2 Ways to Hit the Ball Low
I often hit the ball low because of 2 reasons. 1) You can control the shots better with low shots. 2) Even if the shots curved to the right or left, it doesn't curve as much as the normal shots.
With your long irons or hybrid clubs, you might want to hit it higher to stop the ball on the green. But with your middle irons and short irons, you can take an advantage of low shots to control the ball.
2 Methods of Hitting This Shot
There are 2 methods of hitting the ball low. Like I mentioned on the page How to Hit the Ball Low or High, the easy way to hit it is to take more clubs and hit it easy.
For example, instead of using 8-iron, take your 6-iron and hit it using your half swing. By reducing your swing speed with a half swing, you can also reduce the amount of the backspin and keep the trajectory low.
And of course, the less loft will keep the ball low as well.
You can use this shot in the situation such as
- Against the wind
- Hitting to the pin that is cut on the back of the green
- Hitting to the narrow green
I use this shot often because with this method, I don't have to change my swing, address positions, grip or ball position.
Some players grip down on the grip to keep the ball lower, but if you do this, it could affect the lie angle of your iron. So I usually don't grip down on the club unless I'm hitting special type of shots that requires me to grip the club short.
However, if you don't want to hook the ball, gripping down on the club may be effective technique for you.
Advanced Way to Hit it Low
Here is the technique that is also used by pros. It's more of the advanced technique, it's worth trying.
Here is how.
1. Position the ball 1 ball-length to the right
2. With short irons, put a bit more weight on your front foot
3. Try to point the back of your left hand toward the target through impact
To hit the ball low, you need to position the ball a bit more to the right than normal. But if you put the ball more to the right, it can make it easier to turn the clubface over through impact.
This causes hooks.
So the key is to prevent your clubface from turning over too much. There are many ways to do that.
One of the ways to do this is to try to point the back of your left hand or the logo of your glove toward the target at impact and through impact.
If the back of your left hand faces toward the ground through impact, you will hit hooks. So make sure that the back of your left hand faces toward the target.
Another way is to limit your follow through. Try to stop the follow through when your hands reach waist height.
You may not be able to stop there, but that's ok. In that case, stop when your hands reach your shoulder height.