing a golf ball with your feet together?
An easy way to do this is by standing with your feet together and the ball aligned with the center. Then, step your lead foot forward and your trail foot back and equal distance. Second, notice the pressure on your feet as you take your swing.
Why is chunk shot so common?
The chunk shot is a common problem. But it’s not common because it’s hard to overcome. It’s common because so few amateur golfers have gotten the right advice for preventing heavy shots.
How to start pressure on a golf club?
You should start with most pressure on the lead foot, shift to the trail foot on the backswing, and shift pressure back to the lead foot as you swing through. You can find more tips on pressure in the feet here. Third, check the butt end of your club at setup.
What does the tilt in the club do to the clubhead?
And what does that do to your clubhead? It forces the leading edge to tilt down towards the ground. When you swing through, the tilt in your club causes the leading edge to dig into the ground.
How to beat the fats in golf?
FIGHT THE FATS. Grab your 7-iron, take your address position, lift your right foot off the ground, and then hit balls while standing on your left foot only. With all your weight forward, you’ll make a descending blow and ball-first contact. To beat the fats, strive for this front-sided feeling when you play.
What is fat iron shot?
Fat iron shots are the scourge of the average player. The club hits the ground behind the ball, turf goes flying — and the ball goes nowhere. If you can get to the fat shot’s root cause — hanging back on your right leg through impact — you’ll fix it quickly.
How to hit a tennis ball with your back hand?
If that sounds familiar, let me give you two simple keys. First, make your initial move from the top a little bump onto your front foot. Feel like you’re shifting toward the target, so your chest is over the ball. Second, get to impact with the back of your top hand facing the target (left), not pointing upward. A good image is that you’re back-handing the ball, like a tennis stroke. If you get those two moves right, you’ll swing into impact with your weight forward and your wrists firm—two things every good ball-striker does.
What is a good image for a tennis player?
A good image is that you’re back-handing the ball, like a tennis stroke. If you get those two moves right, you’ll swing into impact with your weight forward and your wrists firm—two things every good ball-striker does.
Who were the two golfers in the 2003 Presidents Cup?
In the 2003 Presidents Cup in South Africa, two of the sweetest swingers at that time, Adam Scott and Stuart Appleby, were matched against two of the most unconventional, Jim Furyk and Jay Haas. As they warmed up, murmurs from the crowd suggested the “pretty” swings had it made. At one point, Jay said to Jim, “I bet those people don’t give us much of a chance.” Jim laughed, and the Americans went on to win, 6 and 5, one of the most lopsided victories in the history of the event. Don’t get me wrong, Adam and Stuart are tremendous talents. (I taught Adam for years.) But the only real barometer of a golf swing is the shots it produces.
Do golfers hit the ground first?
A lot of golfers never get over the instinct to lift the ball off the ground. They swing off their back foot or flip their hands through impact, both of which make the club bottom out too soon. As a result, they hit the ground first (fat shot) or catch the ball on the upswing (thin shot).
Why do golfers' heads move?
Many top golfers' heads do move a little downward and to the right in response to the targetward thrust of the lower body. But if the motion becomes accentuated, they--and you--will surely catch the ground before the ball.
Why is it important to learn one swing?
That's why it's critical to learn one swing, and adjust your grip or stance, rather than changing your swing.
