6 Drills To Hit Down On A Golf Ball (Updated)

 

Having the ability to hit down on the golf ball is essential if you want to hit great golf shots.

In order to compress a ball, you are going to need to ensure that you hit down and through it.

So many people will try and lift a golf ball up into the air as opposed to making that pure solid contact by hitting down and through.

The concept is difficult to master at first.

However, once you get it, you can become a great ball striker.

There are several ways you can work on getting this feeling down and learning how to hit down on a golf ball.

We have a few of the best drills for learning how to hit down on the ball and seeing the importance of this in your golf game.

Each of these could work for you, and it may make sense to try more than one.

 

Drills To Hit Down On A Golf Ball

 

1. Hit The Line

 

To hit the ball up in the air, you will need to hit down on it.

If you tend to hit a golf ball thin or top the ball, the bottom point of your swing is essentially not in the right position.

In order to fix this, you will need to reestablish where the bottom points it.

For most golfers, this ends up being just below the center of the golf ball as opposed to in the turf.

Hitting the line is going to be an essential drill not just for the higher handicapper but for those who are learning to perfect their ball striking.

To do this drill, you will need to take a can of outdoor paint and spray a straight line on the grass.

Don’t do this on the golf course without permission, but this is something that you can do at your own home as well.

If you work on this drill, you don’t even need to use a golf ball, so it makes an excellent drill for backyard practice.

The next thing you will do is set up at the very end of your line.

The goal is to take a small divot and essentially cut the line, but only where it starts.

If you take your divot behind the line, this is not going to result in a good shot as you will end up hitting behind the golf ball.

If you can learn to continually hit the line, you will eventually make significant contact with any golf shot you have in front of you.

The great thing about this drill is that it establishes a visual checkpoint for you.

The next time you head out to the golf course, you can visualize your line on any iron shot that you stand up to hit.

The idea of this is that the line will remind you what it takes to hit down and through your shots as opposed to lifting them into the air.

It’s incredible what your golf swing and body can do when you have the proper swing thoughts and direction in place.

 

2. Leaf In Front Of The Golf Ball

 

Perhaps one of our favorite golf drills of all time is the leaf in front of the golf ball.

Some players who do this drill will use a tee or a small stick they find.

The great thing about this golf drill is that you don’t need much to do it, but it is an extremely effective drill that is well worth the time spent on it.

The first step is to find a very lightweight loose object to place in front of your golf ball.

Some will place a tee (not pushed into the ground), while others will use a leaf or a small twig that they found on the driving range.

If you are practicing out on the range, chances are you can find something that will work for this drill.

The thing to remember is that you will be hitting this object in addition to the golf ball, so it cannot be something that will damage your club.

Golf shaft alignment sticks are a great practice aid, but for this drill, you will want to keep them clear for fear that they could break.

The concept here is very simple.

It teaches golfers that in order to get the ball up in the air and to hit a great shot, you need to take a divot after the golf ball.

The concept is a difficult one for many players to understand in the beginning.

Most golfers wonder how you could lift the ball up in the air without taking a divot behind the ball.

The grooves on the club, the dimples on the ball, and the angle of our golf swings are what allow this to happen.

Your swing will work together with science to compress the ball and get a great launch.

Simply trying to lift the ball in the air will only do damage.

Place the leaf or loose tee directly in front of where you have the golf ball.

When you swing the club, make sure that you hit both the ball and this object.

Chances are that the first few times you do it, you will only hit the golf ball.

It takes some time to get the feeling down of what it takes to hit down and through the golf shots and have this extra divot after the ball.

You will have to practice this concept, but once it clicks, it will be very powerful.

You can keep this trick with you your entire life, and on those days when you struggle to strike the ball well, put a small object in front of the ball.

Most of the time, this drill keeps a golfer’s body more stable at impact, and the angle is more accurate.

If your move your spine or shoulders as you get into the impact position, your head is going to move, and all of your angles will be off.

This often causes the missed golf shot.

By giving your mind and your body a goal and a direction, you will see much more impressive results in your golf swing.

 

3. Front Leg Pitch Shot

 

Another reason that people forget to hit down on the golf ball is that they don’t correctly transfer their weight.

If your weight is not moving forward as you get through the impact position and beyond, then you will struggle to hit down on a golf ball.

The way to prevent this from happening is to practice what it feels like when your weight is in the proper position.

Learning to feel what it is like with some of your weight on the left side when you hit will help produce golf shots that are much more accurate overall.

The best drill to work on this is to practice the weight on the front leg pitch shot.

For this shot, you only need a golf wedge to work with because swinging with a longer iron may make it more difficult, and the results will not be as good.

Take your setup or stance to hit a shot and then make it quite a bit narrower.

The narrow stance should help you condense the overall size of the swing, which is important with this shot.

Next, take about 60 to 70 percent of your weight and put it on your left side.

Now start taking pitch-type shots where you will feel a small amount of weight transfer back, but mostly, you will feel the weight on your left side at impact.

By starting with most of your weight on this side, you will have less to worry about from a weight transfer standpoint.

You will also feel how powerful having the weight in this location can be at impact.

When the weight stays on the left side, the impact position is much crisper and cleaner.

The arms are essentially pulled down and through the golf shot because the legs are working correctly.

With this drill, you will learn how important it is to hit golf shots while using your larger muscles.

If you do not use larger muscles, the hands and wrists tend to get more involved.

