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Why you’re hitting fat shots and how to fix them

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Hitting the ball fat is one of the most costly shots in golf. It’s embarrassing, the ball goes almost nowhere, and sometimes it even hurts. A player can hit the ball thin and get away with it most of the time, but fat is a killer.

In order to correct your fat shots, you first have to know what KIND of fat shot you’re hitting.

You can hit the ball fat from having an angle of attack (AoA) that is too steep or one that is too shallow. You can hit it fat from having too inside of a swing path or one that is too outside. Fat shots can also be caused by a release that is too early, moving your swing center too far off the ball, or even a reverse weight shift. By knowing your OWN swing habits, you can get to the correction straight on.

In this story, I’ll discuss the four most common causes of fat shots and how to fix them.

From Steep AoA

Steep, fat shots are kind of obvious; they leave big holes in the ground. They are the most costly ones because the ground behind the ball does not give very much when you hit it. So if this mishit is your problem, you’ll need to shallow out your attack angle a bit.

There are a few ways to accomplish this.

First check your posture. Be sure you’re giving yourself enough room to swing your arms down through the ball.

Many people who hit the turf before the ball are pleasantly surprised when they simply raise their swing center a bit at address. You may also try standing just a little bit further from the ball.

Also, consider flattening your swing plane a little. An image here might be a bird diving into the water opposd to one gliding into it. Your swing action might feel more around instead of up and down. A bigger, more level shoulder turn in the backswing with the arms swinging more across the chest can help you shallow out your attack angle.

You might try hitting balls on a sidehill lie above your feet to get a feeling of a flatter action. See my previous article on swing plane for more. 

From Shallow AoA

Shallow fat shots are a little more difficult to detect, but they are fat shots nonetheless. I think of these as “drop kicks,” which happen when the sole of the club just “scuffs” the ground behind the golf ball. There are no deep divots here, just less than solid contact from brushing the grass first.

In this case, you’ll need a steeper attack angle. There are a few ways to accomplish this. Again, check your posture. Be sure you have sufficient hip bend at address with your arms hanging naturally under your shoulders and your rear end extended. You may also consider moving in a little closer to the golf ball to help you swing a little more vertically.

Reach for the sky in the backswing; get your arms and club to swing more upright. Your shoulders should feel a steeper turn and your pivot should stay fairly centered. In this swing your lead arm can come off the chest a little and swing up, less around than when trying to shallow out your angle. And be sure to feel a more aggresive turn through the ball as you swing. You must get to your left side into impact; hanging back on the right side is a common cause of a shallow attack angle.

From Posture

There is also the fat shot that is caused by posture loss during the downswing, and it’s usually a pretty significant crash into the terra firma!

I see this a lot with students who RAISE up going back and then try to rectify it by diving back down on their downswing. Try to remain level and turn around a more fixed center as you swing. Hitting ball on a sidehill below your feet can help this feeling.

From Casting

Finally, there is “casting,” or too early of a release that can cause fat shots. When the lead arm and club get extended too soon (from the inside) you’ll crash.

This one is almost always associated with an inside-out path and insufficient pelvic rotation into impact. It’s the “hang-back-and-cast” move.

If you are an early releaser of the club, you need to be keenly aware of getting off your back foot early in the downswing. The reason this is an inside-out related swing issue is because if you come over the top with an early release, you usually do not crash. But casting from the inside is a death move.

The Bottom Line: If you tend to hook the ball, your miss is probably a shallow fat shot shot. If you tend to slice the ball, your miss is most likely a steep fat shot.

Thinking about the corrections above will help both issues.

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Dennis Clark is a PGA Master Professional. Clark has taught the game of golf for more than 30 years to golfers all across the country, and is recognized as one of the leading teachers in the country by all the major golf publications. He is also is a seven-time PGA award winner who has earned the following distinctions: -- Teacher of the Year, Philadelphia Section PGA -- Teacher of the Year, Golfers Journal -- Top Teacher in Pennsylvania, Golf Magazine -- Top Teacher in Mid Atlantic Region, Golf Digest -- Earned PGA Advanced Specialty certification in Teaching/Coaching Golf -- Achieved Master Professional Status (held by less than 2 percent of PGA members) -- PGA Merchandiser of the Year, Tri State Section PGA -- Golf Professional of the Year, Tri State Section PGA -- Presidents Plaque Award for Promotion and Growth of the Game of Golf -- Junior Golf Leader, Tri State section PGA -- Served on Tri State PGA Board of Directors. Clark is also former Director of Golf and Instruction at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. Dennis now teaches at Bobby Clampett's Impact Zone Golf Indoor Performance Center in Naples, FL. .

12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. Gian11

    Apr 13, 2016 at 10:13 pm

    Spot on. I have this problem before and the cause is from shallow aoa.

  2. cody

    Feb 12, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    could you explain what you mean by this statement? ” If you are an early releaser of the club, you need to be keenly aware of getting off your back foot early in the downswing.”

    I know that I lose posture and my right heel comes off the ground fast, but I do not rotate well. Seems that this statement may be related. i would like more explanation here. Thanks.

  3. Dennis Clark

    Jan 23, 2015 at 5:36 pm

    Several really; try this: Put an aim stick 2 inches behind the ball. Rest the club on the aim stick and try hitting some wedges without hitting the stick. Carefully!

  4. Ponjo

    Jan 23, 2015 at 1:16 pm

    I have been getting encouraged to get off the back foot by setting the club 6 – 9 inches behind the ball. This is probably the most beneficial movement I have been taught.

  5. Jarrette Schule

    Jan 23, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    any range drill suggestions for an early releaser such as myself?

  6. W. Scott

    Jan 22, 2015 at 5:23 pm

    Great article. I need the help. Thanks! Scott

  7. derek

    Jan 21, 2015 at 4:19 pm

    “Many people who hit the turf before the ball are pleasantly surprised when they simply raise their swing center a bit at address”
    I am not sure what u mean by this? please explain.

    • Dennis Clark

      Jan 21, 2015 at 7:16 pm

      Stand up a bit; don’t bend as much at the hips. Give you more room to swing your arms.

  8. Phat

    Jan 21, 2015 at 2:37 am

    Thanks Dennis, not sure if it fits somewhere in your summary above, but there’s also Trevino’s old simple tip of checking that your first few fingers of the left hand have an adequate grip on the top end of the shaft/grip. It seems to help me, so would that be mainly to prevent casting? Fix one flaw and you sometimes create another, it would seem…!

    • Dennis Clark

      Jan 21, 2015 at 7:57 am

      yes good point…pressure on the little and ring figure of the top hand is mostly an anti-hook measure (as mentioned by Hogan and Tom Watson most recently) but also retards ulnar deviation (casting). Very true.

  9. Nolanski

    Jan 20, 2015 at 9:46 am

    Thanks Dennis. I’ve been struggling with hitting fat shots all of 2014. Unfortunately I live in MI and will only be able to hit off turf. Maybe I’ll put a broken tee or something 2-3 inches behind my ball to be able to tell if I’m hitting fat.

    • Dennis Clark

      Jan 20, 2015 at 6:23 pm

      I hope this helps. If you’re an early releaser, stay on your left side as much as possible

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Instruction

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

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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?

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How a towel can fix your golf swing

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This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.

For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.

Setup

You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.

While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.

Get a Better Shoulder Turn

Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.

In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.

Stay Better Connected in the Backswing

When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.

Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.

Conclusion

I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.

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Instruction

Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks

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You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!

 

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