Who hovers their irons?

[Tex1986]

I've been struggling with hitting fat iron/wedge shots the last couple months. My last few rounds were in the low 90s which is unacceptable after shooting scores from 81-85 all year.

 

I started hovering my irons at the range this month and played my first round this past weekend hovering my irons and wedges. I shot an 85 in 20mph winds, which I take as a win given the conditions.

 

I will definitely continue after not hitting a fat shot all round. I felt like I could swing freely and the setup was more natural. For whatever reason, my iron shots seemed to stay on line more and didn't have my big right to left flight with my long irons.

[Palauan Hammer]

Hmmm, never gave hovering much thought actually. When I finally get back out there I'll have to experiment with this and see what works best for me.

 

I do like the idea of not incurring a penalty for the ball moving and keeping set up consistent, even in bunkers.

 

How is hovering in heavy winds though for those of you that do hover?? Where I live it's windy 300 days of the year, think like Hawaii. Trade winds

[swhogan35]

I've been struggling with fat shots lately and I thought to myself why do I hover the club slightly at address instead of putting in on the ground. After going through a bucket at the range I found myself making much better contact this way. I hover my driver and it works so I guess I shouldn't be surprised it worked with irons. Does anyone else find this to work well for them? Any cons to this approach?

 

While working for malaska, he encouraged everyone to hover their irons because it would force you to extend your arms down into the ball more. So not a bad thing but also if you're hitting it fat, I'd look at your pressure shifts.

[Psyber]

Hmmm, never gave hovering much thought actually. When I finally get back out there I'll have to experiment with this and see what works best for me.

 

I do like the idea of not incurring a penalty for the ball moving and keeping set up consistent, even in bunkers.

 

How is hovering in heavy winds though for those of you that do hover?? Where I live it's windy 300 days of the year, think like Hawaii. Trade winds

 

Wind really doesn't make a difference here

[vitalesan]

Hover. Ground club and take address. Hover and swing. Even with the putter. The sweet spot is in the middle of the putter, height wise, so hovering the putter head seems to give great contact with the sweet spot.

[Ri_Redneck]

I typically don't when playing unless I'm in a trap/hazard. But I practice it quite regularly because it helps in traps/hazards.

 

Make sense?

 

BT

[golfdad907]

I hover everything, pretty much. Worked for the Golden Bear, and seems to work for me and a member of our Sunday group. He struggles with fat shots, tops, etc...I got him to stand up taller, and hover his clubs and trusting natural extension with a bit of Hogan squat on downswing and he's dropped from a 16 to a 12 in just couple months.

[gatorpedsMD]

bump, recently started doing this and really seems to help..... why??

[Tanner25]

bump, recently started doing this and really seems to help..... why??

 

stops lifting in the backswing?

[Santiago Golf]

You should hover every club

[bladehunter]

Hoverer here too. Striking a ball is reactionary , not a starting point to be returned to in my book. I can hover an iron 2 feet over the ball and make same contact if I want to. Do it sometimes from a nasty lie. Trying to teach this to my junior player now. I hope it Helps his tendency to setup with the face uber shut. If you can’t sit and stare at the face and fiddle with it , you start to care less how it’s aimed at address. The point is to become instinctive and not mechanical on the course.

[gatorpedsMD]

Hoverer here too. Striking a ball is reactionary , not a starting point to be returned to in my book. I can hover an iron 2 feet over the ball and make same contact if I want to. Do it sometimes from a nasty lie. Trying to teach this to my junior player now. I hope it Helps his tendency to setup with the face uber shut. If you can't sit and stare at the face and fiddle with it , you start to care less how it's aimed at address. The point is to become instinctive and not mechanical on the course.

 

totally had this happen at the range today. some reason the hover had me swinging more instinctively. LOVE this with putter, been really struggling lately with putter and the hover has me feeling much better/confident.

[Chowdah86]

I've been struggling with fat shots lately and I thought to myself why do I hover the club slightly at address instead of putting in on the ground. After going through a bucket at the range I found myself making much better contact this way. I hover my driver and it works so I guess I shouldn't be surprised it worked with irons. Does anyone else find this to work well for them? Any cons to this approach?

 

Matt Kutcher Hovers his irons. #27 in the world. Works pretty good for him..

 

It all depends on where the bottom of your swing is. If its behind the ball, hovering may mask the issue, but you'll still have trouble. Youll probobly just thin it more, which often results in more distance than letting the ground slow the club down through impact.

 

If the bottom of your swing has been in front of the ball the whole time, but your club was getting too low before impact, hoovering will help you out by getting it a little higher.

 

 

I kind of came up with this philosophy about club hight off the ground a long time ago (both at address and through impact): I always try to catch it pure, but for anything 8i and up, I tend to err on catching it thin. If Im going to miss hit it, I'd rather catch it thin than fat, that way I get distance and never duff it. So I might hoover it a bit for longer clubs. But as I get closer to the green, and the clubs get shorter, I start to go the opposite way. When I get down to the wedges, I'd much rather miss hit it fat than scull it over the green, so I wouldnt hover a wedge too much. With all of the clubs (except driver), I add in one more incredibly important anti duff technique, that is to make sure my center and the bottom of my swing arc is in front of the ball.

 

 

As for the putter, both Steve Stricker and Rcikie Fowler have said that they like to give the putter a couple of bounces off the ground to help calibrate the correct hight off the ground, also to keep loose. Strike is incredibly important in putting, especially vertical strike pattern, just look at how shallow a putter face is and imagine what catching it off the top of bottom edge does in comparison to catching it pure.

