Good day from Classic Swing Golf School! Read below, our guest blogger, Dan DeFreest!
Chunking it by Dan DeFreest
Has this ever happened to you? You hit a drive down the middle of the fairway, when you arrive at your ball it’s lying perfectly 180 yards from the green with nothing but fairway between you and the flag. You grab your 180 yard club and line up the shot, visualizing a high arcing flight with the ball landing softly ten yards from the pin for a birdie putt. You begin your backswing, winding up like a watch-spring and then take a mighty downward swing and then –“thud”, you hit 4 inches behind the ball and chunk it. The ball dribbles 15 yards, the divot flies 20.
Now you’re 165 yards from the green lying 2 and playing for a par. As you prepare for your third shot, you’re telling yourself; “don’t chunk it again!” This time, you lash at the ball and instinctively pull up to keep from chunking it and instead you top the ball and it bounces another 15 yards down the fairway. You find yourself 150 yards from the green laying 3 and hoping not to make a snowman. How could things have gone so terribly wrong?
Most amateur golfers think that the divot is the swatch of ground that the club carves out directly under the ball, like a sand shot. In reality, it’s a scallop of turf in front of the ball that is dug out by the golf club as it reaches the bottom of its arc after making contact with the ball. In the scenario above, we see two different problems with the same basic result, but the second problem, topping the ball, was really created by the first problem of chunking the ball. So, in order to resolve both of these issues, a good rule of thumb to keep in mind is to focus on hitting the back of the golf ball first. This simple thought can help avoid a myriad of common problems such as scuffing a putt, topping a drive or chucking a fairway shot.
Sometimes in golf, you can’t see the forest for the trees and another set of eyes can make all the difference in the world. Classic Swing Golf School has been has been called one of the top 25 golf schools in America, if you’re having trouble seeing the back of the ball, it’s time to see them.
Try it…and fly it!