Instruction
Why am I topping the ball?
The first rule of golf is that golf is a game of opposites -– remember this for later.
One of the most frustrating shots in golf is a topped shot — normally the ball doesn’t travel very far and it is a wasted shot making the hole even harder to complete in par.
The flip side of a topped shot is the effect it has on your psyche, the more you top the ball, the more inclined you are to try and get underneath the ball. This is a natural reaction that exaggerates the fault and makes the results worse.
So how do you stop topping? The first step is to understand the dynamics of a well-struck shot opposed to a topped one, what I will explain concerns an iron shot in particular.
The swing arc
If you can imagine on the downswing, or use a club while reading this, the club comes down toward the ground then goes up again toward the finish making an arc. What most people do not understand, and the information that will help you cure a top, is that the bottom of the swing or arc should be ahead of the ball with very few exceptions. In other words, to hit the ball correctly, your swing must have a descending blow.
Impact sequence
The correct sequence for impact is ball then turf contact, which is why all good iron shots produce a divot after the ball. If you watch top golfers, they always either take a divot or brush the grass after impact. The club hits the ball, enters the turf, bottoms out then soon afterwards starts to ascend through to the finish.
The first rule
At the top of this article, I asked you to remember the first rule of golf. So let’s explain it; in golf, to get the ball in the air, you must swing down into the ground. This opposes every natural instinct we have in sports, in most sports you have to get underneath and behind the ball to get it in the air. The posture this produces is a tilting back position which is great for a lob shot in tennis but not for a golf shot. If you want to kick a football in the air you lean back and hit underneath — think about other sports you play.
How does this affect me?
If you understand the dynamics of impact and how it relates to your swing you can change and improve your technique. This knowledge will not eradicate all top shots but at least you know why it happens and what you need to do to make sure you hit the next one in the air.
There are a few ways you can get the feeling for a correct impact position. First, start with a wedge or a club you are comfortable with, swing back normally, then on your downswing concentrate on taking a divot after the ball; you can put a club down at 90 degrees to your target line but pointing at your ball -– this gives you a reference after your shot for where the ball was and where your club bottomed out in relation to the ball. Second, without a ball, a great drill is to put a tee into the ground at 45 degrees pointing away from the target, practice your downswing slowly and stop at impact. The idea is for the center of the club face to make contact with the top of the tee, this gives you a real exaggerated feeling for where your body and hands should be to get a descending blow.
- LIKE6
- LEGIT0
- WOW1
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP1
- OB0
- SHANK2
Instruction
Clement: Laid-off or perfect fade? Across-the-line or perfect draw?
Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
- LIKE0
- LEGIT0
- WOW0
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK1
Instruction
The Wedge Guy: The easiest-to-learn golf basic
My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
More from the Wedge Guy
- The Wedge Guy: Golf mastery begins with your wedge game
- The Wedge Guy: Why golf is 20 times harder than brain surgery
- The Wedge Guy: Musings on the golf ball rollback
- LIKE88
- LEGIT15
- WOW6
- LOL1
- IDHT0
- FLOP4
- OB1
- SHANK8
Instruction
Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!
Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
- LIKE0
- LEGIT3
- WOW2
- LOL0
- IDHT0
- FLOP0
- OB0
- SHANK2
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
Justin Thomas on the equipment choice of Scottie Scheffler that he thinks is ‘weird’
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
‘Absolutely crazy’ – Major champ lays into Patrick Cantlay over his decision on final hole of RBC Heritage
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
Brandel Chamblee has ‘no doubt’ who started the McIlroy/LIV rumor and why
-
19th Hole2 weeks ago
LET pro gives detailed financial breakdown of first week on tour…and the net result may shock you
-
19th Hole6 days ago
Gary Player claims this is what ‘completely ruined’ Tiger Woods’ career
-
Whats in the Bag1 week ago
Team McIlowry (Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry) winning WITBs: 2024 Zurich Classic
-
19th Hole3 weeks ago
TaylorMade signs 15-year-old AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year to an NIL contract
-
19th Hole9 hours ago
Report: LIV star turns down PGA Championship invite due to ‘personal commitments’
David Gouldstone
Mar 7, 2013 at 9:41 am
This is a great article and very clear, I will put it into practice
Steve Hedderick
Feb 24, 2013 at 10:20 am
Clear and concise – just the way Alastair teaches.
Brian Eccles
Feb 24, 2013 at 10:07 am
Great instruction clearly explained as usual
SamBagley
Feb 21, 2013 at 4:06 pm
Couldn’t have been put more clearer. I try to imagine squeezing the ball into the turf with that decending blow.
Great tuition from Alistair
Carole
Feb 21, 2013 at 1:48 pm
Great article Alistair, will put into practice
sylvia
Feb 21, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Very informative article, great tutor.
Suds
Feb 21, 2013 at 11:14 am
Brilliant Alistair is an ace guy, Excellent review will put into practice .
paul croake
Feb 21, 2013 at 6:13 am
excellent article