Earlier this year, I spent a week working inside the ropes at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am alongside my friend and colleague GOLF Top 100 TeachersMike Dickson, teaching corporate hospitality lessons to tour guests. Over four days, we offered hundreds of mini-lessons (quick 10-25 minute sessions) for players of all skill levels. Most were mid-handicapper, a few were low single digits, and a couple were really playable. But regardless of the skill, the same issue kept appearing.
It wasn’t a bad grip or a poor stretch, but rather a misunderstanding of something much simpler: where the bottom wobbles.
What every golfer does wrong
At the beginning of almost every lesson, I would ask a simple question: “Where do you think? the low point of your swing is it?” Every single player gave the same answer: “on the golf ball.” It’s a logical answer, but it’s also the root of the problem.
The golf swing is circular in nature, and each circle has a lower point, which is the bottom of the swing. This low point is not on the ball; it is slightly forward, approximately below the armpit of the lead. Understanding this detail changes everything. If the ball is not on the low point, that means the club must hit the ball before it reaches the bottom of the arc.
When golfers try to force the ball to be low, their swing compensates in ways that create inconsistencies. The club drops too early, the hands stop driving, the wrist breaks and the clubhead goes past the body. This is when you see common absences and unreliable contacts.
What good players do instead
The best players don’t try to “help” the ball in the air or meet it at the end of the swing. They do the opposite. They keep the hands in front of the clubhead, maintain structure in the wrist and allow the club to continue traveling down through the stroke. The result is first contact with the ball, a drop shot and a split that starts in front of the ball. This is compression, and it comes from low point control rather than clubhead manipulation.
If you’re not sure where your low point is, the ground provides instant feedback. A split that starts behind the ball means that the low point is too far back, while a split that starts in front of the ball indicates that it is in the right position. It is a simple and reliable diagnosis.
If you want to work on your low point, try this the next time you’re on an interval. Take a 7-iron and sink it so that the handle goes just over your lead forearm, letting it rest there as you make small, controlled swings. Focus on keeping the wrist flat, maintaining the connection between the arm and the shaft, and feel the bottom of the club in front of the ball. It’s a straightforward way to train proper alignments and get instant feedback.
Most golfers don’t have a swing problem, they just have trouble understanding the concept. Once you realize that the ball isn’t low and you start to organize your swing around where the bottom of the arc actually happens, you’ll hit the ball harder, more consistently, and with more power.
