Do you hit your iron shots fat and to the right?
Stop hitting the ground behind your iron shots.
When it comes to hitting iron shots off of the ground there is one mishit that is a killer. Hitting the ground behind the golf ball is one of the most no-nothing shot in golf. They are painful physically and emotionally. The sting you get when you clunk the ground with a five can be felt three days later. I know… enough already let’s get on with the lesson on how to correct the mishit.
First I want to explain why you do it and then I am going to tell you how to correct it. When you swing a golf club away from the golf ball you have to swing it back and up on an arc. If you swing the golf club too much outside in the backswing it will return too steep in the downswing. When the golf club arrives too steep in the downswing you will contact the top of the ball or hit a fat shot to the left. THIS IS NOT YOUR MISTAKE.
Your mistake is quite the opposite. You swing the golf club too much from the inside in the downswing. Your club is what we refer to as being inside the path heading to the outside. The golf club is swinging too close to you in the downswing and after it makes contact with the ground it swings too much away from you. That is where the term in-to-out comes from.
Now it’s time for the correction.
#1 Check your ball position. Often times when golfers hit the ground behind the golf ball they address the ball too far back in there stance. One of the ways to make contact is to swing the club from the inside too much. It is kind of a double edge sword.
#2 Make sure your shoulders are not aimed miles to the right. The club has a tendency to swing along your shoulder line.
#3 This is the best kept secret in the world. The golf club not only swings back on an arc behind the ball it also must swing around on an arc after contact. After the club makes contact it can either swing too much to the right (your mistake), too straight towards the hole or left of the hole on an arc around you.
#4 The next time out I have a great remedy for you. As you address the golf ball, aim it at the target. The next time you look up-look left of the target (bunker left of the green). Your aimed at the target but you are looking left of the target and THINKING left. After impact make sure the clubhead swings around on an arc and not out to the right.
Join me tomorrow with some more backspin secrets.
Golfingly yours,
Bobby
