Hitting Fat Golf Shots? Here’s How To Fix It!

Hitting fat golf shots has to be one of the most infuriating things to happen on the course. Regardless of how forgiving your irons are, striking the ground before the ball is a problem that needs serious attention. In this article, we explore the causes of fat golf shots and offer some advice on how to improve your ball striking...

What are fat golf shots?

Imagine your club path from the top of the backswing to the finish position and it will resemble a circle. The bottom of the arc should come just after the ball (with your irons). If you are hitting fat golf shots, the lowest point of the arc will be before the ball causing the club to strike the ground first.

Your divot pattern

When you hit your irons, the divots should begin after the ball. To ensure the optimal iron strike, aim to contact the ball and then hit the ground after. If you can achieve this, you might start to see divot patterns like the one below forming when you practice at the driving range.

Address position

If you are struggling with fat golf shots, you need to check your address position. When hitting a mid-iron, the ball should be positioned slightly forward of middle in your stance, so that your sternum is over the ball, and your hands should also be fractionally ahead.

This can encourage a downward angle of attack, but ensure that by moving your hands forward you don't open the clubface as this could cause other faults in your swing.

In your address you should also focus on weight distribution, ensuring you have a little more weight on your lead foot. This will also encourage that good angle of attack that you are hoping to create later in the swing.

Don't forget, if you are hitting fat golf shots, check the ball position isn't too far forward in your stance.

Weight transfer

One of the main faults behind hitting fat golf shots is the way your weight moves during the swing. The fundamentals of weight transfer are that your weight should move towards your back foot in the backswing and then towards the target in the downswing.

For some golfers, there is a desire to lean back through impact to help the ball into the air. This might seem like the logical thing to do but will cause you to strike the ground before the ball. As long as you have enough speed in your swing, the loft of the club (and the backspin you create) will do the job for you.

Here’s a great drill to try… As you take the club back let your lead foot step towards your back foot. Then as you start the downswing, step back into your original address position and swing through. This forces you to use your weight correctly. This is also a great drill to try if you have a problem cutting across the ball. 

Angle Of Attack

If you want to stop hitting fat golf shots you need to learn how to compress the golf ball through impact. With your irons, you want to have the feeling that you are hitting down and through the ball - this will help you find the ideal angle of attack. The top players in the world tend to hit down with a 7-iron by about 4˚.

A great drill to practice this is the tee peg drill...

Instead of thinking too technically about the angle of attack, try putting a tee in the ground a few centimetres in front of your ball. Lock your focus in on the tee - try to strike that and forget about the ball. You should soon start to develop a more downward angle of attack that delivers better contacts.