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Tom’s Bonus Tip: Impact – Fat Hits

For the sake of simplicity, all advice on swings and drills is provided from a right handed perspective; lefties …. well, you know what to do!

Questions about fat hits and impact seems to come up a lot, and I’m fine with it because impact is what it’s all about.

When we have a fat hit – hitting the ground before the ball, instead of ground first, ball second, it’s because our swing center has bottomed out behind the ball.

Sometimes the cause is obvious, such as a reverse weight shift, or no forward weight shift, but often for some better players it’s not as obvious.

A more subtle cause can be losing the impact angles in our wrists, which causes the radius of the swing to get too long prior to impact, and a ground first strike results. One contributor to this problem is when a student slows his swing down to allow his arms to snap the club into impact. If you don’t keep your right shoulder swinging through on plane, it will cause the right elbow to straighten too much, and it will also cause the right wrist to straighten too much.

I heard Martin Chuck make the comparison to a boxer throwing a right hand jab holding the shoulder back (weak punch) vs. throwing a right hook, with the shoulder leading the arm into the strike (strong punch). This is a pretty good analogy.

So as you near impact, make sure that your weight is shifted laterally forward, that you have some bend in your right elbow, that your left wrist remains flat, that your forward leg is starting to straighten, and that your right shoulder is dragging your arms into impact.

At impact, your right arm should still be slightly bent at the elbow, not completely straight, and your right wrist should be slightly cupped.

Do slow practice reps to get this position down perfectly, it’s worth the time.

Love your practice, enjoy your golf,

Tom