
How do I stop chunking my golf swing?
Why do I chunk my pitch shots?
Why do I chunk my wedge shots?
How do I stop chunk shots from chipping?
Should you take a divot when chipping?
How does chunking improve memory?
What happens if you stand too far away from the golf ball?
Golf 101: Why do I chunk it?
Whether you are a beginner, 10 handicaps, or Rory McIlroy, no one player is immune to the dreaded chunk. How many times have you hit a great drive, breathing down the flag from your favorite yardage and laid the holy sod over one? It’s awful and can be a total rally killer.
Stickney: The only 2 ways to hit a golf ball farther
If I had a dollar for every time someone walked into my Academy (myself included!) and asked how to hit it farther I’d own a bank by now. Golf course agronomy has evolved and the rock-hard fairways of yesterday are gone and have been replaced by soft conditions that require more and more carry off the tee.
Stickney: The evolution of necessary technology in golf instruction
Over time technology has improved so that we (as teachers) can see and understand motion and forces in action during the swing.
The Wedge Guy: You can change your stripes
Over my 40-plus years in the golf industry and a lifetime in the game, I have had the opportunity to observe thousands of recreational golfers of all skill levels. I believe the common thread between all of us – from scratch player to high-handicapper – is that we all would like to get better.
How does weight shift happen in golf?
As we wrote about here, weight shift happens in the golf swing naturally during the takeaway, but as you lift the club to the top of your backswing, your weight begins to move back towards the target — and keeps moving towards the target all the way until impact. Keeping your weight more centered like this prevents swaying, and keeps the bottom of your golf swing consistently ahead of the ball.
Why is Jack Nicklaus' centered turn bad?
In short, swaying is bad, because it means the bottom of your golf swing is moving all over the place during your swing, which is makes it impossible to hit the ball with consistent contact — hence the chunked iron shots. As we wrote about here, weight shift happens in ...
Why does shifting your weight sound so simple?
It sounds pretty simple, because in many ways it is. Shifting your weight like this is a very intuitive product of the way humans move — you do it as you walk without even noticing.
Does Golf.com make a fee?
All of our market picks are independently selected and curated by the editorial team. If you buy a linked product, GOLF.COM may earn a fee. Pricing may vary.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Why does my club strike the ground first?
Why does your club strike the ground first? Simply put, the bottom point of your arc is behind the ball rather than in front of your ball as it should be. It's really that simple! When hitting most shots in golf you want CBG (club, ball, ground) contact in that order. Obviously some shots are different such as sand, where we actually want club, ground, ball contact as we intentionally hit the sand first.
What factors affect where your club bottoms out in the swing?
Factors that affect where your club bottoms out in the swing include weight distribution, ball position, posture and release. Let's explore each of these individually.
What happens when your weight is leaning back behind the ball?
Ball Position - If you have the ball positioned too far forward in your stance , your club will hit the bottom of its arc before it gets to the ball.
What does "you club" mean?
You club is hitting the ground behind the ball.
What happens if you release the club head too soon?
Release - If you are releasing the club head to soon and allowing it to catch up to your hands before you get to the ball, you will bottom out too soon.
When should the club head catch up to your hands?
Lastly, the club head should not catch up to your hands until the moment of impact. As long as the club head trails your hands it is still descending. The moment it catches up to your hands it bottoms out and then will start its ascent. Your rear wrist should remain bent backwards until impact.
Is it bad to hit the ground before the ball?
Fat, heavy, chunky, behind, chili dip...whatever you want to call it...it's not good. Hitting the ground before the ball hurts! It hurts you physically, but it really hurts your score as you lose significant distance. A thin shot can advance and not put too much of a damper on your score, but when you meet earth before you meet ball, it's never a happy ending. We've all been there. A big wind up, 100% of our effort and strength and then thud! The earth flies farther than our ball.
What causes a chunk shot in golf?
What Causes a Chunk Shot? The most common movement that causes a chunk shot is that the golfer’s weight moves too far behind the golf ball and causes the club to bottom out before the ball. We call this movement a lateral shift.
How to chip a golf club?
3 Chipping Steps to Change you Game 1 Setup- Start with a narrow stance when addressing the golf ball. Remember to keep your weight on your front hip and keep it there during the chip shot. 2 Backswing- Keeping your weight over the ball, use your shoulders to take the club back. The lead arm will stay extended and the center of your body will still be over the golf ball 3 Follow Through- The key of the follow through is to make sure that you keep the club’s face angle the same while accelerating through the ball. What do I mean? Pretend that there is a glass of water that is balancing on top of your clubface. That class of water should not fall off after your follow through your shot. (The clubface will still be facing the sky)
How to stop chunking chip shots?
How do you stop chunking chip shots? To stop chunking chip shots, the golfer needs to put more weight on their front leg and accelerate through the ball keeping the same clubface angle throughout the swing.
How to hit a flop shot?
To hit a flop shot, the golfer needs to use a high lofted club (like a sand wedge or lob wedge), play the golf ball in front of their front foot, open the clubface and accelerate through the shot.
What is a thin shot?
What is a thin shot? – A thin shot is when a golfer makes contact with the top half of the golf ball producing a low ball flight. This type of shot is usually caused when a golfer flips their wrists at impact.
How to keep your chest from getting over the golf ball?
The center of your chest should now be passed the golf ball. Practice making swings keeping your center ahead of the golf ball and feel the weight stay over the ball. Make sure your head stays down during the whole duration of your swing so you don’t lift up and hit the top of the ball.
How to keep your chip smooth?
Correction: Keep the tempo of your chip smooth, like a pendulum. Once you take your club back, make sure you follow through keeping the arms away from the body. Weight moves during backswing- Many golfers when first learning the chip shot will move their weight back with their arms during the backswing.
How to know if you're chunking wedges?
The first thing I would always check if you're repeatedly chunking wedges is your alignment. If you're aiming too far to the right, you'll have to clear your body back to the line. This will cause you to get way ahead and make you chop down on the ball.
What happens if you kick your forward knee in?
If you're kicking your forward knee in it causes you to move down and forward. Finally, there could be an outside chance that your clubs are just too long. Remember, we don't take big divots with the PPGS. Instead, we want to nip the ball off the grass, even with wedges.
Why is the golf club under the plane?
Here the club approaches the ball too far from the inside - it is under the plane. This very often occurs due to a backswing that takes the arms and club too far to the inside. Due to the fact that the club is under plane, the tendency is for the hit to be too shallow.
How to practice swinging with towel?
An excellent drill to aid with this tendency is to practice the towel drill. It involves folding a towel and laying it on the ground 10-12 inches behind the ball. The towel encourages the weight to stay more centered at address and in the backswing, thus shifting the low point of the swing up to a few inches in front of the ball - which means ball first, divot second!
What is chunking a chip?
Ah, chunking a chip is the most frustrating thing you can do in golf. You’ve hit two shots, two really good shots, you’re up by the green, maybe on a par 5, you’re ready to chip up and tap in for a birdie, and now you’ve chipped the bar two feet.
What is the most frustrating thing you can do in golf?
Chunking a chip is maybe the most frustrating thing you can do in golf.
How far does a golf club brush across the ground?
From here what happens is, the handle actually turns back up a little bit, and as my club releases down, that creates a flat spot as my club gets close to the ground, and it brushes across the turf for a good six to eight inches on the ground when we’re chipping.
Where do you smack the turf?
You smack the turf right behind the ball, and your ball trickles forward a few inches.
