How many times have you walked to the next tee fuming after fatting a wedge or short iron from the middle of the fairway and making a 6? Probably more than youd care to admit.
If you frequently catch your short approaches heavy, its likely youre hanging back and trying to add loft to the shot. Instead of letting the loft on the clubface do the work, you try to hoist the ball super high in the air like Rory McIlroy, and you come out looking like Joe Duffer.
Conventional wisdom says you should move the ball back in your stance, but that only compounds the problem. If you push the ball back and put a good swing on it, youre likely going to catch the top half of the ball. You’d actually have to hang back to hit it solid.
To fix the fats with your short clubs, try moving the ball forward in your stance, which promotes the proper weight transfer to your front side on the downswing and the ball-then-turf contact you want. Your divot should be in front of the ball.
JD Cuban
As a drill, tee a ball way forward, opposite your front heel, like you would with a driver (above). Hit a dozen or more shots, gradually transitioning your weight forward on the downswing until you can consistently take a divot on the target side of the ball. Repeat that feeling on the course but with your normal ball position, and say goodbye to those fat shots.
Dan Carraher, a Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, teaches at the Golf Club at South Hampton in St. Augustine, Fla.