There are plenty of golfers out there who know how to swing with lots of hand and wrist action, but even these players will admit to how difficult this can be.

The idea is that you can’t get your timing correct when your hands and wrists are overactive in the swing.

This concept of hitting pitch shots like this is something that some players will switch to.

It could turn from being a drill to being a technique that you begin to use in your golf game.

The reason behind this is that the drill is very effective.

When you start hitting pitch shots with your weight in the proper location, you will notice that the golf ball starts stopping and spinning when it hits the green as well.

When the ball hits the green, there is very little room for movement because of the way it was struck.

If you want to start getting more accurate around the greens and putting shots in play that stop and land where you want them to, then the front leg pitch shot drill is a smart option to start working with.

Do this drill on the range and try to vary your target as well.

Even when working on drills, it is a good idea to have something that you are aiming towards.

The more like the real golf course you can make golf practice, the better your chances of bringing it to the golf course.

 

4. Two Ball Drill

 

This next drill will not only help you hit down on the ball, but it can also help you gain some extra distance in your shots as well.

The first step in this drill is to put down two golf balls.

One ball is going to be about six inches behind the ball that you are going to hit.

The golf ball that is six inches behind is where you are going to place your club before you swing.

Essentially, you would normally place your golf club directly behind the ball you are about to hit.

With this drill, you will hover your club slightly over the ball that is just about six inches back from the ball you mean to hit.

This may seem like an awkward position to start the swing from, but as you probably guessed, there are reasons hind it.

The first reason here is that you will create a forced lag in your swing.

Lag is that feeling you get when your body is rotating and moving forward, and your arms are just slightly behind.

Having lag in your golf swing will allow you to gain quite a bit more power, and your timing should be better as well.

If you watch slow-motion videos of professional golfers, you can see that they create a ton of lag in their swings.

Aside from adding more power to your golf shots, lag is also going to give your body time to transfer weight and turn through the ball before the club head arrives.

This forced lag position ends up making sure that the club is grounded as you go through impact.

Without the lag, your club can fly freely with your arms and hands, and it will not be grounded.

Essentially, you will start with your club hovering over the back ball, but then you will make contact with the ball that you originally set up to hit.

This drill may seem like an odd one at first, but many people come to love the feeling they get when working with this two-ball drill.

Another benefit of this drill is that you will be less likely to dip your shoulder as you move through impact and lift the golf ball up into the air.

Knowing that the other golf ball is in place will keep you away from this area in your swing and have you moving towards a downward blow and then a complete and high finish.

Sometimes even the smallest details in the golf game can make for significant improvements and changes in your swing.

Working on these concepts will only help you succeed in the long run and become an incredible player.

 

5. Steady Head Position Drill

 

If you want to hit down on the golf ball, your head will need to stay steady.

Having a steady head helps to ensure that you will return the club to the impact position correctly each time.

For this drill, you will need a friend to help you.

The steady head concept is one that many amateur golfers could really benefit from.

Sometimes all it takes is one quick video of your swing to see how much extra movement you have and why it is so difficult for you to hit the types of golf shots you are trying to hit.

The steady head allows for other angles in your golf swing to fall into place, and eventually, it can determine if you are successful in the shots you are trying to hit.

Have a friend take a golf club and hold it on the right side of your head as you hit some shots.

They will take the grip end of the club and use it as a guide to keeping your head in the proper position.

When your head is in the proper position throughout your entire golf swing, you will have a much easier time returning a golf club to the proper impact position.

Setting up to hit a golf ball is so important because it gives you a guide for how you will want to return when you get to impact.

If you can’t get to this impact position with your head steady and your spine angle and everything in place, you will not make consistent solid contact.

Keeping your head in a steady position is hard to do on your own.

If your friend can stand and hold a club in place to keep the head from turning, dropping, and moving, you will see some significant improvements in your consistency.

As long as the grip is held lightly against the side of your head, you should not be restricted in any of your movements, and you should easily be able to complete your golf swing.

Overall, this is an excellent drill to practice for a variety of swing flaws that you could be experiencing.

If it is slicing, hooking, or hitting down on the ball, this is an intelligent way to practice and get better.

 

6. Visualization

 

Last but not least is the process of working on visualization.

It is essential to learn to visualize the type of golf shots that you want to hit and the way the ball is going to fly.

If you can visualize what you are trying to do, your chances of doing it will be quite a bit better.

Visualizing golf shots does not have to be learned while you are in the middle of your golf round.

You can spend some time working on this concept when you are going for a walk or even going to bed at night.

Simply start to think about what it takes to hit the type of golf shot for which you need to hit down on the golf ball.

You will know what this feeling is like, and you can visualize how you want your golf swing to perform.

Then when you set up to hit your golf shots, you can have that thought in your mind and learn to repeat it as you play your round of golf.

Visualizing golf shots is not just going to help you hit down on the golf ball, but it will also help you to become a much more advanced player.

Golfers who have a stronger mental presence are always going to be capable of more on the golf course.

 

Conclusion

Hopefully, one of these six drills can help you understand what it takes to hit down on a golf ball.

The idea of hitting down on a ball is not challenging, but it is something you will have to master if you plan on getting better at golf.

The more time you spend practicing and learning what it feels like to hit down and compress, the higher and further your golf shots will fly.

Hitting high lofted golf shots that stop and land on the green will make the game of golf considerably more fun.

Start practicing these drills both at home and on the golf course, and be prepared to see some significant differences in your abilities on the course.