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FlyBallDavo
21st January 2009, 08:43 PM
The Fat Shot is normally a sign for me that my game is going to fall apart for the next 3 months. Once it starts Im doomed.

For me, I think it is caused by a lazy right knee that collapses on the downswing. I have purposely started locking the knee on takeback of the club to try and maintain my height through to connection with the ball. I have found this causes pulling the golf ball.

Any tips as to correcting both fat shots and the pulls? Or at least what are the causes of both?

Golfnut
21st January 2009, 09:32 PM
I'll tune into this.....I find the fat shots start creeping in when I'm getting tired and the down swing starts to break down....happens to me if I go for a hit after work after a busy day (Lawnmowing contractor).

Good to hear the experts comments here.

goonie
21st January 2009, 09:35 PM
there is an article on this in the latest Aus Golf Digest, acording to article it says this can be cause by releasing the club to early. don't know if that helps.

Golfnut
21st January 2009, 09:37 PM
Releasing? Still haven't worked out what that actually means goonie :(

goonie
22nd January 2009, 10:51 AM
Here is a brief attempt at explaining the release
Thats when you uncock your wrists on the downswing to hit the ball. during the downswing you leave the wrists cocked and swing the arms down with the butt end of the club aiming to the ground and then you release the club (uncock the wrists) when your hands are around hip/waist height (players differ on this) and strike the ball.

Hope that rough explanation helps.

Golfnut
22nd January 2009, 11:04 AM
Ah ok.....was thinking it was refering to the time when the hands cross over but your explanation makes sense now cause your unlocking the rists just before impact. Cheers.

goonie
22nd January 2009, 11:20 AM
if you release very early, say shoulder height, that is called Casting, like in fishing, you will lose a lot of power and may hit fat shots, and if you release too late (unless you have very quick hands)you will have lots of problems like pushes, hooks and low shots.

You ideally want your hands slightly in front of club head at impact so you strike the ball with a descending blow. If you release too early you tend to hit the ground before the ball and the club gets in front of the hands.

razaar
22nd January 2009, 11:59 AM
An excellent drill to get out of the habit of hitting it fat is to place a piece of thin perspex 6 inches behind the ball (on the practice ground of course) and hit shots making sure that you keep your head level and keep the hands ahead of the clubhead as you turn through the shot. Because the correct through swing path is very shallow don't go any closer than 6 inches with very thin perspex.

3oneday
22nd January 2009, 01:35 PM
Ever had a lesson from a Pro Dave ? the bloke at Carny no good ? sounds like it could be time to ask :)

FlyBallDavo
22nd January 2009, 08:09 PM
Your probably right 3oneday. Im pretty sure I have got it figured for now but im sure the time will come for a lesson. No problem with the Pro.

Golf is a difficult game to figure out your own problems. Its not like all other sports I have played throughout my life.

virge666
22nd January 2009, 09:58 PM
The Fat Shot is normally a sign for me that my game is going to fall apart for the next 3 months. Once it starts Im doomed.

For me, I think it is caused by a lazy right knee that collapses on the downswing. I have purposely started locking the knee on takeback of the club to try and maintain my height through to connection with the ball. I have found this causes pulling the golf ball.

Any tips as to correcting both fat shots and the pulls? Or at least what are the causes of both?


Well - it is the same problem at the pull hook with the driver.

Don't do the bit in red, that is just silly and will increase the problem.

Fix the hands, and this will in turn fix the body. Standard problem, easy to sort out.

Rusty
23rd January 2009, 11:15 AM
Davo fwiw, if you can, video your swing. see if your head moves up and down. everyone is different. for me, if my backswing gets too long, because of trying to hit the ball too hard, my head dips, then lifts coming to impact. this is when i chunk it. see what you're doing from a video.

once you've worked out what your issue is, as you're improving, practice (if you do/can) only off grass for a while, and when you're game, full shots with lofted clubs. if you're not chunking them you should be cured.

talbo
2nd February 2009, 04:46 PM
I've found that with my own swing, I'll often hit the ball fat and sometimes really far behind the ball (1-2 inches) if I'm gripping the club too tight. A simple re-calibration of my grip pressure cures it straight away.

Johnny Canuck
2nd February 2009, 06:12 PM
Lots of "Fat Shots" here: http://www.ozgolf.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11998

Golfnut
7th May 2009, 11:59 PM
Not wanting to start a new thread......

Seriously the "fat shots" are killing my game at the moment.....somebody help :(
My game as a whole is improving quite a bit recently but I seem to be losing it mostly on the all important 2nd shot....the main culprit is the FAT SHOT.....this is leading to much frustration, head scratching and club throwing.
For instance, today I was playing quite possibly one of my best 9 hole rounds:
1st hole - Perfect drive, 7 iron in....FAT......chip on and escape with a 5
5th hole - another perfect drive, 7 iron in......FFFAAATTT....chip on & escape with a 5.
Coming home with 32 and 2 holes to play....hit driver off the 8th which went right so needed to play a 5 iron out of the rough (very sandy) 160m from the pin to have a chance at the green....you guessed it FAT, the ball went about 15m still in the rough, so keep the 5 iron in hand hoping to push it out.....again fat, what made it worse is the sand of course. By this time frustration was setting in, needed to pitch it in and that was long :(....end of the story this hole blew out to a quad bogey stuffing my chance at a low 40 score. Ended the round with a 45 with me resorting to bascially a 4i bump and run as a 2nd shot as I had lost all confidence in pulling off a full swing with an iron.

This sort of stuff plauged my game at Burswood on Sunday too but still managed to hit a 90 which was good considering how badly I hit....walked off the course feeling like I'd just hit a 100+ score. After this game on the weekend I went out again on Tuesday to try and iron out the bugs in the game...played a cracker of a game hitting 42 off the stick....took my time with my 2nd shot...hit a couple fat but I thought i'd worked out my problems but today's round proved the FAT cancer is alive and kicking.....

