Aparently I'm afraid to take a divot.

[Frecklepastahair]

I hit my absolute best shots in the rough where there is dense, deep grass. The ball is sitting on top and when I address it, the club sits on the ground a half inch or so below the ball. Second best hits are at ranges with turf mats. Teeing up helps a little, but not as good as being in the rough since the perceived ground level isn't at the bottom of the ball like in the rough. Low cut grass in the fairway really throws me off, especially if it's really nice. I've had my share of good hits with a good divot, but it's definitely not consistent. Are there any tricks to help with this?

[jvincent]

There are a few different drills where you put a tee or something else in front of the ball and try to make the club hit that after hitting the ball.

[MPStrat]

It’s not a fear. Your low point is likely too far back. You first have to find out the cause. For example if the path is too far to the right, the body movements that often cause this issue also cause problems with the low point of the swing. The solution isn’t a drill that is designed to manipulate the low point of the swing, unfortunately. 

[Frecklepastahair]

My guess was that it’s a mental thing. The hard ground being so close to the ball subconsciously messing with me. I definitely can feel if a swing was good or not by my body position at the end. I’m not too great at feeling what’s happening in the middle though.

[Elkhair]

you dont have to take a divot. Plenty of great professionals who are sweepers of the ball.

[SNIPERBBB]

Your spoiled on mats. They don't penalize you for hitting it fat, unless it's the old carpet laying on concrete mats where you break your wrist or gooseneck a steel shaft if you hit it fat.  The tour striker is a good tool as it can penalize you for hitting it fat. Ball won't get in the air if you hit it fat. 

[ShortGolfer]

I'll slow down and just sweep the grass.  A good swing will cut the grass or leave a mark but not leave anything for me to fix.

 

It is the perception of slowing down.  The ball goes just as far so obviously I'm not really slowing down in terms of club head speed.

 

Practice helps, but not as much as being able execute the shot on the course and earning confidence in your swing.

Edited June 7, 2023 by ShortGolfer

[RoyalTroon]

On 6/5/2023 at 9:09 AM, Frecklepastahair said:

Are there any tricks to help with this?

 

No tricks, diligent practice.  You could try some attempts off baked in hardpan, move the ball around a little, to start sensing what's required.   Hitting from fairway grass will then seem like the ball is on a tee if all goes well with practice.

[Mike_C]

3 minutes ago, BALLYBUNION said:

 

No tricks, diligent practice.  You could try some attempts off baked in hardpan, move the ball around a little, to start sensing what's required.   Hitting from fairway grass will then seem like the ball is on a tee if all goes well with practice.

This.

 

I used to freeze up on bare lies, would either hit it fat or thin, especially with the short shots.

 

I started practicing off of hard pan really working on  chipping and medium range pitches.  I leaned to find the bottom of my swing much better and greatly reduced the fear factor.  Works well on full shots too, where here I tended to hit them thin most often.

[ericz]

You're not afraid to take a divot, and it's not mental. What you're actually afraid of is hitting it fat. You get away with it when the club can pass through the grass under the ball from the rough, but you're exposed in the fairway. I used to be like this too and I broke myself of this by doing the following:

 

- Use grass driving ranges whenever possible

- Be willing to look terrible chunking the ball on grass driving ranges

- Hit off lies with no grass. Old divot areas on the range are good for this

- Try to identify and fix any swing faults

- Lots and lots of reps

[solson20]

Don't think about hitting the ball, instead, try thinking of cutting the grass or dandelion.  Shawn Clement has some create video's on that. 

[solson20]

2 minutes ago, solson20 said:

Don't think about hitting the ball, instead, try thinking of cutting the grass or dandelion.  Shawn Clement has some create video's on that. 

 

[Mike_C]

I found for me at least, under pressure I get steep, and there is less room for error on a thin lie, you can get away with it in the rough, in fact you want to be more steep in the rough.

 

I was always taught to put your weight on the lead foot on chips and pitches.  Well, under pressure I over do it, almost swing with most of my weight on my lead foot and never get off of it, and it spills over into full shots under pressure.  This causes me to come into the ball very steep, and as I said, very little room for error.  What sort of "fixed" it for me was the feeling of a slight weight shift to the right and a sense of getting my trail hip "deep" with a bit wider stance and then let the club swing, you probably couldn't notice much watching it, but it really shallowed out my swing path.  My normal ball flight is pretty high, but under pressure it gets low with a risk of fat/thin.

 

For example, the other day I hit one in the trees right on our 2nd hole, it gets standing water in that area when it rains and the grass dies off at times, and now is one of those times.   My ball was sitting on bare ground about 130-35 from the middle of the green behind some decently tall trees about 1/3 to halfway to the green.  From a good grassy lie this shot is nothing, full pitching wedge, launch it up and over the trees without thinking about it.   In the past from a bare lie maybe 7 times out of 10 I would have thinned it and it would have gone right into the trees, 2 times I would have hit it fat.  This time I just said take a normal swing, get my weight shift right and hit it.  Came out like a normal shot about 30 feet left of the pin.  Years ago I could have almost never hit that shot....

