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why do i keep hitting ground instead of the golf ball

by Claudie Zemlak Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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Failing to transfer your weight through your swing correctly can cause a disconnect between you and the club, causing you to hit the ground instead of the ball. On your backswing, your weight shifts to the back foot, if you cannot transfer your weight back through the ball to your front foot, then the ground will end up between you and the ball.

As your hips move too much side to side, this can often cause the club to hit the ground before the ball if you do not recenter yourself exactly the same amount. Also, when you stance is too wide, the potential locations the club has to hit the ground increases, which results in more inconsistent strikes.Aug 1, 2020

Full Answer

Why do my golf clubs hit the ground behind the ball?

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.

Why do I hit the ground before the ball drop kick?

We call hitting the ground before the ball drop-kicking and it can happen with all clubs, but is pretty common with woods. Hitting the ground before the ball can have many causes. Among them are: 1) Hanging back or fall back with your weight onto your rear side through impact.

How important is getting the ball off the ground in golf?

Also, as far as your score is concerned, getting the ball off the ground can help to keep you away from trouble. There are plenty of occasions during a round of golf where you have to hit over some sort of obstacle, so the ability to consistently send your shots into the air is something that will greatly help your scores.

How do you hit the ground when hitting the ball?

1) Most people who hit the ground behind the ball, when they approach impact, the club face is an open position. Your body is smart, so what it does instead is it tries to do its best for you as you flick your wrists and try to the face up to the ball at impact.

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How do I stop hitting the ground in golf?

1:405:12HOW TO STOP HITTING THE GROUND BEFORE THE GOLF BALLYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipTry with your iron to get about 55% of weight on your lead side we can have the board of the middleMoreTry with your iron to get about 55% of weight on your lead side we can have the board of the middle of the stands. But if we lead into our right effectively. We've moved that ball further forward.

How do I stop hitting the ground before the ball?

4:204:55STOP HITTING THE GROUND BEFORE THE BALL - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo if you're struggling with your eyes you're hitting the ground before the ball think about whatMoreSo if you're struggling with your eyes you're hitting the ground before the ball think about what your head is doing in the backswing.

Why am I hitting the ground before the ball with my driver?

Hitting the ground first is because your angle of approach (angle at which the club is striking the golf ball) is too shallow. To put it in another understandable way, you are trying to hit the ball with an upwards motion.

Why am I hitting the ground first with my irons?

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. 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.

Why does my golf swing hit the ground instead of the ball?

Failing to transfer your weight through your swing correctly can cause a disconnect between you and the club, causing you to hit the ground instead of the ball. On your backswing, your weight shifts to the back foot, if you cannot transfer your weight back through the ball to your front foot, then the ground will end up between you and the ball.

Why am I hitting Behind the Ball?

There are many factors which can affect your shot and cause you to hit behind the ball such as;

What does it mean when your back shoulder drops?

Dropping the Back Shoulder. Similarly to a loose leading arm, dipping your back shoulder can give the same issue from the opposite side of your body. Allowing your back shoulder to drop causes you to make a scooping motion towards the ball, rather than hitting right through. The scooping motion causes you to take a divot and lose the shot.

What happens when you hit behind the ball?

Hitting fat, hitting heavy, chunking the ball, grounding the club, whatever you call it, hitting behind the ball can cause huge issues in your game. Hitting behind the ball causes a divot to get between your club and the ball, resulting in an ugly mis-hit which tends only to jump 5 or 10 yards forwards. Hitting behind the ball can happen ...

How far back should you put the ball in a golf ball?

For your driver, keep the ball in line with your front instep and for fairway woods, a bit further back than this – about halfway between the center of your stance and your front foot.

Why does my head move forward in golf?

Moving your head forward causes your weight to shift incorrectly, changing your position over the ball before the club makes contact, causing it to hit the ground.

Why should your lead arm be straight?

Your lead arm should be kept straight throughout your swing as if it is bent at the point of impact. Bending the lead arm will shorten your swing and cause you to miss the ball and hit the ground instead.

What happens when you top the golf ball?

Most likely, if you are topping the golf ball, your balance problem is leaving too much weight on your right foot during the downswing. However, it isn't the downswing that you need to fix – it is the backswing. In a good backswing, your weight will never get over onto your right foot in the first place, making it impossible to get stuck there on the way down. As long as you stay balanced during the backswing, it should be rather easy to remain on balance during the downswing.

Why does my golf ball go to the bottom of the arc?

Cause: Poor ball position Play the ball too far forward (left) in your stance and the club will reach the bottom of its arc too soon, nicking the top of the ball on the upswing. This may be exacerbated by the reverse pivot described above.

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.

How to get a golf ball to be airborne?

Once you've set up to the ball, don't hold the club too tightly. A grip pressure of 5 (on a 1-10 scale) or less will keep your arms loose and foster a nice, full backswing. Finally, focus intently on the back of the ball until it has left the clubface – chances are, it'll be airborne.

Why does my golf club bottom out?

Cause: Reverse pivot – Your weight should shift to the right foot on the backswing (for right-handed golfers), then left on the downswing and finish. Far too many players suffer from a “reverse pivot,” when the exact opposite shift occurs. This can cause the club to bottom out well behind the ball and barely graze it on the upswing.

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.

How to get the ball in the air?

