Hitting a golf ball in my downswing with an iron?

Question

I just started golfing a few years ago and up until a couple of months ago I always thought you were supposed to hit an iron shot on an upswing or by clipping it. I just started practicing hitting down on the ball, but are there any good drills to help me get used to this. I'm going out for the first time next week. Any tips drills would be really appreciated.

Also are you supposed to hit every iron with a downswing or just the short irons??

Answer 1

Let me start by saying that if you are setting the ball in the middle of your stance - then you are already hitting down on the ball.

How?

Lets imagine your address. Imagine there's a large hula hoop around you - resting on your shoulders and the ball. Use the hula hoop as a line that the path your club head will travel on the way back and forward to hit the ball.

At address you have weight distributed evenly on both feet. If you drew a line up and down the centre of your feet then this is the centre line. Usually people set the ball up on this centre line for iron shots.

Your clubface is set up less than a millimeter behind the ball. If you imagine the holu hoop again - if the clubface is set behind the ball then the path of the hula hoop is already downwards.

On the downswing, this weight is on the left foot ie your body has moved forward of the ball - more towards the target. As you can see the ball is now even further behind you. So when you hit the ball - its actually behind you.

After all that confusing analogies - I would say that swing normal and you will be already hitting down on the ball.

This explanation also explains why people set up the ball towards the left ankle for a driver. Why? Because they want to hit the ball on the path going up.

Answer 2

It is essential that you hit the ball in your downswing. If you don't the result often times is that you blade the ball or worse skull the ball. Either way you have little control over what the ball does.

By hitting the ball on the downswing the face makes contact with the ball and you use the loft of the club to control the ball.

The way to hit the ball on the downswing and not the upswing or followthrough is to make sure that your weight has not transfered from your back foot to your front foot too early (or at all in the case of pitching/chipping the ball).

Answer 3

You are correct that your supposed to hit it in a downward swing, not the upward part of your swing.

Basically what you need to do is just focus on not scooping the ball.  Just trust your clubs.  The grooves on the face will grab the ball and pitch it upwards.  TRUST THE CLUB!!!

Thats the hardest thing for most people, they don't know what the club can actually do for them.  So they try to "help" the ball in the air.

Even your longer irons will be hit down upon to a degree.   Mainly due to the fact that you don't play a 3 iron with the same ball position as you do a pitching wedge.

Answer 4

You absolutely have to hit the short irons with a descending blow.  Experiment with your ball position.  The club will bottom out at a point below your head and sternum.  Remember, you do want to hit your driver slightly on the upswing, thus requiring a forward ball position.  I teach 3 ball positions- one for 6 iron thru wedge, one for the driver, and one all the others. Good Luck.

Answer 5

try taking a divot, just make sure you hit the ball first. and it varies from what club and the type of shoot your trying to hit

Answer 6

Using my irons, I would try to hit the ball first (i.e. directly behind it) with a divot in front of the ball, always remembering not to 'chunk' my shot. This way I can get the ball to fly onwards with a +ve momentum and spin. At the same time, I do not allow side movements of my clubface at the point of impact. However, it is not so easy with the long irons.

With fairway woods however I prefer to sweep the ball with a flatter swing arc, to allow the ball to fly further with very little backspin.

Answer 7

Find some failry hard ground and stick a tee in there with just the head and a little of the stem sticking up.  Practice clipping the head off the tee (you need to really snap it off, not just pull it out of the ground).  This will give a good crisp strike with power.

Answer 8

One of the guys at work set up a ball about 6" behind the ball to be hit and a ball about the length of the blade on the opposite side of you. When you swing the club do not hit either of the balls besides the object ball. One of the instructors here would tell to imagine the there was a nail going through the ball and you needed to drive the nail into the ground. His reasoning was that when you swing a hammer you don't have to think about how to drive it. http://www.golf.com/golf/instruction/art...