Reasons for topping the ball

[James Marshall (Hogan1953)]

Standing watching my students regularly top the ball I thought it would be valuable to draw up a comprehensive list of the reasons for it. I'll start the ball rolling with what I see to be the most common reasons. It would be nice to have several supra-categories (pivot problems/weight distribution problems) with sub-categories within (too much hip slide in the backswing weight too far right at impact) etc. Anyway here goes.


1. Too much hip slide in the backswing causing too much weight to be left on the right side at impact, clubhead bottoms out early and stirikes the ball above the centre.

2. Reverse pivot type swing with too much weight moving away from the ball in the downswing, causing upper centre to move away from the ball with clubhead striking the top of the ball.

3. Angle of attack too steep and narrow in the downswing.

4. Weight too far left.

5. Little or no hip slide in the downswing with minimal rotation, hands never get far enough left, inducing throwaway and causing the clubhead to move up and in, result ball struck above the centre.

6. Loss of posture both in the backswing and the downswing. Spine angle lifts in backswing, too far away from the ball and never recovers. Hips move out towards the baseline in the downswing instead parallel to the baseline forcing cervical spine backwards and away from the ball, posture lost, hands don't get low enough.

7. For whatever reason the arms never straighten out enough to get the hands low enough to strike the bottom of the ball, possible causes left arm bend in the backswing, poor pivot resulting in little or no throw-out action.

8. Whole series of throwaway problems causing the low point to be displaced to the right with clubhead hitting the ball on the up.

9. Under plane downswings bottoming out too early, maybe too much hip slide leaving upper centre behind.

10. Last but not least lifting your head up!

Or any combination of the above.

 

[Perfect Impact]

You left out the most common reason: "pullaway" - the fact that the left shoulder is further from the ball at impact than it was at setup.

The shoulder turn and its rising due to the pivot takes the club with it, pulling it further from the ball. This is why so many of the pros can be see to address their drives with the heel of the club - and why John Daly wrote in his book of the phenomenon - specifying exactly what was happening and what he did about it.

He cites Fuzzy Zoeller as the extreme example of this: putting the club quite a bit further out than where the ball sits. THIS IS NOT DONE BY REACHING OUT: it is done by walking closer TO the ball so that the distance foot to ball is a bit less than what it would be expected to be.

 

[Jared Willerson]

Good list Hogan.

George, what are you talking about? What you seem to be suggesting with level shoulders at impact is roundhousing. Please explain.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

i only believe there are 2 reasons:

1) You flipped at it (99% of the time)
2) You positioned the ball too far foward in your stance and you can't get your hands ahead enough to hit down on it.

 

[puttmad]

.....

1. Too much hip slide in the backswing causing too much weight to be left on the right side at impact, clubhead bottoms out early and stirikes the ball above the centre.


4. Weight too far left.

This is a contradiction surely?...

 

[James Marshall (Hogan1953)]

puttmad,

The first example will result in the clubhead hitting the ball on the up, either hitting the ground first and then bouncing up to strike the ball or simply not reaching the ground and hitting the ball above centre. The second example with the weight too far left at impact results in too steep a blow (just like if you're up against a tree and can only pick the club up vertically and drop it on the top of the ball), there's too much down, almost as if you were chopping the ball in half from above. Try Brian's unhurdleable hurdle drill with a range basket up close to the ball and you'll see what I mean.

 

[James Marshall (Hogan1953)]

Perfect Impact,

Thanks for the input. How does this square with Homer's idea that the ball should be placed slightly in the toe to allow for a stretch in the left arm in the downstroke?

 

[Perfect Impact]

Hogan and GLC: there are TWO elephants in the living room. One is Homer's stretch - and what he leaves out is that the left wrist uncocks AND the shoulder blades fold forward: A LOT of stretch. The other elephant is that at impact the torso is NOT where it was at setup: the left shoulder is higher and further from the ball than where it was. So there are two "changes" to be dealt with - each with an opposite result. The two opposing elements COULD cancel each other out. They do for a lot of golfers. They DON'T for a lot of golfers also. Like Daly, Singh, Donald, Zoeller - just to name some of those who are more visible to more of us. THESE golfers' "pullaway" is greater than their stretch, so they address their drives with the club "too far" from their feet. The other extreme is Greg Norman who used to stand ready to drive with the ball "too far" --even beyond the toe - and just before takeaway he'd stretch out to measure to the ball one last time and then swing.

IT IS PERSONAL TO EVERY GOLFER in the same way that his eyeglasses, size pants, and arm length etc. is personal. You can't find it in a book: it is found by the golfer FOR HIMSELF AND HIS BODY and his motions, from trial and error.

"It" being the setup accommodation needed so that he need make NO in-swing movements or adjustments or efforts to deliver the center of the clubface back to the ball. HE PRE-SET HIS BODY ALLOWING FOR HIS ANATOMY so that the swing was going to hit the ball just fine.

If the operator of the Iron Byron doesn't have a way to measure the club to the ball - if he had to start from the top - he would have to use trial and error. That's not a perfect analogy because the IB is a rigid structure and there is no "left shoulder goes somewhere else" during the swing. But it is the same idea; THE RIGHT SETUP ACCOMMODATIONS FOR THE REALITIES OF THOSE ELEPHANTS need to be found, then installed, by the golfer.