Article #64
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Dear Jitterbug:
My wife can't hit the ball. She's been playing for several years but has a hard time making solid contact. She either hits the top of the ball or the ground first. She does okay from a tee, but hitting the ball off the ground is very challenging for her. Do you have any suggestions?
Mike Burton
Jitterbug Gang Fan
Jitterbug:
Mr. Vaughn has said it for years: "The only reason golf instructors exist is because the ball is sitting on the ground."
I believe it's true. The majority of swing mechanic problems stem from trying too hard to perfectly pick the ball off of the ground.
The clean-pick approach brings on faulty swing characteristics such as casting the club from the top, abbreviated weight shifts and chicken-winging, none of which can be fixed until the golfer gets out of the pick-it-clean mindset. In fact, all golfers need to know how to take a divot on the forward side of the ball, even overdo it. If, after overdoing it, one prefers less of a divot, at least she will have a bead on the mechanics necessary to impact the ball on the proper, descending path.
Mr. Vaughn:
Mike, ask your wife, "Are you trying to pick the ball cleanly off the ground?"
Having been around the game for years, she'll likely say, "No, I'm trying to hit down on the ball."
But, don't be fooled. Instead, place two balls on the earth-one bare to some tight grass and the other atop some long, fluffy rough cut grass-and ask her which she'd rather hit. If she prefers the one from the long grass, she's got a divot aversion and needs to learn to hit the ball before the ground. In other words, she's a lift-the-ball, clean-pick swinger.
Still not convinced? Here's something else you can do. Have her take a practice swing and tell her you want her to take a divot. She's undoubtedly going to take a divot somewhere back in her stance (that's what clean-pickers do), but you have to insist that she finds a way to take some grass straight in front of her left foot. When she can contact the earth every single time in front of her left foot, she's on her way to some good, solid ball striking.
Lord Berry:
Taking Jitterbug's advice seriously, every golfer should have in her bag of tricks the ability to hit down and through the ball, even when negotiating decidedly short shots. I wish not to imply that delicate chips and pitches should be handled with a graceless punch into the ball, but that crisp impact is more easily achieved when the club is travelling downward at impact.