[gatorpedsMD]

#Hover for life. going to take the hover to the course tom to see if it's legit

[Ray Jackson]

I've developed into a duffner type waggle over the top of the ball with irons and then momentarily drop it down behind the ball before I go. Seems to reduce the tension.

[Mcgeeno]

I'm intrigued by this...

 

Anyone who switched to being a 'hoverer' want to chime in and tell me what changed for them?

 

I could see it relieving tension or maybe even hovering slightly before swinging acting as a trigger.

[GungHoGolf]

I’ve recently started taking my grip while standing behind the ball, starting with my left hand as club is soled in front of my left foot, then putting my right hand on while waggling the club a bit and stepping up to my ball with an eye on an intermediate point a couple of feet in front of the ball.

 

This gives me way more confidence that my grip is secure and repeatable, and lets me focus completely on the line and feet placement when addressing the ball. At that point I can sole the club or hover it (I’m experimenting both ways), but either way it feels like the club is more an extension of my body as I step up to hit.

[vsabre]

I'll chime in here as well. I tend to suck the club inside and a flipper, which was fine when I was 20 because my arm speed would keep the club in front of me and I played fine with it. At 60, not so much and grounding the club (any club) at address tends to shove my hands inside on the backswing. Hovering slows my backswing down and gets a better backswing path that is more on plane and actually gives me a more positive AOA with the driver where it was negative before. Watching the Scottish Open now and there are certainly a lot of "hoverers" in the field, especially those like Rickie Fowler who has known to be a flipper in the past.. FWIW......

[NoTalentLefty]

Jack Nicklaus

[gatorpedsMD]

love the hover. i think it just helps to set the right amount of tension/helps with tempo/pulling the trigger.

[rainkingjr]

Pretty sure Greg Norman hovered every club as well.

[Jim xx]

Hovering allows a one piece takeaway more easily....shoulder/large back muscles in charge of the takeaway, with arms and hands passively following. Promotes a good turn without wristiness.

Less likely to sway or reverse pivot.

[hoselpalooza]

On 12/20/2016 at 9:38 AM, Palauan Hammer said:

Hmmm, never gave hovering much thought actually. When I finally get back out there I'll have to experiment with this and see what works best for me.

 

I do like the idea of not incurring a penalty for the ball moving and keeping set up consistent, even in bunkers.

 

How is hovering in heavy winds though for those of you that do hover?? Where I live it's windy 300 days of the year, think like Hawaii. Trade winds

 

heavy winds wreak havoc on my putter when i hover. it's a bullseye flange and not very weighty. i would probably have to slap on a bunch of lead tape if i lived where you did, or get a heavier putter. YMMV. 

[double_d]

Jack Nicklaus and I both hover the club, in that way, and only that way, our golf games are similar.

[BirdieDoc]

On 11/16/2016 at 5:37 AM, NCHACK85 said:

I'm not sure if what I do is hovering, but I don't plant it behind the ball, but it's still touching the ground, but I still feel the weight of the club head.

I'd agree. I have it slightly touching the ground but most weight in my hands

[moehogan]

Hover every club including putter but only the slightest amount necessary to avoid ground contact. It eliminates any DOWN pressure on the club and thus helps promote a smoother takeaway.

[OrangeGravy]

old thread, but I started hovering just ever so slightly with every club because I was having the dreaded re-gripping issue with driver/3W. When I hover just enough so my hands take all the weight of the club it seats better in my hands and reduces tension a bit. With putter I started doing it to avoid scraping the turf on the way back. 

[K9Roadie]

I have been struggling with slices off the driver and  weak to the right shots with irons.  Today I played in mens group that was best 2 of 4. Figured I didn't have anything to lose so at the range I tried the hovering over the ball. 

WOW,  what a game changer.  Smashed my driver,  hit fairways and irons flew straight.  I have tried everything but this little tip of hovering as been HUGE..

Highly recommend trying it...

[fistfullofbeer]

For context, I am a high handicapper and hover between 18-21. My focus this year is to play/practice more and hopefully get within the 15-17 range if possible (close to 20 currently). I am working hard on my takeaway and transition to get me be a better ball striker and get to that goal.

 

So I have a setup in my lot where I can hit golf balls into a net off a mat. I have a Swing Caddie (SC200) which gives me input on basic stats like ball speed, carry distance, etc. I take those numbers with a grain of salt since the results are not on the range with full flight or during actual play. But this is what I noticed over the last few days when I went from grounding the club (only practice with 5I so far) to hovering.

 

My carry distance (on not complete misses) was generally between high 130's to high 140's (yards) when I was grounding the club. Hit some really well and got to the low/mid 150's. I was struggling a bit recently (hitting behind) so decided to try hovering. Two shots identical with a 165 carry. Hit a few more which were in the low 160's. Now I have no idea if those shots would have ended up straight or not (started off that way) but the difference was very surprising to me because 10 yards is nothing to scoff at. I am also one of those people who is prone to turning my clubface during the takeaway so am surprised I never tried hovering before to be honest.

[Pepperturbo]

I tend to hover Driver at address but not with putter, or irons unless in a hazard.  One of the takeaway turf benefits of 620 MB sole.

 

With driver, I increase tee height to max; that somehow helps me to slightly alter my swing plane to hit a more boring drive into wind or to take advantage of down wind.