You have hit another fat. The club punches the ground behind the ball, sending a divot flying and the ball dribbles forward several yards. You have tried keeping his head down. You have tried to stand your ground. You tried swinging easier. You’ve tried a dozen different fixes that your friends have suggested. But you still catch it heavy more often than you’d like. The problem is not what you think it is, and the fix is ​​probably the opposite of what seems natural.
What is wrong with everyone
Most golfers think fat shots come from lifting or standing up through the swing. So they focus on staying down, keeping their head still, maintaining the angle of their spine. That’s not wrong, but it’s not the real point.
The real culprit is trying help the ball in the air. You see the ball sitting on the ground and your brain tells you to get under it. So you hang back on your right leg (if you’re right-handed) and try to grab it. You are trying to lift the ball with the club.
This feels helpful. Looks like he’s doing the club work for him. But it is exactly what causes fat.
When your weight stays behind, low point your swing moves back, too. The club stands behind the ball. You hit the ground first and then the ball. This is a fat shot. And the more you try to help him, the worse it gets.
Why this matters more than mechanics
I’ve seen players with beautiful swings hit it over and over again. I’ve seen players with ugly swings make clean contact every time. The difference is not swing planethe angles of the wrist or the curve of the shoulders. It’s where they’re trying to make the club bottom.
Good contact requires the club to reach its lowest point at or just ahead of the ball. This only happens when your weight moves forward through impact. When you stand back to help the ball rise, physics works against you. The club cannot bottom before where your weight is.
This is why fat shots feel so inconsistent. Sometimes you get away with hanging because you catch the ball first by accident. Sometimes you don’t. You never know which one you will get. Your brain learns that contact is unpredictable, so you start steering and steering, which makes everything worse.
The club has lofts for one reason: to get the ball in the air. It’s not your job to lift it. Your job is to hit it and let the club do what it was designed to do.
What actually works
The adjustment is counterintuitive. In order not to hit it fat, you have to hit it DOWN more. You have to shift your weight forward and trust the loft to lift the ball.
At kick, your weight should be on your front foot. Not 50-50. Not 60-40. More like 70-30 or 80-20. Your chest should be above or even past the ball. The shaft should be bent forward, hands in front of the club head.
This creates a downward stroke. The club hits the ball first and then makes a split in front of where the ball was. The ball compresses against the clubface, the loft shoots up, and you get that crisp, clean contact that feels light.
At first it feels wrong. It feels like you are driving the ball into the ground. But that’s exactly what you need to do. Hit to make the ball go up. This is not a cliché. This is how irons work.
What do good players do differently?
Watch a pro hit an iron. Their divot is always in front of where the ball was. Always. They are not trying to wipe it off the ground. They are not trying to help him. They are punching their weight moving forward.
Good players also end up with their weight almost entirely on their front foot. They don’t sit back and admire the shot. They move around the ball. Their belt buckle faces the target. Their back heel is off the ground. All their momentum is shifted forward.
Good players trust the loft, so they focus on moving forward and making first contact with the ball. The trajectory takes care of itself.
How to fix it
Start with this workout. Take a short iron and take a few practice swings where you brush the grass. Pay attention to where the club hits the ground. If it touches behind where the ball would be, you are hanging back.
Now take swings where you deliberately try to paint the grass a few inches in front of where the ball would be. Feel your weight shift to your front foot. Feel your hands rest in front of the clubhead. This is the feeling you want.
Next, hit a few shots with 60 percent of your weight already on your front foot at address. This predisposes the weight to shift forward and makes it easier to stay there through impact. You will feel like you are leaning towards the target. That’s good. Hit a few balls from this setup and notice how much sharper the contact feels.
Finally, practice the finishing position. After hitting a shot, hold your bottom and check your weight distribution. If you can fully lift your back foot off the ground without losing balance, your weight shifts forward. If you can’t, you’re hooked. Do this on every shot until the forward motion becomes automatic.
The simple truth
Fat shots don’t come from bad mechanics. They come from trying to help the ball in the air. The adjustment is not complicated. Shift your weight forward. Hit the ball. Believe the attic. The club is designed to get the ball in the air when you hit it. Your job is to let him do his job. Stop trying to lift the ball and start trying to compress it. This is the difference between fat strokes and clean contact.
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