golfrewind.com

Hi I am a new member and a new golfer.
My problem is I tend to top the ball i.e. I hit the ball but it never gets up, and often only goes a few yards, when I do make a good connection the ball does go straight, but happens infrequently, any ideas as to remedy this. This seems to happen on all irons but the longer the iron the worse the problem


mmi1

Welcome to the forum mmi1!!!

Topping the ball means that you hit the top half of the ball and it squirts 20 or 30 yards (or feet) forward. It can be caused by a breaking of the wrists, just prior to impact, which sends the clubhead on an upward path before it strikes the ball, grip pressure or sliding back during the back swing. The good news is that these can be fixed.

WRISTS
If your wrists are breaking before impact it could be ball position.

FIXKeep the ball in the middle of your stance at address so you strike the ball when the club is at the bottom of its swing arc. When the ball is too far forward in your stance you are hitting the ball on the upswing (and you are trying to lift the ball into the air) or after the club head has past the bottom of its arc and is on its way up.

Another Tip:
topped shot that does not get airborne.
This is usually caused by a poor transfer of your weight. On your backswing, your weight should shift gradually to the right. On the downswing, it must shift back to the left. Your goal should be a balanced finish with your weight on the left side using your right tip toe as a balance point

Possibly standing up on your downswing?
This seems to be the case for me. I focus on maintaining the same amout of knee flex throughout the swing.

Slow your swing down! Topping is often a result of a bad tempo and coming out of the swing too early.

Most people top the ball cause they're trying to get it in the air.

The club is angled for a reason. Brush the grass and let the ball get in the way... let the clubface do the work of getting the ball in the air. It's a machine, so let it do it's job.

I have that same issue. Although I don't top it often, I come over the top and hit it extremely fat and on the toe, sending it shooting leftwards (I'm a lefty).

Well, atleast you can remember to bend you knees. I found myself starting off the other day with absolutely no knee flex at all.. no wonder it didn't feel right.

THANKS for all your advice, MMi1

Do not think of "keeping your eye on the ball" - your eyes see the top of the ball and your hands will swing the club at the top making the ball spin toward the ground.

1.Work on stroking the grass or tee lower than the ball as you swing to the target.

2.Lighten grip pressure and tenson in the body. When you tence arms will shorten during impact and cause the club to swing high through impact

I find that most tops come from either raising up during the swing of from shorting of the radius, pulling the arms and hands in toward the body. The fix is to stay centered during the swing and to swing the club out away from your body to extend to the ball. Hope this helps.

You are trying to "pick the ball up" off the ground. Let the loft of the club do that. Hit DOWN on the back of the ball, the loft will get it in the air.

Although ball compression is a must to get that nice, high trajectory that so many amateurs strive for, and to get the distance you want, I have found the phrase 'hitting down' to be a bit of a contradiction to the phrase 'oh, and make sure you follow through!' While I get the intent of this motion, it seems to contradict itself in that you want to swing 'through' the ball, don't you? Not AT the ball... so in reality, compression should occur as a natural result of your swing, keeping your head behind the ball and maintaining the proper lag and releasing the power from your flat wrist and hips INTO the point where the ball LIES, not HITTING DOWN specifically.

What do you guys think?

Hitting down means to catch the ball first before the gound. When this happens the club is making contact with the ball as it is moving at its fastest causing the ball to be compressed:

1. when the ball is compressed it flattens agains the face of the club so the ball leaves at one angle causing better direction. If the ball doesn't compress or flatten then it leaves at many angles off of the clubface.

2. once compressed the ball then regains it round shape (elastic energy) and when this happens the ball speeds up gaininng better distance.

3. for example if the club is moving at 100 miles per hour when it makes contact with the ball the club slowes down to 76 miles per hour and when the ball regains its round shape it will speed up to 120 miles per hour.

i see a lot of beginners at the Muni i pay at

nearly all top the ball when trying to hit too hard

negative weight transfer ! they rock back off the ball .....