Hitting the ground before the golf ball is one of the most frustrating shots in golf. It’s not just a weak shot, but it is inconsistent. Nobody wants to hit this type of shot because it increases your golf score and lowers your chances of winning the round.
In this article I will show you how to avoid hitting behind the golf ball so that you can strike your irons better than ever before. Let’s jump in.
Table of Contents
How To Stop Hitting Behind The Golf Ball? 3 Helpful Tips
It’s no doubt that hitting the ground first behind the ball is a horrendous shot and may even make you look foolish on the golf course.
The main reason for hitting behind the golf ball is weight transfer. If you move too much weight behind the golf ball when sliding to the side, then it will be difficult for you to move all your weight back (in a short amount of time) so that you hit the ball and then the turf after.
The reason why you want to hit the golf ball first and then the turf after is to get a clean and crisp golf stroke. By hitting the ball first and then the ground after, you will get the best ball flight and more distance.
1. Check Your Ball Position
You don’t want to hit your iron shot too far forward in the stance. For higher lofted clubs such as a pitching wedge or 9-iron, the golf ball should position in the middle of the stance, right underneath your chest.
For mid loft clubs like 7 iron/8 iron, move the ball forward from the center (towards the target) just about a ball’s length.
For long loft club such as 4,5, or 6 iron, the position is about 1.5x ball width away from the center of your stance (closer to the target). Make sure not to go more than that because you may end up hitting behind the golf ball.
2. The Correct Weight Transfer
As we previously mentioned, the main reason for hitting behind the golf ball is too much weight transfer. Here are some tips to follow to prevent that from occuring:
- Set the golf ball just in front of the center of your stance with your iron.
- Keep your sternum (chest bone) over the golf ball during the backswing.
- Rotate your body and do NOT move sideways to the right. In other words, you should rotate almost around the central location of your body. This will also give you more chances of creating power in your swing.
Move Your Weight To The Left
Now that you’ve got a centered backswing by keeping your chest over the golf ball during the top of the backswing, this will encourage your weight to naturally move to the left during the transition of the downswing.
Once the backswing is completed, you don’t want to hold too much weight in the right foot. You want to move over to the left so that the lowest point of the swing hits the ground after the ball.
Tips for moving your weight to the left:
- Keep your sternum over the golf club
- Rotate your body in the backswing around a centered position
- Move your weight around your left leg as you rotate in the downswing
3. The Strike
The final phase of the swing is the strike. To get a clean strike, you should focus on a point post impact. Focus your attention on hitting just after the golf ball.
The last piece of advice is to not add loft at the bottom of the swing by trying to flick up onto the golf shot as this can cause you to hit behind the golf ball.
Once you’ve got into position, rotated around the middle of your body and have uncoiled around the left handside, you then need to focus on hitting a low flighted golf shot.
This type of shot is going to give you a crisp strike by ensuring you hit the ball first and then the turf after.
Final Thoughts
Hitting behind the golf ball or before the golf ball is something you want to avoid in your game. Nobody wants to do it because it’s a horrendous shot to make.
Once you’ve got your ball position correctly, have rotated your body, uncoiled it and made sure not to add loft at the bottom of the swing, then you can guarantee that you will stop hitting behind the golf ball.
These are all helpful tips that will not only prevent you from hitting behind the golf ball, but get you striking your irons better than ever before and avoid heavy shots and fat shots.
