Don’t you wonder why you are more likely to top a ball when you are trying to hit your longest distance with any of your clubs. It’s that ticking time bomb in your head. It’s caused by your state of mind that triggers a chain reaction in your mind and body to overpower your transition at the top of your swing. You need a remedy to break that STUPID habit.
Pros Have the Same Problems
What happened to Rory McIlroy in the 2023 Masters? He missed the cut and it must have been caused by the pressure and emotion to win! The opposite must have happened to Jason Day’s victory in the Byron Nelson after 5 years without a win. It’s not the phase of the moon or just wearing lucky copper infused socks. Calm, controlled emotion must have a lot to do with your success on any given day when you are playing golf.
What is Your Primary Mishit?
The slope of the ground where you are standing has a lot to do with your mishits but first your need to understand what causes your mishits on the flat surface of the tee or fairway. It’s rare that TV cameras will show us the mishits for the pros but they do happen. We should be more concerned with the typical mishit for Weekend Warriors. I have played with hundreds of different golfers so I suspect that you will agree that fat and thin shots are the most prevalent mistakes for mid-handicappers. But thin hits or topped balls are by far the most common mishits for most golfers.
Problems Causing your Topped Ball Mishits
We all have to agree that emotion and personal pressure to hit longer or better shots are the primary causes for our mishits. These are the causes:
1/ Swaying back in the backswing and then rushing your arms during the downswing are the primary cause for bottoming out our swing arc before the ball and then topping the ball as your club arcs upward.
2/ Tensing our shoulder and arm muscles reduces the length of our swing arc. You may be lifting your shoulders or bending your leading arm to shorten your swing arc (as compared to the distance when you setup for your hit.)
3/ “Early Extension” refers to the way you stand up taller just before your impact with the ball. During impact, you need to keep your shoulders down on the same plane as when you setup.
4/ Transition Yip: You can’t afford to rush the transition because it will make your arms get out of sync with your body as you start to shift your weight to your leading foot. The harder you try to swing the worse this problem get. Just relax the transition.
Solution: We all need to create a comfortable rhythm to add wrist lag at the top and to hold that lag as we transition into our downswing. I now think the words “bow annnd go” to add cadence to my backswing. Saying “bow” reminds me to bow my leading wrist (for drives) or fatten my leading wrist (for fairway woods and irons), saying “annnd” as I cock my wrists for lag at the top and “go” as I bump my hip forward to start my down swing.
Create your rhythm at the top to help you relax your swing. Practice with GOLFSTR+ for all of your swings. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com