Can anyone help? Do I need time at the range?
My clubs are not sized perfectly for me but are only 1/2in longer than preferable....when I first started using my Nike's nearly a year ago now, I hit a lot of fat shots so I ended up gripping down a touch which fixed it somewhat. I'm still gripping the clubs the same but this crap is starting to stop my game from improving further.

adlo
8th May 2009, 12:05 AM
Golfnut, no one will be able to diagnose unless they can see your swing.

However, I doubt it would be club length.

I know when I hit fat shots it is because my swing is tired (so often then end of the round) and I am dominating the swing with my upper body and getting lazy.

Golfnut
8th May 2009, 12:15 AM
Yeah didn't think it would be club length.....
I'm sure tiredness is a factor as I do play most of my 9 hole rounds after work and being a Lawnie/Landscaper can tend to take it out of you.....But Sunday's round was early morning so tiredness shouldn't have been a factor there...felt very stiff though.

One good thing that's come out of this is my short game is razor sharp at the moment.....it has to be to cover up the dud 2nd shots.

razaar
8th May 2009, 06:11 AM
Hitting fat shots are usually caused by:

Poor posture at address which can lead to anything.
Not maintaining your posture and hip angles (as set at address) through impact, head drops coming into the ball.
Ball position too far forward for your swing.
Too steep a downswing, the club head is above or outside the plane on the downswing of your setup relative to the target.
Bad thought process before swinging - concentrate on hitting slightly inside to out through the ball on a horizontal path; not down into the back of the ball vertically.
Draw an imaginary line from your chin to a spot between the balls of your feet and keep this as the axis to coil around; don't move ahead of this axis on the downswing until after impact.
Keep your arms very soft to promote lag and for the hands to be ahead of the ball position through impact.

If I was you I would sign up for a few lessons.

BBM Rick
8th May 2009, 07:41 AM
I have (or had, as a youngster - see sig line) always found "swing thoughts" work for e. If im chunking them fat, I would stand at address and imagine Im about to hit the ball off an ice skating surface.
For a treacherous putt that requires a delicate stroke, I imagine the shaft is made of glass. Sounds silly, but usually worked for me.
I picked this up from the Golf mags of the late 80's that featured this little hand drawn images with Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.

Golfnut
8th May 2009, 08:39 AM
Thanks lads.....razaar, a few good ones there for me to work on down at the range this arvo.
Thought process is totally shot at the moment, need to wipe the memory bank and start again.
Did think of moving the ball back slightly in my stance.....the chunking is happening more with 4, 5 and 6i which i'm playing from just slightly forward of the middle of my stance. How far back can I put the ball for the long iron shots without affecting the flight too much?

Lots to work on there. The other question is why don't I ever chunk on my practise swings??? That's probably what's making it so frustrating!

razaar
8th May 2009, 08:51 AM
Thanks lads.....razaar, a few good ones there for me to work on down at the range this arvo.
Thought process is totally shot at the moment, need to wipe the memory bank and start again.
Did think of moving the ball back slightly in my stance.....the chunking is happening more with 4, 5 and 6i which i'm playing from just slightly forward of the middle of my stance. How far back can I put the ball for the long iron shots without affecting the flight too much?

Lots to work on there. The other question is why don't I ever chunk on my practise swings??? That's probably what's making it so frustrating!
I've always considered having the ball where your shirt log is. If it creeps to far back in your stance, the takeaway tends to be outside and there has to be more of an inside loop at the top to get the clubhead back on plane. The best way is to keep a connection between the left arm (upper) and the torso with soft arms. Once we break the link between the arm swing and the body turning all sorts of nasty things occur. Without seeing your swing I have a feeling that you are all arms and not enough body coil - perhaps wanting to see too much of the ball; its not going anywhere, take your time and be smooth and oily.:)

Golfnut
8th May 2009, 09:30 PM
Took the plunge and rocked up at Freo public initially to just hit a bucket to try a few of the suggestions but while at the pro shop I asked about a session with the teaching pro....how's this for service....rocked up at 2pm, walked into the pro shop at 2.05pm, had a chat with the lads there 2.07pm, they called the teaching pro 2.10pm, 2.20pm i'm on the range warming up, 2.30pm i'm taking instruction from a teaching pro....BRILLIANT and the best part, the chunkers are gone, the swing is much smoother, well hit shots are finding an extra 10m, they're straighter and have much much better ball flight.

He finished off with him giving me some drills to practive everyday in the backyard to increase club head speed and a couple of others to help with swing path & direction.

Best $60 I have EVER spent on golf in my life.....unbelievable service too (helps when the course pro lives around the corner from the course.)

Just can't wait to put it into use....let's hope i'm still singing the praises after the next round.

Your right Raz, take your time, smooth & steady & swing through to the target.
Drives were about the same distance with a less violent swing but much staighter with a nice tight fade.

Yossarian
8th May 2009, 09:34 PM
Just missed you down there golfnut. Good to hear he was a help though i was thinking of enquiring about a couple of lessons to.

Golfnut
8th May 2009, 10:15 PM
Bugger would have been nice to catch up.....I left at about 3.45pm.....what time did you get there?

I usually have a hit at about 2-2.30pm or sometimes as late as 3pm if it looks quiet.....been playing Point Walter a lot more lately though.

Yeah, Andrew was excellent, very patient, easy to understand and more importantly keeps it simple.

Yossarian
10th May 2009, 09:10 PM
I got there about two, left threeish.
We should have a hit some time if you like?

Golfnut
10th May 2009, 09:18 PM
No probs.....swap numbers on pm if you like.