6 Reasons you are topping the golf ball:
- You are scared of hitting the ground
- Your pressure in your legs is in the wrong spot
- Your center shifts too much
- The chicken wing
- Trying to manipulate the shot
- Yipping at the ball
There aren’t many things more embarrassing than topping the golf ball.
There you are on the first tee of the day, the eyes of every golfer around the tee box are on you and you step up and top a ball as it rolls about 10-30 yards.
You walk to your bag, head to your ball and now have the same pressure again to hit a solid shot.
As you walk down the first fairway, fear creeps in that this might happen again throughout the round. While there are many reasons why you might be topping the ball, the good news there are some simple solutions.
Of course, your golfing partners might tell you to keep your head down, but you can stil top the ball if you keep your head down and you might hit a solid ball even if you lift your head.
So today, we will dive into why a golfer tops the golf ball.
Why Am I Topping The Golf Ball?
Update: The low point control is the single best drill to help take your game to the level if you are a high handicap golfer struggling with topping the golf ball or even hitting it fat. To get to the next level, the golfer needs to hit a higher percentage of his or her shots crips and clean. Check out solution #1 below!
After we give a brief description and explanation of each of the 6 potential reasons, we will provide some drills and tips to help you end this terrible and horrifying shots that many goflers have struggled with at one point.
Reason #1: You are scared of hitting the ground
The golf club, especially the irons, fairway woods and hybrids are designed to inteact with the ground and cut through the grass or the turf. You do not have to make the perfect swing where the club sweeps the golf ball away.
With the driver, obviously, you get to tee the ball up and we would recommend teeing it higher and sweeping the ball, but with every other club, we recommend that you strike the ground at some point, hopefully just past the golf ball.
A quick tip is to find a patch of grass that you don’t mind taking some divots out of and work on controlling where the club hits the ground (see low point control dril below).
How long does it take to become a scratch golfer?
Reason #2: Your pressure in your legs is in the wrong spot
Have you ever heard of the stack and tilt instructors. While some may be critical, I believe this approach helps golfers master their low point control. The golfer sets up with 60% of their weight on the front leg and keeps it there.
Believe it or not, getting your weight or pressure stuck on your back foot is a recipe for topping the ball. Make sure, if you do shift your weight, that you get it back to your front leg to at least 70%-80% at impact.
The golfer that gets stuck on the backside will often lift up to try to keep themselves from stubbing the club in the ground, but lift up too much and top the ball.
Reason #3: Your center shifts too much
A second area where the stack and tilt instructors can help the high amateur who struggles to strike the ball solid is with the centers of the golf swing. Consider your head, chest and waist as the centerline of your golf swing. The more you can keep those in the same location and stack, tilt and turn around your centers, the best chance you have of controlling your low point. The more you start shifting your centers, the more you are going to struggle to find consistency.
Stack and Tilt vs Traditional Golf
Reason #4: The chicken wing
The chicken wing can be caused by any of the three reasons above, but ultimately the golfer for some reasons starts to bend their elbow before impact and lift the club to the top of the ball. Instead work on extending through the ball and staying through the shot.
Let the club interact with the ball and hit the ball solid once and for all!
Reason #5: Trying to manipulate the shot
Many golfers are trying to hit either the perfect shot or are living in fear of a certain shot. Doubt creeps into the mind during the golf swing and the golfer tries to manipulate the golf swing to produce a shot that they want.
However, the manipulated golf shot hardly works out in favor of the golfer. Instead, swing the club through the shot and trust that your setup and motion will produce a quality shot.
Reason #6: Yipping at the ball
Something happens in the mind of the golfer, more than likely fear of not hitting the ball solid and they yip or lift up through the shot, resulting in a poorly struck shot which is often a topped shot.
How to Stop Topping the Golf Ball
- Train with the Low Point Control Drill
- Swing with Confidence
- HIt left arm parallel to left are parallel shots
Solution #1: Train with the Low Point Control Drill
This is our number one recommended drill for anyone that is topping the ball, chunking the ball or just simply does not strike the ball as solid as they want to. The goal for most golfers is to strike the ball solid a high percentage of the time.
This is the first step in becoming a quality golfer. Once we are striking the ball solid, we can move on to the next fundamental which is controlling the start line and the curve of the ball.
The Drill: The Low Point Control Drill
- Take some yard paint and paint a 1-2 yard long line.
- Setup with 55% of your weight on your front side.
