Why You Must Hit Down on the Ball to Make It Go Up

Golf is a difficult game. Yet to so many of the uninitiated it might seem incredibly simple. The objective is to strike a ball ... that is just sitting there. After all, how tough can it be? It's not like baseball, or tennis, where the ball is moving as we attempt to make contact with it. It's not like hockey, where someone is trying to knock you down. And if it is, rethinking your choice of foursome should perhaps be the bigger priority.

Why is it then, in golf, that this stationary ball is so difficult to hit? Why do we even miss it completely at times?

Golf is difficult - deceptively so - due to our perception of how to get the ball airborne. We want the ball to go up, and our natural inclination is to hit up at it. However, we need to hit down.

Part of this initial deception in golf lies in the fact that the ball is round, and our clubface is lofted (angled back). On first look it might appear that our goal is to slide the lofted clubhead under the ball, striking its lower half on the upswing, and thus driving - or lifting - the ball into the air. However, it is critical to note that the golf club has not been designed to get under the ball to lift it. It has been designed to strike the ball as the clubhead is descending - on the downswing.

The face of the club will then contact the surface of the golf ball just prior to reaching the bottom of the swing arc. As a result, the ball becomes trapped between the descending clubface and the ground. The ball compresses. Because the face of the clubhead is lofted, the ball - rather than be driven into the ground as a downward hit might imply - will spin backwards up the clubface, decompress (adding energy to its escape) and climb into the air. The angle at which the ball climbs (trajectory) will be directly related to the loft of the club we have chosen for the shot.

Unfortunately, until the technicalities of hitting down are fully explained, hitting up seems, on the surface, more logical. If we want something to go up, we tend to hit up at it. If I gave you a tennis ball, and a racket, and asked you to hit the ball up into the air - what would you do? You would lower your racket and strike up at the tennis ball. And the tennis ball would go up. It's logical. So why wouldn't it be logical with golf too?

Certainly - on the surface anyway - hitting down at something you want to go up, is not logical. And until it becomes logical, your muscles may resist as a result. Gaining a firm understanding of the golf swing - and especially the mechanics of "hitting down" - is vital to programming muscle memory. And good muscle memory in golf is essential, so you can stop worrying about your swing, and concentrate on the game itself.

ON the 6th at Belle Isle Course near Lynchburg, Va., a golfer found his ball wedged firmly between the roots of a large pine tree. " Son," he asked his caddy, "what kind of a shot do you think this situation calls for?" I think I know sir, replied the caddy, reaching into his bag for the bourbon.

I once heard a story about Jack Nicklaus' reaction to a missed putt. A fan, the story goes, said to Jack after missed a short putt, "Sorry you missed that one, Jack." Jack's response was: "I didn't miss the putt. It just didn't go in."
Jack was right. He hit the line and speed he wanted, so in his mind everything was fine. This mental approach protected his self-image and allowed him to move on without dwelling on it like many of us do after missing a short putt. By doing so, he prevented the miss from affecting his self-confidence on future putts. In other words, he just let it go!
Getting mad at yourself over a lack of performance is non-productive and can erode your confidence. The human body is not a machine. Some days it works better that others, and for many different reasons.
So when you see yourself starting to get mad or losing your focus, think to yourself, "I did the best I could, given all the circumstances," and let it end there.
My point is simple: Stop putting yourself down.
Think about the things you are telling yourself on the course. Ever heard the expression, "What you eat, you are?" Well, "what you think, you are."
Everything you tell yourself is programming, so make it productive. Choose carefully what you think about. Don't work against yourself.
Most negative dialogue is a bad habit that you can change. You start first by listening to what you are telling yourself, recognizing the negative and working to put an end to the negative. Once you start, it's easy to change your internal dialogue to focus on the things you want to achieve.
Here's an example:
The old you: "I hate chip shots." Or, "I always chunk my chip shots."
The instant you hear yourself starting up the negative stuff, say to yourself, "stop," and don't allow yourself to finish the negative thought. Now change that negative into something productive.
The new you: "I want to get this chip close." Or, "I am going to make this."
Tell yourself what you want to do. Whether you make a good chip is not the point. What is the point is that over the long run, your new, positive dialogue will take you to a new level of play throughout the whole game.


