How to Hit Down on the Golf Ball
If you’ve played much golf over the last several years, chances are you’ve heard one of your playing partners say, “You’ve got to hit down on the golf ball.”
And while you certainly want to hit the ball first before making a shallow divot, too many amateurs try to steepen their swing with the golf club to make it happen.
But hitting down on the ball requires a much more sophisticated approach to swinging the club.
In this article, we’ll clarify some misnomers about compressing the golf ball and help you get your swing into shape for hitting cleaner, more consistent iron strikes.
How to hit down on the golf ball and compress it?
Let’s first clear up some mistakes with the phrase “hitting down on the golf ball.”
By hitting straight down on the ball, you’ll create a steep swing arc that sends shots all over the place.
Not only will you suffer from inconsistent ball striking, but you won’t be able to control the ball’s flight when you actually make solid contact.
Ideally, you want a shallow attack path to the ball, taking full advantage of the club face loft with a slight forward shaft lean at the impact position to maximize compression.
But to get to that position at impact, you need to create a healthy swing profile.
This means a clean takeaway and proper weight shift on the downswing onto the front foot to create that descending blow that prevents a huge divot but generates that ball-first contact we’re looking for in our golf game.
How do you stay down on iron shots?
When compressing the golf ball, you want to compress the body on the downswing.
If you try to get taller at impact with your legs by straightening or stiffening your lower body, you’ll create a steep swing plane that attacks the ball poorly.
On the downswing, you want the iron to stay in a slot that keeps the iron moving in sync with the body.
If you video yourself behind the ball, you stay down on the shot by keeping the knees flexed, the rear end out, and the hands remain close to the body on an inside path to impact.
How do you hit a golf ball first, then divot?
You want the swing’s low point to be roughly one inch ahead of the golf balls you hit.
By that, we mean you want to round the swing to create a shallow angle of attack, making contact with the ball first and then allowing the club to enter the turf to create a post-impact divot.
Is that easy for the average weekend warrior?
No, because most amateur golfers carry a steep angle of attack to impact. To stop hitting behind the ball, you must shallow the club and bring it in on a measured descending approach to the ball.
How do you hit a golf ball on a downward slope?
On a downward slope, you want to place the ball position back in your stance. If you place the ball too far forward, you dramatically increase your risk of topping the shot.
Remember, a ball on a downward slope will come out lower and hotter due to the ball position.
So you may need to play a shot with a club that doesn’t demand a full swing, considering you’ll probably get rollout to the target.
Your weight will naturally be more on your lead foot, so your balance will also be off-center. You must stay behind the ball on the downswing, even with the weight displacement to avoid a thin shot.
One of the biggest mistakes that most golfers make when hitting on a slope with a downward angle is trying to finesse the shot by slowing down the club head through impact.
You must accelerate your club face through the ball to maximize launch and create enough spin to control the shot.
What techniques create a downward golf ball attack?
With our students, we spend a lot of time getting the golf swing in the correct position on the downswing.
Too many golfers start their downswing by keeping too much weight on the back foot and making it all arms with no hip rotation.
How do you avoid this common mistake?
By letting the arms start the downswing. You want to feel your grip move the club toward the rear front pocket and hip, then begin your rotation through impact.
It’s a quick and subtle change in the swing, but when mastered, it creates that shallow angle of attack and boosts swing speed to jaw-dropping heights.
If you can master this move, you’ll stop hitting fat shots and start hitting crisp, clean golf shots with your irons, which you can control.
Here’s one of our best golf tips to create this move.
Next time you are on the driving range, instead of just blasting a few dozen balls, create deliberate practice swings that help you feel that club move to the hip before you trigger the downswing.
Why does hitting down improve ball striking?
Creating ball-first contact on the clubface with a descending club path takes advantage of the loft and groove system of the golf club.
For the mid-iron, for example, hitting down on the ball helps produce height, spin, and control to get the ball close to the pin.
Remember, squaring the entire face before impact prevents poor contact with your golf shots and ensures quality ball striking, producing more distance, better accuracy, and an ideal launch angle.
How can golfers master downward ball contact?
One of the best ways to master downward ball contact is by mimicking the best golfers in the world.
You want to ensure that your swing is fundamentally sound. That begins with keeping your body in good shape and with outstanding flexibility.
If you aren’t in the best of shape, then you need solid fundamentals to help your swing.
You give your golf swing the best chance of succeeding by addressing the ball with the correct posture, balanced weight across each foot, and a neutral grip on the club.
On the backswing, you want to get to a static position at the top that provides the right foundation for the downswing.
Then, we trigger the downswing with the hands, moving them down toward the back hip as we rotate into the ball to create a shallow swing that makes its low point in front of the ball.
What mistakes prevent solid downward golf strikes?
Standing Up on Downswing
One of the biggest mistakes golfers can make to prevent downward golf strikes is locking the knee of the trail leg and getting “tall” at impact.
Keeping an athletic position through the downswing helps with weight shifts and lower body rotation.
By athletic position, we want the knees to stay flexed and the rear end to move outward on the downswing, allowing the club to get on path and move closer to the body to come from the inside.
Outside-to-In Swing Path
Another flaw many golfers carry to the course is the dreaded outside-inside club path. This means the golfer doesn’t bring the club from the inside but attacks the ball steeply with the club outside the proper path.
This swing flaw starts at the shoulders. Rather than the lead shoulder staying in front of the rear shoulder, the lead opens while the rear shoulder leads and takes over the swing.
One of the easiest ways to correct this problem is by hitting balls on the range with either a tee or another ball just to the outside of your range ball and out of reach from the clubface.
With this obstacle, you’ll be forced to approach the shot from the inside to make clean contact.
Cupped Wrist
A cupped wrist on the backswing can also create a steep, outside-to-in club path that causes slices and thin shots for the average golfer.
You’ll find that all pro golfers keep a flat wrist on the takeaway that provides a straight line down the left arm.
The ProSendr is a great training aid for helping instill the straight wrist on the backswing.
Fitting around your wrist, the device puts your wrist in the proper position to help you round the swing and create that shallow angle of attack.