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Help - Continue to hit behind the ball with my Irons

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GolfingDawg

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I hit 1 to 2 inches behind the ball with my irons about 4-5 times per round. I have gone thru many videos and articles of why this happens and am cognizant of making sure I am doing supposedly the right things when I set up and swing. I am a bogey golfer, but feel like this is setting me back from shooting lower scores. If anyone has a solid fire idea or has gone thru this and got it figured out, please post up. Much Thanks. Tired of hitting behind the ball on occassion.
 
When this happens to me, I'm tilting more instead of turning with my backswing
 
I've had and have the same issue. most recently they are really deep divots made worse by saturated turf. I think in my mind, I have gone to trying to pick the ball which causes the thin shot so i see only 1-2 deep divots but replace them with 5 thin shots. In the spirit of understanding the root cause- let me share what I think my root cause is and maybe it will help you,

when I feel pressure or excitement, I am taking way too much backswing. to get that much backswing, I think my trail (right hand) is lifting the club up at the top of the swing and in doing so it now owns control of the club. The trail hand can do nothing but throw itself at the back of the ball on a very steep angle. I also suspect that I'm letting my center of gravity move way back to my right foot. the solution starts with the way we hold the club, letting the lead arm stay in control and staying on balance.
 
It happens to me if I don’t turn my shoulders through the impact and try and flip my wrists at the ball. I’ve noticed at times my hands come apart at impact, which tells me one is fighting the other.
 
@GolfingDawg I struggled with this earlier in the season.

Take some Dr. Scholl’s foot spray to the range. Draw a line in the turf. Take 10 practice swings without the ball. The only goal is to take a divot one front of that line. Record your results.

Once you can get 7 or 8 out of 10 divots in front of the line, try it with a ball. Don’t worry about the result of the shot: the goal is to hit the ball first, period

It’s likely that placing the ball in the way will lead to reverting back to hitting it chunky. Our brains tend revert to old pathways under stress.

If you can’t hit the ball first more than 3 out of 10 times, take it away and go back to the no-ball drill.

It’s not my drill, btw, it’s from Adam Young’s “The Practice Manual” which I highly recommend. I went from a 16 down to an 8 this season based on a few of the concepts in his book.

Out on the course, we’re likely to revert to chunks since we’re under pressure. The only swing thought I allow myself at address is “ball first.”

Good luck!
 
One thing that helped me cut down on my fat shot was working on my backswing. I wasn't rotating my upper body enough, it was mostly an arm swing that broke down at the top in an effort to make what I thought was a "full" swing. Everything was out of whack and nothing was synced up, plus my arms as a whole didn't have any sort of stability. Working on shoulder turn and feeling where my hands/arms should stop on the backswing really helped things to not break down when I started the downswing, and the bonus was it helped me learn to have a solid rotation through the ball. My divots got shallower and I now hit the little ball before the big ball a lot more often.
 
I, too have done this, even off the tee. I have always been a picker type of player with my irons, but once in a while, hit the turf behind the ball. I get sloppy late in the round. I refocus, and straighten up, and think contact with the ball. Swing thru the ball, club going over my shoulder at finish. I try not to get to handsy, as I am a senior, and don't turn as much as I used to. I don't try to kill the ball, as this WILL surely make me hit the ground. Sorry this is not more instructive, but just swing thoughts I have when this happens.
 
blugold said:
For me, happens when I don't rotate to my left side in the down swing. If I'm all arms on the way down, I'm taking a pre-divot. Gotta rotate through.
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yes, i see this too! on the really fat shots I doubt my follow-through gets to waist high and I don't think the turf is the only reason.
 
Turning, in tempo with the arms, is very important to good ball contact. Swinging thru the ball is all important to a good swing with distance. Trying to keep all in sync is always a work in progress...
 
For me I hit fatties due to a poor weight shift. I'm either not warmed up, or I get lazy, and have too much weight left on my back foot as the club head is releasing into the ball.