[Pepperturbo]

A divot isn't always the answer.  IMO there are more diggers than sweepers.  Diggers tout the importance of a divot after the ball, but a divot is not imperative for solid ball striking and scoring.  

 

Note the divots of the best players on Augusta; they scrap due to tight lies and firm conditions. Where we see more pronounced divots is on soft conditioned turf in the fairway.  Quality of turf decides divot or scrap.

 

I consider myself a sweeper of the ball.   Divots with 2i-7i are scrapes, mid-short irons are more pronounced scrapes, wedges are deeper, but don't qualify as digging.  And I don't release too early, hands forward, trapping the ball, creating spin.  If I want more spin, I hit the ball harder.

 

When learning golf most of my practice was off mats.  Some were decent, others not so much.  Anyway, to get around the jarring effect, I adapted my swing to sweep the ball but still maintained lag enough to trap the ball.  A sweeper was born.

[chigolfer1]

6 hours ago, ericz said:

You're not afraid to take a divot, and it's not mental. What you're actually afraid of is hitting it fat. You get away with it when the club can pass through the grass under the ball from the rough, but you're exposed in the fairway. I used to be like this too and I broke myself of this by doing the following:

 

- Use grass driving ranges whenever possible

- Be willing to look terrible chunking the ball on grass driving ranges

- Hit off lies with no grass. Old divot areas on the range are good for this

- Try to identify and fix any swing faults

- Lots and lots of reps

 

while #1-3 are true of course the #1 thing, as you have listed, is to figure out why his swing is leading to this.

[chigolfer1]

21 hours ago, Pepperturbo said:

A divot isn't always the answer.  IMO there are more diggers than sweepers.  Diggers tout the importance of a divot after the ball, but a divot is not imperative for solid ball striking and scoring.  

 

Note the divots of the best players on Augusta; they scrap due to tight lies and firm conditions. Where we see more pronounced divots is on soft conditioned turf in the fairway.  Quality of turf decides divot or scrap.

 

I consider myself a sweeper of the ball.   Divots with 2i-7i are scrapes, mid-short irons are more pronounced scrapes, wedges are deeper, but don't qualify as digging.  And I don't release too early, hands forward, trapping the ball, creating spin.  If I want more spin, I hit the ball harder.

 

When learning golf most of my practice was off mats.  Some were decent, others not so much.  Anyway, to get around the jarring effect, I adapted my swing to sweep the ball but still maintained lag enough to trap the ball.  A sweeper was born.

 

This doesn't sound like a digger vs. sweeper issue

[Frecklepastahair]

7 minutes ago, chigolfer1 said:

 

This doesn't sound like a digger vs. sweeper issue

That's correct. I'm not nearly experienced enough to have a preference between the two... or know that there's a difference. It's more of an issue of just having ground contact being an additional factor in the swing. I'll try to get to the range this weekend and see if anything mentioned here resonates with me.

[MPStrat]

57 minutes ago, chigolfer1 said:

 

This doesn't sound like a digger vs. sweeper issue

This gets brought up every time someone starts a thread with this issue. “Tom Watson was a sweeper and did fine” etc. If someone strikes the ball like Tom Watson in his prime, they probably aren’t going to start a thread on golfwrx about being afraid to hit the ground. 
 

Travis Fulton had a great line when Tiger was quoted recently as saying when he’s puring it he doesn’t take a divot. Travis said something like “your flip-skid into the ball isn’t what Tiger is doing” 😂 

[MK7Golf21]

24 minutes ago, MPStrat said:

This gets brought up every time someone starts a thread with this issue. “Tom Watson was a sweeper and did fine” etc. If someone strikes the ball like Tom Watson in his prime, they probably aren’t going to start a thread on golfwrx about being afraid to hit the ground. 
 

Travis Fulton had a great line when Tiger was quoted recently as saying when he’s puring it he doesn’t take a divot. Travis said something like “your flip-skid into the ball isn’t what Tiger is doing” 😂 

 

It's funny Tiger says this but then goes onto the course and takes some crazy divots. I've seen him take divots with a long iron off a tee that was teed up high. I don't even understand how he is able to take a divot like that.

[Zitlow]

Does Tiger use one ball position? 

[ferrispgm]

Taking divots isn't necessary for a good shot/swing but.....the reason why you aren't is likely what needs to be addressed. I'm guessing you are too steep coming into the ball and you have to shallow late to avoid taking a deep divot. Ironic as you are probably getting steep in an effort to take a divot and it would be the very thing that is causing the problem.  

