Get the Ball in the Sky!
I was on the phone with “Kelly” from travelers insurance yesterday and she mentioned that she was having trouble getting the ball in the air - especially with her hybrids.
Well, there is a lot of psychology involved in getting the ball airborne. The first thing we all try to do in getting an object to move “up” is to swing up at it. This works just fine in sports like baseball and tennis. When the ball is suspended in the air, we have no trouble getting the bat under the ball and swinging up at it. However, in golf, the ball is sitting on the ground. The trouble with a ball sitting on the ground is that if we try to get our club under the ball to hit up, we will bang the club into the ground. This causes problem number two. We now think that we swung too low so the next time we swing a little higher. We graze the grass and then top the ball. So, hitting it fat (hitting the ground before the ball) and hitting it thin (topping) are the same problem.. I’ll explain. If I think that I must get the club traveling up at impact to make it fly, I will have a “bottom of my swing arc” problem. That is to say that my club will reach its lowest point before striking the ball. This will cause a club either missing the ground and then hitting the ball too high (thin) or hitting the ground and getting a fat shot.
So, to fix, the psychology of the hit is very simple. Just remember that in order to hit the ball cleanly, one must strike it very near the lowest point in their swing “arc”. Bottoming out too early causes fat and thin shots. ”Then how does it go in the air”? The club has loft built in. Just contacting the ball cleanly will ensure that the ball has loft.
Next time at the range, Kelly, focus on getting the bottom of your swing arc right at the ball rather than before it.
Let me know how you do!