My poor weight transfer contributes to a poor sequence in my swing, and leaves me lowering my rear shoulder, which puts the low point of my swing behind the ball.

One of my fixes is to put the ball farther forward in my stance than normal. This causes me to "reach for it", which get me into a better weight transfer. Once I start hitting pulls, and pull hooks, I move ball back to straighten those out.

When playing, fat shots for me, are a lot like shanks. They just show up when I lose focus, and get lazy.
 
I really make a concerted effort to shift my weight toward the target before I even start the down swing. I know when I hit it fat, it's because I didn't transfer that weight properly.

A drill to work on at the range is to place a towel flat behind the ball about 4-6 inches. When striking the ball, you shouldn't even touch the towel.
 
Rotation is key as others have said. Another drill that I've found really helps is to pick a spot an inch in front of the ball and pretend like that's what you're trying to hit. It seems like a wonky band-aid that won't translate to a natural on-course swing but the more you do it the more natural it gets. You also think it might mess you up the other 90% of the time when you wouldn't have chunked but it doesn't, at least for me.
 
Reminds me of an old song, Love the One you're with.
a line of lyrics in that song; "concentration slip away".
SEE what you're gonna do, rehearse it, step up and repeat.
Yeah, I know. Easier said than done.
If we could all do it, we'd all be pro's or at least scratch golfers.:)
 
PuffChippy said:
Rotation is key as others have said. Another drill that I've found really helps is to pick a spot an inch in front of the ball and pretend like that's what you're trying to hit. It seems like a wonky band-aid that won't translate to a natural on-course swing but the more you do it the more natural it gets. You also think it might mess you up the other 90% of the time when you wouldn't have chunked but it doesn't, at least for me.
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Can put a tee in the ground in front of the ball and try to hit that tee.
 
@GolfingDawg Do you know why you are doing it? For me it’s about moving my belt buckle closer to the ball and casting/early release. Until you know the answer to this Q you are just guessing at the fix.
 
The simplest way is to make a practice swing and note where the divot starts. If there is no divot make another swing. Take note of where the divot starts in relation to your stance. Make sure when setting up for the actual shot, the ball is slightly behind the low point in the practice swing. We have to play with the swing we bring to the course on the day so we need to be sensible in managing our game.
 
Could be a lot things in your swing, don't know without vid. A good portion of golfers hit fat mainly because of lack of weight shift, not moving left in the swing.
 
Is your ball position too far forward?
Are you flipping through impact (releasing the club too early)?
There are other, more subtle causes, but these are common causes and the easiest ones to fix, as I see things.
 
I hit chunky when I start casting. I have to focus on getting my hands through before the clubhead.
 
Some reasons I hit chunky are hit impulse, lack of weight shift, and thinking too much of hitting to right field. All of my issues boil down to improper weight shift. I don’t really drill anything. Honestly i just recently diagnosed it. I’ve been practicing moving my knee parallel to target instead of towards the target. This fixes a flaw my instructor wanted me to work on and makes me more consistent. I still cast but I’m beginning to hit the ball first more often.
 
hackitup said:
I’ve been practicing moving my knee parallel to target instead of towards the target.
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Wait, can you say more about this? Everything else you said perfectly describes my issues as well, so I'm super intrigued. But I'm not following parallel to target vs toward the target.
 
In the one lesson I had with Hank Haney many years ago, he said taking the club back too far to the inside will contribute to this. Golfers with an excellent weight shift can get away with it.
 
lazychicken said:
Wait, can you say more about this? Everything else you said perfectly describes my issues as well, so I'm super intrigued. But I'm not following parallel to target vs toward the target.
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Hopefully a picture is worth a thousand words.

514D06A7-077C-4E95-9575-AA91522265EB.png

I’ve been driving my knee towards the target like the inside line on the middle picture. I’m trying to drive my knee more like the left picture. It’s a very subtle distinction but in the past 3 weeks it’s had a pretty big impact.
 
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