Scooping the ball

[arcaign]

I seem to be having a slight issue with scooping the ball at impact rather than "smacking" it. I realize that this is a fault and have been doing it for a while now and really not sure how to correct it. Does anybody have any tips or drills that can help me correct it?

Thanks

[jvincent]

Try to visualize a point about one inch past the ball and hit that with your club. The ball will "get in the way" of the clubhead and you'll have much crisper contact.

[goley]

Make sure that you dont have an open clubface problem. Often times people with too open of a clubface will have to flip/scoop as the enter impact in order to try to square up the face.

[Chieflongtee]

Hands ahead of the ball at all times. The Maltby slider is a great club/tool/training aid for that purpose. The way the clubhead is built you have no choice but to set up properly.

[lucus33]

at address shift your weight the left a little bit, it will force you to come down to the ball more, about 60 /40 no more if your right handed

[Hearzy]

it comes with practice i found...
Also in my practice swing i set up, and try to take a divot after the ball to make sure i am properly aligned and foot placement. then do the same thing visualize hitting the ball like said above just passed where the ball is. It will eventually come naturally. The next thing is getting the ball to go straight always... I am not quite there yet :-(

[bobblehead]

I read this tip in Golf Digest i think. Place a small towel lying flat directly behind the ball and take a swing. Your goal is to try and hit the ball without hitting the towel. If you scoop/hit behind the ball then you will move the towel which you don't want to do. I used to practice this in my living room with foam golf balls or masking tape crumble in a ball so I don't mark up the walls. Can't do this anymore now that I have hardwood floors

[bobcat 2]

When we scoop we are trying to lift the ball which is a normal response to playing golf. However, to play correctly it is necessary to use the loft of the club only to lift the ball. This requires a flat left wrist at impact and a swing down through the ball. The way to learn the feel is with chips. Simply try to hammer the ball into the ground with a chip setup and you will see the ball pops out with good speed and spin. Keep enlarging these moves to a half swing and then a full swing. Think of a nail sticking out of the back inside of the ball and you are trying to hammer the nail into the ground.

Obviously, that is a bandaid approach which may hold up or not. Most likely, the problem stems from a setup, grip and backswing which takes the club inside at the bottom and then out over the top which collapses the left arm prior to impact resulting in the up lofted scoop like shot. If you can get fully turned and the club in fairly good positon at the top, then let it drop inside the scoop /shorten left arm at impact should disappear.

[Goshawk]

This sounds a bit like the chipping problem a playing partner had on Thursday when I was in Buffalo. Every one of his chips was a "wristy flip" of the club rather than a smooth chip, and the ball went everywhere except where he wanted it to go. After the round, I asked him to come to the putting green. What I showed him is very simple to learn if you have someone to demonstrate it for you:
Assume your stance/setup, whether you've learned an open or square stance (i.e. Pelz vs Utley). The club should be "leaning" toward the target about 5-10°, slightly de-lofting the club a bit. Make your backswing based on the distance you want the ball to fly, and DO NOT make any weight shift as you would on a full swing. Your weight should stay very stable until after impact. On your downswing, never let the clubhead get "even" with your hands. A good visual is that, at contact and beyond, the back of your lead hand (left for a rightie) should move toward the target and never "turn over" so that when you finish the stroke the back of that hand faces the target.
A good tool to use is a pencil during your practice. Place the eraser (or butt end) of the pencil about a half inch behind the ball on your target line. Now make your chip, without touching that pencil. This serves two purposes: 1. you're coming down on the ball to miss the back of that eraser so the loft of the club will get the ball to "pop up" off the ground, and 2. you're not coming in too shallow that you'll take a chance of hitting it fat or thin.