golfrewind.com

Does a shot trajectory that is higher than usual mean I am coming in too steep towards the ball? I feel like I could get more distance if I could flatten out my shot trajectory a bit. Any thoughts?

A shot trajectory that is too high means that the shaft is leaning away from the target at impact to some degree. This adds loft to the club face. Causes can be:
ball too far forward in the stance,
releasing too early with the back of the forward hand cupped,
an open club face( ball will go right some also),
coming into the ball too steep would not cause these things. Usually it is releasing too early which would be coming into the ball too shallow.

I agree with what gary said, to add to that do you forward press at set up?

slightly

slightly? are hands ahead of ball?
just forward press and try to bring the club back to that position on the downswing with the hands in front of the ball. Invision trapping the ball at impact, dont try to scoop it up in the air

The backside of my right hand lines up with the front side of the ball. I'll try to keep the trapping image in mind next time. Thanks!

Another reason for an early release is getting stuck behind your hip with your rear elbow. it slows down the rear elbow and this allows the clubhead to pass the hands. If this is a/the problem, you need to fix it first or you will never be able to hold the wrist cock. make sure you are standing proper distance from your hands at address and your knees are not too flexed. butt of the club should be at least four-five inches away from your pelvic/lower stomach area, mine is right at 7.

Do you have a spin on the ball and if so which direction does it spin? Do you have a finish that is balanced and if so where is your weight while in the finish?

I think my shots have very little spin in general. I have a tendancy to hit it towards the right side but the balls fly straight not curving. Majority of my weight is on my front foot with a slight tendancy of the foot rolling over. I do feel some weight on the toe of my rear foot. On my better shots I'm not too sure where the weight is...I assume that I am in a balanced finish position as my bod doesn't sway or anything.

I too have this problem ,my ball trajectory seems to resemble an upside down v i don't strike the ball badly at all ,better ball strikers seem to have more of a flat spot in their ball flight,i understand about getting your hands more in front of the ball at impact, if we create more of an angle in our wrists i wil raise the clubhead off the ground more, when i try this i seem to top the ball , how do you get over this problem?

What you should envison is pinching the ball between the clubface and the ground. A great visual aid to accomplish this is to place a tee all of the way in the ground about 1/2 inch in front of the ball with your ball in about the center of your stance with a 7 iron. The objective is to ignore the ball and hit the tee creating the downward angle of attack.

If you have problems feeling your hands leading the golf club through impact, try this for feel. Take your address position without a ball, dragging the golf club, walk to the left (for right handed golfers) keeping your left wrist flat. This is what you should feel through impact...the hands leading the golf club.

I don't think there is much wrong with what you are doing from reading your posts so I would suggest you:

1. Check you alignment to make sure your foot line is parrallel to the ball line. It sounds like you could be aimed too right of the target or you are pushing the ball (club face and path are to the right at impact).

2. Make sure your grip is neutral. A weak grip or a cupping of the wrists can cause a higher shot and less distance.

3. To make sure your trajectory of the down swing is correct place a ball or tee about 4" to 6" inches behind the ball slightly on an inside path and brush the tee or ball away as you start the takeaway. This can help you work on a better "trajectory" for your back swing.

Note: I believe you have self diagnosed correctly in your original post.

I've only been golfing for two years. I started with a fairly inexpensive set and just purchased a new to me set of "good" irons and I just hit a few balls today to try them out. The golf season here in Maine ended a while ago so I hadn't really swung a club in about a month. I had quite a few misshits which I attribute to being a little rusty, but after I warmed up I noticed that i didn't seem to be hitting the ball as far as I was with my old cheap set and the trajectory of the ball was very high. On my old set my trajectory with short irons and wedges was high but my long irons were fairly low and quite a bit longer. I'm assuming my stance and swing were the same as with my old clubs so I have to assume it has something to do with the new clubs. I'm not sure if it could be the shafts as the flex is rated the same on both. If anyone has any ideas let me know. I would hate to have paid so much for golf clubs that are worse than my old set.

Hey i was going through the same thing. My old clubs were some Wilson Staff's and i hit them well. They were getting old and breaking on me(after 2 years), so i ended up buying new irons. I'm atleast a club short now, but i figure its because my new clubs are a little heavier and the trajectory is higher. I'm shorter now, but my scores are lower, probably because of the "game improvement" i hit more accurate shots. The way i figure it, so what if i used to hit a pitching wedge that now is a 8 or 9, as long as i hit the green i'm happy. i say just try to get used to your new clubs.

Question: higher traj means less bounce= best result in most cases?(especially w/i 100 yds)