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Im no expert by any means, but I find that when I am hitting that far behind the ball, I am keeping all my weight on my back foot. My instructor gave me a step and hit drill that I do about 3 times a week and that has really helped my ball striking greatly.

When I here descending blow, I think of a proper hinging of the wrist. once again, I may be wrong because I am no pro, but I always thought that the unhinging of the wrist prior to impact is what really pinched the ball between the ground and the club face which to me is a descending blow. On my woods I usually have a flatter take away which results in a flatter swing vs. irons

I think divots depend on course conditions. My swing is such that when I play on a lush / well watered and maintained course I take a slight divot comparable to the thickness of a dollar bill. When I play a non-irrigated course with hard packed fairways due to lack of rain, I usually leave no noticeable divot.

Once again I am only relaying personal experiences and am by no means an expert.

Todd

i had this problem sometimes,the annoying thing was my practise swing would swish the grass smoothly then in the real shot i would dig in with all the power going to a nasty divot instead of ball,realised i was,nt keeping my eye on the ball plus tension was making me dig in,that was the difference between my practise swing and real one,in the practise swing i don,t need to hit a ball,managed to get that relax into real shpot now.

Would not taking a divot affect the (back)spin you put on a ball? I'd imagine you would reduce the amount of backspin by sweeping the ball as opposed to squeezing down on it. Does anyone know for sure if this is true or not? Thanks.

My fat shots were caused by me bending my knees too much at address. Once I kept my knees only slightly bent and bent forward at my waist at address, the fat shots were much reduced.

Wait wouldnt he need to place the ball further in front, say off left heel and make sure his weight is on his left foot? Then no swing thoughts and dont think you need to hit hard.

Triceps on your pecs, bend from the hip joints , flex the knees. Set the club head behind the ball and then set your feet for balance.

me I usually hit it chunky if i swayed to the right

nope... you can actually SEE the ball spinning so fast that it deforms for a split second..on some hits. I've noticed a change in spinnage on certain hits, but can't say why. I'm also no expert(or I'd be on TOUR instead of working here) ,however I have results w/o divoting most of my shots. I do divot from time to time, and the ball still does well,I hate hard dirt hitting the face of my clubs..when I've found that you really don't have to. Many Pros do, and it works for them........I ain't them. but I try to make contact @ the ball, not down thru the ball... it flies far enough(altho I may lose dist.), more importantly, straight...(when I do it all right). I hear the guys thumping the mats all around me, and all I hear at mine is "click". the thumps prob take a divot.

I've seen the ball deform of those slow motion videos . Recently, my irons have been sweeping the ball and not taking much of a divot, if any. I remember Jack Niklaus saying that he used to be able to practice all day in a piece of grass the size of a shoebox because he didn't take a divot. So, I was just wondering if I could get more backspin (should I "need" it) if I did try to take a divot. But I'll take straight over backspin any day. Thanks

...my thoughts,exactly,Bro!!

Biggest cause of fat (and thin) shots has already been mentioned. Poor weight transfer. It's not the only cause, but by far the biggest. Weight must be on the front foot at impact.

In taking a divot vs sweeping I use one swing thought. I try to hit the back of the ball and drive it forward and down. Many people try and "pinch" the ball between the ground and clubface but I find it's better to have a mental image of driving the ball into the ground about three inches in front. Of course that never happens as the ball is already off the club by then, but it helps me take a shallow divot, and not one too steep. When I want to sweep, like with my long irons and fairway woods, I just adjust it so that I hit it level and not down. The important thing is making solid contact with the back of the ball and that starts with proper weight transfer.

what could also be happening is you are lined up too far brhind the ball and at the top of your swing you are leaning left and hitting behind it making a crater...

Got it. Thanks.

Thanks again to everybody for the information/ideas.

I have had trouble with weight transfer in the past. Sometimes my weight slides too far back over my right foot due to improper hip turn. I'll make a trip to the driving range with notes from this thread and see if I can pin down what's going on. Thanks!

Here is a devastatingly simple solution, especially if your swing on other shots is sound. Go to the range and make full short iron swings with no ball at first. Concentrate on striking the ground, kind of hard, with the middle of the sole of your iron instead of with the leading edge. The club will not dig in. Really thump the ground. You will trim some grass but shouldn't dig into dirt. Then try it with balls - if you don't naturally do it set your hands a bit more forward so they lead the swing thru the hitting area. Please try it and let me know if it helps - it should be an easy fix.