Lesson: A Game of Opposite

I was giving an extremely sharp & intelligent CEO a lesson one afternoon, watching as she skulled, topped, and skidded the ball along the ground, getting more frustrated with each attempt. Finally after about 10 balls she looked up exasperated and asked me what she was doing wrong, as the none of her shots had gotten in the air. I said that in the 10 swings she took she never hit the ground once, never took a divot. I said in order to get the ball in the air you have to hit down on it, try to drive the ball into the ground. The more we hit down on the ball the higher and further it will go. She looked at me rather blankly responding, "That's the exact opposite of what I thought". I said, "Welcome to golf, you have just graduated to the next level."

Golf is game of opposites. It should really be called "Opposite". I am not kidding. On some level, when you first held a club in your hand, the ball being on the ground, somewhere in your mind you thought that logically you had to get under the ball, that is help it up into the air with the club. How else would the ball get airborne? This logical thought, to me, is the main reason why most people have such a hard time with golf.

Under is the worst word in Golf. YOU NEVER, EVER, TRY TO GET UNDER A BALL. YOU HIT DOWN ON IT! Literally try to drive the ball into the ground. The face of any golf club has some amount of loft or angle to it from which the ball bounces off. (Even a putter has loft.) The ball when hit actually squashes or "distorts" against the face of the club head. The loft of the club head is what knocks the ball into the air. As you hit down on it more with you hands always leading, the loft of the face of the club head will knock the ball into the air. You do not have to help it. The more you try to get under the ball or help it into the air, the more the club will be traveling up through impact, hitting the top or center on the ball, resulting in a shot that runs or rolls along the ground.

When you set up to ball your feet should be pressing into the ground as if you are standing on 2 scales, trying to get each one to go up to 500 pounds. The pressure is down because we are hitting down. We are not shooting baskets here. With your mind in your hands try to drive your hands past the ball & hit down on it. If it's teed up break the tee below the ball. All the force, speed & energy in a swing or stroke is down, out, & through the ball. There is no such thing as "Lifting your head". Your head comes up when you hit up. Your head will stay down when you hit down. Its not a head issue at all. It's that you are not hitting down on it! Let me know what you think.