They make the mistake of trying to sweep the ball off the ground, sometimes even trying to lift the ball with the club. Even worse, the ego damage is compounded by a lousy result, which moves you only a little closer to the intended target. In your ready position and tilted away from the target line, your club head is going to look a little closed. Almost all of them have hit down on the ball with their driver instead of up. The basics of hitting up vs hitting down with driver dwg golf swing tips in order to have the. While trackman stats for the pga tour may show that on average tour players hit down on their driver 1. Loft is the angle from the leading edge of the club to the top edge. Go ahead and hold the golf club maintaining this tilt.
Hit up or hit down with driver rick shiels is joined by pga golf professional dan whittaker at quest golf academy and are going to. But you still must hit down on the ball in a attempt to take an air divot behind the ball. Youll also notice that the average pga tour player hits down on their driver attack angle 1. How to hit down on a ball to get it up in the air golfweek. But many amateur golfers have a misunderstanding of what hitting down on the golf ball actually is and they do it wrong. Most recreational golfers are hitting down on the ball with their drivers for a number of reasons, and because of that they are not optimizing their distance. Hit down on the golf ball and take a huge divot its not. Compressing the golf ball is the actual term that should be used. When you hit a few balls, youll understand the feeling of hitting down on the ball. How to hit down on the golf ball golf practice guides. And, if there is wind against you just put the ball a little further back in your stance to hit it lower.
The complete guide to maximizing driver distance everyone is currently focused on how far the pros are hitting the ball, and whether or not the golf ball should be rolled back. Poor setup and swinging down on the ball can cause golfers to hit drives with a high launch angle. If you have arthritis, you have probably experienced this pain. Hitting down on the golf ball why you shouldnt youtube. Golfers of all abilities struggle with how to hit driver. Hit through, not down on the ball march 12, 2016 the golf fixs michael breed debunks a common myth to hit down on the golf ball. This will help you shift to your front side on the downswing and swing into impact from inside the target line. This is a valid point that is worth your time to consider. Hit down on the ball means your iron should contact the ball before it hits the ground. Shots struck off the ground need to be hit with a descending blow and shots struck off an elevated tee are better when hit with an upward blow fact. Many golfers lose distance with their driver because they hit the ball with too high a launch angle. Also, with a ball on a tee, we are able to hit up on it as we have more distance between the ground and the ball.
Golf instructor sean foley shows you how to cure your slices and pulls by hitting down on the ball with your driver. In golf posture place your driver directly down against the front of your body so that the driver head is between your knees. Ive been told to hit up on the ball with a driver to maximize hang time and distance. But when you want to hit down on the ball, a center placement helps ensure that youll make contact with the ball just before your swing reaches its natural low point.
Five of out the topsix pga tour players in strokes gained driving last year hit up or level on the golf ball. This will help you shift to your front side on the downswing and. There are a variety of golf shots on the course that can be used to shape the ball from hole to hole. The loft on each club will get the ball in the air when you strike down on the ball. Hitting down on the golf ball with irons liveabout. Hitting down causes more spin and therefore more control. To hit a more conservative tee ball, i always choke down on the grip a full two inches no. Using a mid iron, you place the ball somewhere between your feet and behind the low point if your swing. Tips on hitting down with irons golf tips team titleist.
Hit down on the ball is a phrase that has been told to golfers struggling to improve their ball striking for decades. In fact, hitting up with a driver is beneficial for maximizing distance. A great way to think about the angle of attack in to the golf ball with an iron is to imagine the club head is an airplane coming in to land on a runway. The angle in which the ball comes off the club face is called the launch angle. Precision is always important, but distance is the main. The conventional wisdom has always been that better golfers will take a huge divot with their iron shots, and the key to compressing the golf ball is to produce an extremely steep club path towards impact. Make sure you are still in your same stance, and keep the club hovering in the air. Its hard to hit down on the ball if its way up in your stance, but moving it way back is no good, either. A good thought is to try to take a little divot after impact or to hit with the shaft leaning toward the target top photo. Many players struggle to hit their fairway woods solidly. The other consistent here is that all of these players have a driver club speed well over the average of 1 mph. In irons, the swing bottoms out just past the ball, the evidence is the divot.
The goal is to use your drive to hit the ball as far as possible down the fairway. The basics of hitting up vs hitting down with driver dwg golf. Hitting down on the ball is a great way to hit drivers. You hear a lot about hitting up on the ball with your driver good advice but little about doing the opposite. Basically, lessskilled players were hitting down on the ball while golfers who shoot in the 70s hit up on the ball. To properly hit down on the ball a golfer needs a good setup, wrist hinge and weight shift. Video 2 of 5 in the new series covering the common mistakes made when golfers try to make positive changes to their swings. To cure your slices and pulls, hit down on the ball with your driver. Instead, with your driver, you want to hit the ball on the upswing. How to hit down on the golf ball the golf fix golf channel. The club head comes into the ball on a flatter swing plane, enlarging the contact zone at the bottom of your swing arc.
How to hit down on a golf ball video by peter finch in this video series were going to look about why you should hit down on golf shots. The secret to hitting your driver better the left rough. That is unless you like digging squirrel graves with your irons and setting yourself up. Among the most useful of these to hit is the high, arching shot. Knowing which way the ball is likely to curve, plan a shot that gives you the best possible chance of finding the short grass. How to hit down on a golf ball video by peter finch. First, play the ball in line with the logo on your shirt, on the left side of your chest.
