Help me to stop hitting it Thin...Please

[shmutz]

Hi Folks; Hope you can help me out with a problem that has been frustrating me lately. First a little about my game. I am a 4 Handicapper that plays the ball predominantlly from right to left. I am not a high ball hitter. My drives usually fly approximately 240 range. I hit my 8 iron 145 with a smooth tempo. My driver tends to get a little wild but have always been a good iron player and have always been able to hit my long irons with ease. My trajectory is pretty consistant between all my irons. My problem is as follows. Due to the winters up here I have not played since October. We are going away on a golf holiday with my foursome next week and I wanted to go out and get ready for it. We have an indoor dome / driving range and I have been hitting balls and all of my iron shots have been dead center of the club BUT a groove or two down on the club face. The ball is flying very straight but thin. I know better thin than fat but it has become extremely frustrating and I can't for the life of me figure out what the heck I am doing wrong. I have tried playing with ball position, no luck. I have tried moving closer to the ball and setting up with the ball more on the heel of the club face with the same results. I've even tried hitting fade shots to steepen the attack into the ball and I am hitting nice little fades but still a groove down. Normally I don't take that deep a divot at the best of times, usually a nice thin bacon strip that starts after the ball and moves slightly left with a consistent depth. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated as I would like to get this figured out before I leave next week. The problem is even happening when I tee the ball up and try to hit my driver or 3-wood. I look forward to reading your replies..... :( 8O :)

[AKFLY]

Make sure your head is not moving up. It is one thing to stay behind the ball but some people have a tendency to lift themselves out of position at impact. I know this is my problem when I start to thin it.

You may have someone hold the butt end of the shaft above your head to see if this is the problem.

Stay loose, stretch and concentrate on your tempo - winter sucks !

[DoubleAA]

Check your address, you may be linning up to close to the ball. This alignment is forcing you to pull your hands toward the body unknowingly kicking the head out from the body causing thin contact by a right to left swipe. :idea:

Your entry point sound as though is good generally. :D

Try and keep the agle of the shaft on the same plane as your belt.

keep your back allignment straight and arms straight down. place the entire sole of the club on the sod.

Left arm straight back low and slow, stare at a fixed point 1/2 inch in front of the ball and make a full practice swing. You will strike the ball at the precise punch point lower on the club face. 8)

You may be creating a divot 1/2 inch before the ball by leaning back to far (reverse C) on your swing through. Keep your head in one spot and move your left hip toward the target.

This may be why you are seeing the contact point higher on the face of the club. :evil:

I may be totally off but best of luck and I hope you get it figured out. 8) :lol: :D

Nothing worse that beating yourself up over a bad weekend of golf!!! :cry: :cry:

[Mike]

The thin shot's could also just be from the mats you are hitting off .

I also hit the ball thin off mats . I just think that you/me are trying to pick the ball off the mat , rather than take our normal swing .

For me it's more of a defence mechenisum (sp)? so as not to cause any

undue pain in the hands , wrists and elbows . :(

Also to protct my clubs :)

For me I find when I get back onto grass the problem disappears completely within the first 5 swings .

[DoubleAA]

The thin shot's could also just be from the mats you are hitting off .  

I also hit the ball thin off mats . I just think that you/me are trying to pick the ball off the mat , rather than take our normal swing .

For me it's more of a defence mechenisum (sp)? so as not to cause any

undue pain in the hands , wrists and elbows . :(  

Also to protct my clubs :)  

For me I find when I get back onto grass the problem disappears completely within the first 5 swings .

That is a problem with Mats.

Your answer may lie in the grass.

Turf sucks!!!

[Mike]

The thin shot's could also just be from the mats you are hitting off .  

I also hit the ball thin off mats . I just think that you/me are trying to pick the ball off the mat , rather than take our normal swing .

For me it's more of a defence mechenisum (sp)? so as not to cause any

undue pain in the hands , wrists and elbows . :(  

Also to protct my clubs :)  

For me I find when I get back onto grass the problem disappears completely within the first 5 swings .

That is a problem with Mats.

Your answer may lie in the grass.

Turf sucks!!!

Yup they sure do . Our grass range opens the beginning of May and closes in Oct . Rest of the year we are still open and hit off mat's . So I don't hit a lot of ball's during that time . :(

[SHADY]

I had the same problem with my iron shots, but after a lesson from my pro I've seemed to get rid of thin shots for now. At impact my hands were inline with or sometimes even behind the ball. My pro suggested trying to fill as if my hands were ahead of the clubhead at impact. This may sound a little to simple, but it worked for me so I thought you might could give it a shot.

