Getting under the ball?

[Chunkitgood]

In another post a guy said he wanted to get under the ball with his irons.  This struck me as a dubious way of looking at things, so I did a search and found this, from a member of the teaching fraternity, with pretty much that headline: 

 

Golf tip: Get under the ball to get ball airborne

 

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/sports/2017/08/14/golf-tip-get-ball-get-ball-airborne/104589918/

 

He went on to give some fairly standard advice about getting your divots ahead of the ball, with shaft lean, hitting the ball first, and not trying to hit the ball up.  So far, so good.  In the process he says two things I’m doubtful of: the ball gets trapped between the club and the ground, and the ball is struck at the low point in the downswing.  I don’t see in the actual article any reference to “getting the club under the ball.”  Frankly for the life of me I cannot see how what he recommends can be described as getting the club under the ball.

 

Given that you do want to hit the ball below it’s equator, is telling people to get the club under the ball a good thing?  Is it common?  Seems to me easily misinterpreted.

[Patnachts]

So I'll break this in two:

 

1.) Ball get strapped between the club and the ground. I cannot for the life of me figure out why someone would think this. You would need less than zero dynamic loft for that to happen and would most likely result in the ball being driven into the ground. This idea is inaccurate.

 

2.) The ball is struck at the low point in the swing. Also incorrect. You could never have a divot after the ball if you struck the ball at the low point of the swing. The low point of the swing should be in front of the ball so that you hit the ball then the turf, creating that divot.

[suprfli6]

I play with quite a few people who blame bad shots with wedges/irons on “not getting under the ball” and I just bite my lip every time unless they specifically ask for help. It’s one of the most common misconceptions in golf.
 

Trapping or pinching the ball between the club face and the ground doesn’t actually happen but is a “feel” that people recommend if you are trying to hit down on the ball. The loft will still cause the ball to get airborne on a good strike by itself without the ground factoring in at all.

[ferrispgm]

getting under the ball is definitely a misconception which i'm assuming stems from people thinking that in order to get the ball in the air and take a divot, they have to get under it.

 

I hear class z professionals on the range with their buddies all the time giving tips on how you need to hit the ball at the low point and just get annoyed.  Heck I heard someone on Sunday say that you need to keep the lead arm dead straight...then go on to say that he has elbow pain but can't figure out why.....SMH

[phizzy30]

Getting under the ball would lead to fat shots if you think about it.  I don't think the wording is technically correct in that regard.  I'm a pretty good ball striker with irons and my thought is to make contact with a ball, then the divot follows right after the ball is struck.  I don't ever think about getting the ball with irons. 

Edited July 25, 2023 by phizzy30

[Cwebb]

A pure iron/wedge shot in the vertical aspect of impact, is produced by having the force path of the COG of the head design, arrive slightly underneath the center of the ball