- Try to hit the target side of the line and see how many times out of 10 you can do this successfully!
- Repeat this drill every day for a month, tracking your progress and your ability to to this successfully in trials of ten.
- You may need to start with half swing and progress to full swings.
The quicker the golfer can master this drill, the quicker they will become a better golfer. HItting the ball solidly leads to maximizing swing speed, and hitting a ball a similar distance every time they hit a shot.
This drill will help solve the first problem listed above and helps with several others on our list of issues that cause the topping of the golf ball.
Solution #2: Swing with Confidence
Always keep in mind that a fearful or manipulated shot often ends in a poor result for a high percentage of golfers. Instead, pick your target, get the feel you want in your practice shot and step up and hit the shot.
The best way to drill this is to play the simulated course game at the driving range.
My number one go-to game, whether I am by myself at the driving range or with a friend, is to simulate a course that you have played or would love to play. Here is how it works:
- You start at the first hole and let’s say it is a 405 yard par 4 with a hazard to the left at 220 yards, but a slight bailout area to the right.
- Set the parameters with different markers out on the driving range. Go through your pre-shot routine and see if you can hit the targeted area you are trying to hit.
- Based on that drive, let’s say you have 165 left to the green. Pull the appropriate club, set the target with some parameters and go ahead and make that shot as well.
- Keep track of how many times you can hit your targeted area. Over time track your progress and see if you are getting better during your practice rounds.
The goal here is to strike every shot solidly. We can build the pressure, help you build confidence and hit shots required on a golf course. This drill is great if you are someone that can stand there and hit quality shots, but struggle to take it to the golf course with you!
Solution #3: Hit left arm parallel to left arm parallel shots
If you are struggling at any point, take about 5-10 balls at the driving range and hit left arm to left arm parallel shots. This is similar to a 50% or half swing. Take the club back until your left arm is parallel and then swing through to where your left arm is parallel.
Work on interacting the club with the ball and then return to the full swing or the solution #1 lifted above.
This is a great drill to work on with wedges, mid irons or even the driver. It not only helps with low point control, but helps the golf synch their swing back up.
Final Thoughts: Why Am I Topping The Golf Ball
Hopefully in your golf journey these three drills above can help you get to the point in our golf journey where you hit the ball solid at least 99% of the time. There is nothing worse than the top shot or the chunked shot in golf and they are often caused by the same issues.
Instead of dwelling on what is causing it, get to work on the three drills above to work on making solid contact and the minor adjustments you can make to ensure you strike the ball and then the ground.
My Secret To Golf Improvement
Let’s face it, in order to get really good at golf, we must practice frequently. About three years ago, I made the leap and invested in a golf simulator build for my garage. I went with a SkyTrak Launch Monitor and the TGC software and can now play over 100,000 courses including Augusta, Pebble Beach, Bethpage Black, Whistling Straits. St. Andrews and many other of the top 100 courses in the world.
This golf simulator setup, which is more affordable that you might imagine, has been a game changer. I can now play golf everyday of the year regardless of rain, snow, cold weather or time of day. I can practice or play rounds of golf. I can stand in the 11th fairway at Augusta and with the auto-rewind feature I am able to practice my approach shots from various differences.
It is worth checking out through Rain or Shine Golf as they offer some incredible packages along with financing offers that are difficult to beat.
Some direct links to Rain or Shine Golf for pricing and financing:
Take Action – What You Can Do Today to Get Better
What does this mean for you? I believe in the following recipe to get better:
1 – Improve your motion in the golf swing by identifying a golf instructor. Here are some options:
Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:
2 – Train to swing faster and improve your swing speed. Here are some options:
Looking to gain more Speed and Distance in your swing. Two Options:
3 – Understand course strategy and work to break through your next barrier. Here is a series on breaking through:
We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.
4 – Practice Frequently
Did you know that I build a golf simulator in my garage and have played over 500 rounds of golf on my SkyTrak system? It has been a game changer and one worth checking out. Here are some of my other posts on golf simulators frequently asked questions:
- Is a Golf Simulator Worth It?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator?
- What is the Best Golf Simulator?
- Golf Simulator Accessories?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for under $7000
- Top 11 Reasons to Buy a SkyTrak
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for Under $1000
- Why Build A Golf Simulator?
- What Space is Needed?
- Can A Golf Simulator Improve My Game?
- How Much Does A Golf Simulator Cost?
- Don’t Forget to Check out our 15 best golf swings of all time.