Getting the ball into the air requires a combination of good technique, ample preparation, and focused execution. Simply hitting a few shots on the driving range prior to starting your round might not be enough to get the job done. Instead, you might need to set aside time for some dedicated practice sessions where you can fine tune your mechanics and work on repeating your swing over and over. Fortunately, these practice sessions don't have to be lengthy to be effective – even spending a half an hour at the driving range once or twice a month can get you on the right track.

Why is the lead hand the most powerful way to throw a ball?

Because the lead hand is ahead and it's the most powerful way to throw a ball and to generate speed - watch from 7 mins to see this exact drill. Get one of these as it will help you add speed and power to this motion. Now make some small swings with it, and toss the dog ball thrower into your practice net.

Does Danny Maude use a dog ball thrower?

One of his drills involves the use of a dog ball thrower. Yes, a dog ball thrower... ...

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 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.

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.

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.

Where should the ball be in your stance?

You want the ball in the center of your stance. Maybe slightly forward of center, but only slightly. You can learn more about the importance of ball position in iron shots here. To get proper ball position on your irons, simply start with your feet together at address, ball right between your feet. Then, simply take your lead foot ...

How to stop your body from sliding back when you take a golf ball?

Solution: Lean in your right knee as you turn away from the golf ball. This prevents the upper body from sliding back during the backswing and takeaway.

What happens if you hit the ball too far forward?

For instance, if the ball is too far forward or back in your stance, the arc of your swing will be off, resulting in a topped golf shot. Solution: Position the ball in the middle of your stance for irons and in-line with the lead heel for your driver.

What happens if your arc is too high?

When this happens you usually have two options. You either completely whiff the ball. Embarrassing, but it happens. Or you hit above the equator, topping the ball. You reach the bottom of the arc before hitting the ball and are on an upswing when the club connects.

What happens if you slide your hips back in golf?

This mechanical error in your golf swing can result in topping the ball. Whether you’re sliding your hips back and not correcting prior to impact or you’re sliding too far forward during the downswing, the result is the same.

How to stop choking down on golf clubs?

Solution: Invest in custom-fitted golf clubs or hold the club higher on the grip instead of choking down.

What happens when you hit the bottom of the arc too late?

When the bottom of the arc occurs too late, you’re still hitting above the ball’s equator, meaning you’re hitting at the top of the ball rather than the sweet spot.

What does "topping the ball" mean?

The term “topping the golf ball,” refers to hitting the ball above the ball’s equator.

How to know if your golf club hits the ground?

You can easily check this by taking a practice swing and seeing where, relative to your feet, your club hits the ground. If your club hits the ground centered in your stance, it would be greatly to your advantage to place your golf ball there. 3. Flat footed forward swing.

When you set your golf club on the ground behind your golf ball, is it important that you set it properly?

When you set your golf club on the ground behind your golf ball, it is important that you set it properly. This can often look odd to golfers when it is correct, in particular for the more lofted clubs in your golf bag. The aiming line on a golf club is the leading edge and the more lofted the club the more crooked the top line may look.

Why does my golf club get stuck in the ground?

If you crowd your club and stand so close that your arms do not have enough room to hang and swing can often result in your golf club getting stuck into the ground. Being too crowded, effectively makes the club too long relative to your body, so it has nowhere to go but into the ground.

What is the aiming line on a golf club?

The aiming line on a golf club is the leading edge and the more lofted the club the more crooked the top line may look. Often golfers will not set the club properly on the ground as a compensation — they hit slices, for instance, so they set the club closed at setup.

How to make good contact in golf?

1. Crowded posture. Proper posture is one of the most important fundamentals to good contact. Giving yourself enough room to bow from your hips so that your hands can hang below your shoulders puts you into a balanced position that allows you to be athletic throughout your swing.

Why is it important to have a clubface at address?

The reason this is important is because the more twisted the clubface is at address, the more likely one side would dig into the ground at impact.

How to keep a club from getting stuck in the ground?

When you make your forward swing, you want to be athletic and just let it go and keep going. This often also helps to pull the trailing heel off of the ground. This athletic momentum, where the clubs stays in motion, can also keep the club from slowing down where it may get stuck.

Why does my golf ball shoot right of the target?

In combination with an inside-out club path your clubface is most likely open to the target at impact. More than any other factor, this explains why the ball shoots right of the target initially. And again, if you were aligned properly at address with both your stance and clubface square to the target then it means you are opening that clubface during the swing and leading up to the impact. And the likeliest reason why that would happen is that you are probably using a grip that is simply too weak.

What happens when the golf club is too low?

Rather, in these instances the heel of the club will be sticking out, which will produce shots that go to the right of the target.

What Causes a Push?

For a shot to produce no side spin the clubface must hit the ball with an angle that is square to the club path.

Why does a ball placement produce pushes?

Such a ball placement can produce pushes because it combines the two elements required for such a shot; clubface pointing right of the target at impact and an inside-out club path.

How to fix an open clubface at impact?

And the easiest way to fix an open clubface at impact is to simply modify the strength of your grip slightly.

What does a weak grip mean?

A weak grip promotes a lazy release of the club which translates into an open clubface at impact.

Why hold on to your club too tightly?

That’s because holding on to your club too tightly with your hands can restrict the release of the clubface at impact, leaving it open to the target and making a push a possibility .

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