"Why are there no worms in any of my divots caddy?" Probably all hiding under the ball, sir.

Chin Up

If you're driving the golf ball poorly and not very consistent, let me give you these two golf swing instruction pearls. They go hand in hand.

And I promise you this will help you find out if your problem with your driver is in the backswing.

For you to become a really good driver of the golf ball and consistent, the shoulders have to turn. The only way they can turn in the backswing is if you have your chin up and not down.

Most mistakes that I’ve seen with amateur golfers in their difficulties of driving the golf ball is their posture.

Their head is too far down. The only thing your shoulders can do is go up in the air. You won’t have the ability to swing the golf club around you. You won’t have the chance of your shoulders turning.

So, the best golf swing instruction I can give you is, the next time out, after you’ve addressed the golf ball, gone through your routine and you're almost ready to swing the golf club back, simply lift your chin up in the air an inch or two. And don’t forget that your shoulder should turn in the backswing.

If you have your chin up, the shoulder can turn around it. From there, you can really let it fly in the downswing.

Again, chin up, not down, promotes the shoulders turning in the backswing.

Try that the next time out and I promise you it’ll help you.

Thanks.

Golf is for backward Americans: They talk nothing but golf at the office and nothing but business on the links.

STOP PUSHING!!!!

Try this:

Tee up a ball, and take your stance with your feet 12 inches apart. Try hitting some drives like this. The narrow stance will make your lower body less likely to turn too aggressively on the downswing. You want to feel your arms swinging down and releasing past your body.

A good release keeps the ball from going right. If the arms and wrists are tense, they block the natural rotation and release of the club. To release tension, hold the club up in front of you, and make circles in the air using only your wrists. If your wrists are loose it will be easy to do.


" Now that I'm wealthy enough to afford lost balls," complained an older golfer, I can't hit them far enough to loose them."

Timing is Everything!

Let’s spend a couple of minutes talking about one of the three most abused and misunderstood golf swing fundamentals, timing. It’s an important term but it’s misused a lot. So, let me explain to you what timing is, and then it’ll draw you a lot closer to understanding when you're struggling.

Timing is your ability to swing your arms and hands back to the golf ball as your hip turns out of the way. And the reason it has to turn out of the way is so the arms and hands can pass your body and wrap around you. That’s the definition, no more, no less.

Now, I have gone to the golf course many days where I’ve hit the ball beautifully, solid, straight right. So, my timing was off a bit because my body was turning out in front of my golf club and that was sending it off to the right.

Now, the correction would be to slow the bottom half down and speed up the top part. There have been days where my timing has been off because the arms and hands were quicker than the bottom.

How do you correct that? Speed up the bottom and it’ll catch up with the arms and hands, and that will help that.

Now, how do you fix your timing? That’s probably the most difficult question in the game of golf. How do you get your timing back? I believe that if you can’t hit your pitching wedge, you probably aren’t hitting your 5 iron and your 5 wood and your driver.

So, I love to send people out to the practice facility to hit thousands of pitching wedges and work on their golf swing fundamentals. That, to me, is the easiest way to find your timing.

Now, let’s say that your favorite club in your golf bag is your driver and you're driving the ball beautifully. Then go hit a thousand drivers. Or maybe it’s a 5 wood or a 5 iron. Whatever club you're struggling with, stay way away from that one.

Go to the club that you're doing well with. And if you're not doing well with any of them, then go to a pitching wedge.

Now, the next question most difficult after that: How do you know when your timing’s off? I believe that your timing is off when your miss/hit pattern is not consistent. One’s fat, one’s thin, one’s top, one’s good, one’s to the left, one’s to the right. That’s a great indication that your timing’s off.

Find your favorite club and go to the practice tee and hit ten thousand of them and remember when you hit the golf ball to think of the golf swing fundamentals.

Thanks and have a great day.

"Idiot! Your ball hit me in the eye! I'll sue you for 5 million dollars!" I said fore' I'll take it!