When golfers tend to think about hitting down, we usually. But as you know, a divot with your driver is the kiss of death. Some holes will be set up so that you have to use a 3, 5, or even 7 wood, or one of your irons, say if you are on a par 3. For the rest of us, just look to the lpga averages. If you can consistently strike the ball first and the sand after in a fairway bunker, you are well on your way to learning how to hit down on the golf ball. Now hitting down on golf shots, lets kind of break that down first of all and actually explain what that means. The slicer usually starts the downswing by forcing the right shoulder out toward the ball. That is unless you like digging squirrel graves with your irons and setting yourself up for a wrist injury. We have the golf swing and your total game boiled down to. While you mostly use a driver off the tee for a par 4 or par 5, you have options of another wood or iron. Top 3 ways to stop topping the golf ball ah, the topped shot. The very aspect of being able to tee your drive up allows for the club to approach the ball in an upwards sweeping motion. I guess i will play the driver in the middle of the stance and try to take a divot. I know what a good flight looks like and i already have one playing it off my right foot and trying to hit it just past the low point in my swing.
This video covers the concept of hitting down on your iron shots. You wont always use a driver when driving a golf ball. Amateur golfers commonly hit down with their drivers, like an iron shot. I tee the ball lower and farther back, maybe three inches inside my left instep. How to hit more fairways with your driver golficity. Many golfers fail to get maximum distance with their drivers. Trying to hit up on the ball when it lays on the ground is one of the biggest conceptual misunderstandings that the averagebeginning golfer has. When you do happen to hit the ground before the ball, a sweeping path will be more forgiving because the club head will be more likely to slide over the ground and into the ball. You might have been told to sweep the ball off the tee with your driver to maximize distance. Hit down with the driver sean foley show you how to cure your slices and pulls by hitting down on the ball with your driver.
This causes the ball to come off the driver with too much backspin. Most likely, you tend to curve the ball in one direction or the other when you swing a driver. For those looking to get penetrating wind drives, this video on how to hit up on the driver is for you. So the feeling in golf is hit down to make the ball come back up. A higher ball flight can allow you to clear trees and water, add length to your drive or land more softly on greens. You will be less likely to come down too early and steep, digging into the ground. They swing an average of about 95 mph and hit up on the ball about 5 degrees. As a good rule of thumb, tee the ball up so that half of the golf ball is above the top of your driver at address. How to hit down on a golf ball, to get the ball up video. But if you frequently hit slices or pulls, this swing. Many golfers make the mistake of positioning the ball too far forward.
If an upward hit is desired, as with a driver, the ball should be placed up in the stance and the golfer told only where the swing is to bottom out. Hit down on the ball seems contrary to our instincts golf is a difficult game, yet to so many of the uninitiated it might seem incredibly simple, says golf instructor clive scarff. To hit a lot of fairways with your driver, you need to be comfortable with your ball flight pattern. Thats right, you shouldnt try to hit down on the golf ball.
When you strike a golf ball with the driver, you hit the ball almost in the low point of your swing. After you get good at that, hit a couple of balls with a normal grip. By using a few swing and grip techniques, you can hit your irons with a higher trajectory. How to hit golf balls onto a higher trajectory golfweek. Sean foley on how to hit down on the ball with your driver golf. If your ball striking is struggling, one of the most common tips youll hear instructors tell you is that you need to hit down on the ball more. Sam snead used to hit balls barefoot in fairway bunkers to feel balance and a downward strike. With irons, wedges, and woods you want to hit down on the ball creating a divot. But actually the feeling of trying to hit the ball down will, in fact, make the ball just climb higher up into the air, certainly getting a better contact and certainly getting loads and loads of spin on the ball, which is always nice for a good play as well. Michael breed, host of the golf fix, shows you a drill on how to hit down on the golf ball. Hitting a driver with too much backspin will cause the ball to balloon up in the air and land with no roll, resulting in lost distance. Fiveof out the topsix pga tour players in strokes gained driving last year hit up or level on the golf ball. This will help promote a more neutral angle of attack but hopefully still help you strike the ball first followed by the turf.
Sergio garcia is the only one consistently down with the driver, but he is also swinging his driver at 123 mph on average. A good thought is to try to take a little divot after impact or to hit with the shaft leaning toward the target left. This causes the ball to float in the air and land with minimal roll. If you have a pga swing speed of 110125 mph, you can get away with it. Why you shouldnt hit down on the golf ball adam young golf. If you tee the ball down too low, you will be forced to hit down into the shot exactly what you should be trying to avoid. Simply tilt your spine away from the target until the club head touches the inside of your lead knee. However, a well hit fairway wood shot feels solid, and the loft of the club does all the work of getting the ball into the air. How i hit drives 56 yards farther with one adjustment. How to lower the launch angle of my drive golfweek. Every golf club has a certain amount of loft, which helps get the ball in the air. Do not sell my personal information golf digest may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our affiliate. If you are taking deep and hard divots after you hit the golf ball, you are sending a lot of force up through your hands, wrists, and joints that can cause pain.
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