[phillypete]

I had the same problem with my iron shots' date=' but after a lesson from my pro I've seemed to get rid of thin shots for now. At impact my hands were inline with or sometimes even behind the ball. My pro suggested trying to fill as if my hands were ahead of the clubhead at impact. This may sound a little to simple, but it worked for me so I thought you might could give it a shot.[/color']

along the same lines... just thinking of coming down on the ball and trapping it helped a ton with my inconsistent contact.

[Backspin9]

One thing that helped me with thin shots was to just kick my right knee in a little bit during the downswing. It helped to clear my right hip and gave me a little more hip and shoulder tilt. Thin shots were gone almost instantly.

[James]

(deleted)

[hue]

Hit DOWN on the ball. Do the Manzella drill of hitting balls out of DEEP DIVOTS.

[landshark]

thin shots are my typical mis**ts as well. a thing that really helps me is to focus on a spot just slightly in front of the ball. this helps with the other suggestion as hitting down on the ball. just make sure you keep the same spine angle throughout.

[tsg4tch]

Reverse pivot begets a thin hit. You dip your head a little on backswing and are forced to lift when you swing through.

[kre8ivetl]

just start mad-man tomahawking it. hit down so hard as to make sure u hit down on it.

[austinpro]

Hi Folks; Hope you can help me out with a problem that has been frustrating me lately. First a little about my game. I am a 4 Handicapper that plays the ball predominantlly from right to left. I am not a high ball hitter. My drives usually fly approximately 240 range. I hit my 8 iron 145 with a smooth tempo. My driver tends to get a little wild but have always been a good iron player and have always been able to hit my long irons with ease. My trajectory is pretty consistant between all my irons. My problem is as follows. Due to the winters up here I have not played since October. We are going away on a golf holiday with my foursome next week and I wanted to go out and get ready for it. We have an indoor dome / driving range and I have been hitting balls and all of my iron shots have been dead center of the club BUT a groove or two down on the club face. The ball is flying very straight but thin. I know better thin than fat but it has become extremely frustrating and I can't for the life of me figure out what the heck I am doing wrong. I have tried playing with ball position, no luck. I have tried moving closer to the ball and setting up with the ball more on the heel of the club face with the same results. I've even tried hitting fade shots to steepen the attack into the ball and I am hitting nice little fades but still a groove down. Normally I don't take that deep a divot at the best of times, usually a nice thin bacon strip that starts after the ball and moves slightly left with a consistent depth. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated as I would like to get this figured out before I leave next week. The problem is even happening when I tee the ball up and try to hit my driver or 3-wood. I look forward to reading your replies..... :( 8O :)

Accelerate the handle, not the clubhead. Like Eddie Merrins puts it.

[Redhaze737]

Hi Folks; Hope you can help me out with a problem that has been frustrating me lately. First a little about my game. I am a 4 Handicapper that plays the ball predominantlly from right to left. I am not a high ball hitter. My drives usually fly approximately 240 range. I hit my 8 iron 145 with a smooth tempo. My driver tends to get a little wild but have always been a good iron player and have always been able to hit my long irons with ease. My trajectory is pretty consistant between all my irons. My problem is as follows. Due to the winters up here I have not played since October. We are going away on a golf holiday with my foursome next week and I wanted to go out and get ready for it. We have an indoor dome / driving range and I have been hitting balls and all of my iron shots have been dead center of the club BUT a groove or two down on the club face. The ball is flying very straight but thin. I know better thin than fat but it has become extremely frustrating and I can't for the life of me figure out what the heck I am doing wrong. I have tried playing with ball position, no luck. I have tried moving closer to the ball and setting up with the ball more on the heel of the club face with the same results. I've even tried hitting fade shots to steepen the attack into the ball and I am hitting nice little fades but still a groove down. Normally I don't take that deep a divot at the best of times, usually a nice thin bacon strip that starts after the ball and moves slightly left with a consistent depth. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated as I would like to get this figured out before I leave next week. The problem is even happening when I tee the ball up and try to hit my driver or 3-wood. I look forward to reading your replies..... :( 8O :)

Experience has taught me that sliding the hips towards the target aggressively will make me hit it thin. I thought of this because you said you hit it right to left. Sliding the hips will tend to tilt the spine making the path of your club in to out. You won't take a divot if you are swinging in to out due to overly aggressive legs and hips. Once again experience.

I suggest concentrating on staying over the ball without a slide, if this is what is happening, and make sure that the club comes inside the line after the ball. If the club does not come inside the line after the ball you will tend to hit it thin.

I've been fighting this for months after deciding that I need to get rid of this 1970's swing which involved a lot of leg drive and not much turn. Good luck.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Redhaze737