I have been playing golf for about 3 months now and have made some great improvements however, if some more experience players wouldn't mind helping me, i'd like some clarification on how you are meant to strike the ball, i.e hit the grass just before the ball or hit the ball then grass.
Watching the pro's they 'nearly' always seem to hit the ball then the turf taking a substantial divot on all their shots except tee shots.
I find i hit my best shots when i sweep the ball off the ground, just clipping the top of the grass through the hitting zone and not really taking any divot. Whenever i ask people this question they usually say as a newbie i shouldn't worry about anything other than getting consistent contact at this stage, which i suppose is a fair point, but im a believer good habbits should be created at the start rather than modifications when you have a swing established.
So should i be working on taking divots in front of the ball?
Since you are a beginner, the advice I would give to you is to take lessons from a reputable pro. Taking lessons now might help you eliminate the chance of picking up and engraining some bad habits. Good luck with the game and welcome to the forum.
You always want to hit the ball before anything else. Taking a divot should be something that just naturally happens because of the "swinging down on the ball" motion you are supposed to use with irons. Or it might not happen much at all. The important thing is that you do not hit the ground before you hit the ball (unless you're in the sand, but that's a different story). You will lose so much power it's not funny.
The problem is getting your swing consistent enough to hit the ball first every time I've always hit the ground behind the ball until I learned to transfer my weight to my left leg on the downswing. So you might want to try that if you're not already doing it.
Since you are a beginner, the advice I would give to you is to take lessons from a reputable pro. Taking lessons now might help you eliminate the chance of picking up and engraining some bad habits. Good luck with the game and welcome to the forum.
Although I'm sure you're right, I get tired of hearing this easy answer. Of course we should take lessons! But tomg is asking this board for some advice... not an expensive pro. **** , Chris DiMarco never took lessons and he's doing alright. Of course lessons will always help, but some people are trying to learn a few things for themselves.
Last edited by ForgedRbest : July 9th, 2005 at 08:38 AM.
Reason: inappropriate language
Divot in front of ball means fat, and a lousy shot.
Keith is 100% right, go for a lesson, and book a series about five weeks apart. The pro will learn your swing and help you as you progress.
What are you talking about? You're supposed to hit the ball first then take a divot. Divot before the ball= a fat shot that goes not that far. Don't be confusing the newbie now.
You always want to hit the ball before anything else. Taking a divot should be something that just naturally happens because of the "swinging down on the ball" motion you are supposed to use with irons. Or it might not happen much at all. The important thing is that you do not hit the ground before you hit the ball (unless you're in the sand, but that's a different story). You will lose so much power it's not funny.
The problem is getting your swing consistent enough to hit the ball first every time I've always hit the ground behind the ball until I learned to transfer my weight to my left leg on the downswing. So you might want to try that if you're not already doing it.
I've been working on this also and I think it has to do with my weight transfer too. Should I have the majority of my weight on my left foot (I'm a righty) before I swing, or be about 50-50 and transfer the weight as I swing?
Just my 2 cents here. I recently came across a drill on the golf channel to help with iron shots. It has been the best drill for irons I have used.
Place a tee about 4 inches in front of the ball and concentrate on hitting down on the ball and also going through and hitting the tee. It helped me a lot. My irons are going longer and I am striking the ball a lot more solid.
I read an article by Tiger saying other than the Driver, everything else you down on the ball.
I saw another good tip in a magazine once or something. Take a tee and put in in the ground like you would tee up an iron shot. But dont put a ball on it. Take a swing and take a divot with out hitting the tee, but make a divot infron of the tee. It works for me, but it was pretty tough at first
Last edited by jimbowally : July 13th, 2005 at 11:27 PM.
One of the main reasons that Pros take such big divots is because of the steep downward angle they attack the ball with but they hit the ball 1st, it is because of the downward force that they put so much more backspin on the ball than us mere mortals.
July 6th, 2005, 03:31 AM
I've always hit the ground behind the ball until I learned to transfer my weight to my left leg on the downswing. So you might want to try that if you're not already doing it.
, Chris DiMarco never took lessons and he's doing alright. Of course lessons will always help, but some people are trying to learn a few things for themselves.
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