[Haroputt]

My typical divot pattern is a “fade divot” matches my fade swing.  
I tried to get a “draw divot” by swing more out and down but doesn’t match the my sequencing. 
I think best way to learn to get the low point in front of the ball is practice punch wedge off the turf and make a straight divot first 

[LKNgolf]

Go on YouTube and search something like “ball forward drill.”  It helps retrain your brain to move your low point forward.  Very simple but effective 

[slytown]

On 6/5/2023 at 9:09 AM, Frecklepastahair said:

I hit my absolute best shots in the rough where there is dense, deep grass. The ball is sitting on top and when I address it, the club sits on the ground a half inch or so below the ball. Second best hits are at ranges with turf mats. Teeing up helps a little, but not as good as being in the rough since the perceived ground level isn't at the bottom of the ball like in the rough. Low cut grass in the fairway really throws me off, especially if it's really nice. I've had my share of good hits with a good divot, but it's definitely not consistent. Are there any tricks to help with this?

 

Work on exaggerating getting onto your lead side. If you hit it fat, then you are too far back on your trail foot at impact. You could do one of two drills, whichever works for you.

 

Drill: Start the backswing by rocking your weight onto your lead foot first, then trail foot in the backswing, then lead foot again in the downswing without lifting your feet. This will get you the dynamic move that gets you proper low point, which you need.

 

Drill: Another idea is to put the ball off of your lead foot and try to make a divot. It will force you in your downswing to get way onto your lead side. Once you start flushing it with the ball too far forward you can move it back to a proper position.

 

This is advice for your irons. Woods and hybrids you want to sweep the ground, so you don't need to move to your lead side. The reason you hit well in the rough is because the ball is sitting up on grass, like on a tee. Therefore the lowpoint needs to be further back. When Phil Mickelson talks about flop shots he talks about keeping weight forward on fairway lies but weight middle or back in the rough because the low point needs to be further back. Otherwise you can get the wedge to slide underneath the ball if your weight is too forward in the rough.

Edited June 15, 2023 by slytown

[596]

What helps me, and the driving range grass, is, I always use a tee at the driving range.  It's like hitting from rough.  Helps me hit slightly down on the ball and take a small divot after the ball. I can hit a lot of balls without moving the tee.  This saves my old elbows from getting beat up, saves the turf, and helps my swing. 

 

I can't remember the last time I hit a ball off the ground on the range. I even hit 30 to 40 yard pitches on the range using a tee. No fear of hitting ball first then taking a divot. I can hit 80 range balls with a final turf wear spot of about a foot. The maintenance staff likes me! 

[hlca]

On 6/15/2023 at 8:45 AM, slytown said:

 

Drill: Start the backswing by rocking your weight onto your lead foot first, then trail foot in the backswing, then lead foot again in the downswing without lifting your feet. This will get you the dynamic move that gets you proper low point, which you need.

Careful not to sway!  If OP is already swaying and falling back, then this could add a lot of inconsistency.  It's honestly hard to diagnose without seeing OP's swing.  For me, I focus on not swaying and feeling my left buttock move toward the target a tiny bit in the backswing, and getting good side bend in the downswing.  The side bend allows the club to get lower, and if the low point is under your left armpit, you should make a divot there.

Edited June 19, 2023 by hlca

[doctor220]

On 6/8/2023 at 11:22 AM, MPStrat said:

This gets brought up every time someone starts a thread with this issue. “Tom Watson was a sweeper and did fine” etc. If someone strikes the ball like Tom Watson in his prime, they probably aren’t going to start a thread on golfwrx about being afraid to hit the ground. 
 

Travis Fulton had a great line when Tiger was quoted recently as saying when he’s puring it he doesn’t take a divot. Travis said something like “your flip-skid into the ball isn’t what Tiger is doing” 😂 

It was also just a total joke comment... Pretty sure everyone has seen Tiger take massive pelts in his prime. 

 

Sweepers still take divots with wedges. No one good hits wedges without taking a divot. 

[slytown]

On 6/8/2023 at 11:22 AM, MPStrat said:

This gets brought up every time someone starts a thread with this issue. “Tom Watson was a sweeper and did fine” etc. If someone strikes the ball like Tom Watson in his prime, they probably aren’t going to start a thread on golfwrx about being afraid to hit the ground. 
 

Travis Fulton had a great line when Tiger was quoted recently as saying when he’s puring it he doesn’t take a divot. Travis said something like “your flip-skid into the ball isn’t what Tiger is doing” 😂 

 

Look up the Darren Clarke interview on NLU's podcast. Some evidence that Tiger can hit well and not take divots throughout the bag.

[Frecklepastahair]

What about practicing in the back yard?.. like with wiffle balls or hitting into a net? Seems like not seeing the flight path could reinforce bad habits.

[MPStrat]

2 hours ago, slytown said:

 

Look up the Darren Clarke interview on NLU's podcast. Some evidence that Tiger can hit well and not take divots throughout the bag.

No evidence needed 😂 

 

My point was that what the op is doing is not anywhere near what Tiger is doing.