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Most golfers don't hit down but instead scoop the ball causing all kinds of problems. When taking lessons, has your pro ever explained this important forgotten fundamental to you?

Yup! But you have to be careful not to groove it to a silly level because in theory it is right, but if you try hitting down on your driver it causes problems..... personally i hit down very hard and have experienced the driver problems, general inconsistency that is. I think most people will be ok with long clubs, it is the short irons that most people will try and scoop the most..... i think!

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There is a guy who believes that this is the main fundamental problem and it has some merit I think he has written an instruction manual called "HIT DOWN, D*****!"

BUT...

I believe that anything that suggests 'hitting the ball' is dangerous because it encourages independent hand and arm action which for most golfers is the fundament cause of many problems. The swing is a coordinated fluid action with no 'hit' in it at all. The power comes from the unhingeing of the (relaxed) wrists at the bottom of the arc. Any extra 'effort' by the hands/arms is counter productive.

The down and through action that seems to be hitting down, simply means that the bottom of the arc is actually infront of the ball. So 'hitting down' is simply a description of what happens in the fluid swing, when the bottom of the arc is in front of the ball., it is not an independent action to 'do'. For the best swing the ball is a llittle insubstantial cloud to be swung through, not an object to be 'hit'.

Of course for you , this may be what happens, and you call it "hitting down" but if you tell this info to someone else they may take it literally and start to 'hit'. Can you follow this distinction?
What do you say?

Of course for you , this may be what happens, and you call it "hitting down" but if you tell this info to someone else they may take it literally and start to 'hit'. Can you follow this distinction?
What do you say? [/quote]

I know that when some golfers think "hit" it causes all kinds of problems.
I think about swinging the club down along the same path that it went back.
which is a down motion rather than a scooping motion.

A good exercise is to try and take the divot just in front of the ball - by thinking "divot" one avoids two poor thoughts "hitting down" as in axe and "hitting" instead of "swinging". The result is the same but the message to the subconscious is different.

Although the 'hitting' thought may not be right, I'll also point out that NOT hitting is equally bad..... I suffer this and am forced to try and hit. I had long been told not to hit and it has led to the most enormous blocks out right because my hands just dont square the club, unless I make the conscious effort to hit..... i guess what im saying is that alot of these 'tips' are referring to swing feel and not swing reality and everyone feels things different....

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This is an excellent point, buns, and outlines the difficulties of purely verbal explanations. I feel the sensations of the practice swing if executed with accelaration over a constant point on the ground are those that are required. The sense of 'impact' is missing from the fluid swing, but neither is one expected to try 'not to hit' which as you point out, is equally counter productive as trying 'to hit'. The swing is a swing and the ball is a distractor along the path which tends to draw the attention of the mind and interfere with the 'swing'. This is fact but the verbal explanation is not the thing, as you point out.

To hit down properly, make solid contact, and take the divot after the ball is hit, the correct ball position is essential. This is something that should be addressed during practice, to find the proper ball position for each of your clubs.

Even further than that, most golfers are wasting their time trying to fix their swing path/plane/(insert your problem here). In reality, things like ball position, alignment, grip, stance etc are more often than not incorrect to start with, until they are right, there is little point trying to fix complicated things....

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