How to Stop Hitting Golf Shots Fat

Few things frustrate a golfer more than when you nail a beautiful drive down the fairway and end up destroying the hole because you hit your approach shot “fat” or “chunked it,” as we say.

Making contact with the ground before the ball causes a dramatic loss in club head speed and momentum, thus resulting in a shot that travels far less than desired.

We’re all guilty of this occasional “chunk shot” and if we learn to eliminate it from our golf game, we’ll can all save a few strokes.  So, how do you stop hitting golf shots fat?

Here are a few of the most common reasons why players hit the ball “fat” and how to remedy the issue:

Balance

When chipping, most golfers worry about the need to get the ball lofted high into the air so they tend to lean back and put their weight on the back leg.  This causes an unnatural shift in balance to the backside and ultimately causes the club to ground into the dirt before the contact is made with the golf ball.

Try setting up your chip shot (on the practice range) and bring your rear leg backwards, out of your stance to take it out of the equation (if done correctly, about 90% of your weight should be on your leading leg with your back leg just there to stabilize you from falling over).  Now that almost all your weight is on the front foot/leg and the back leg is neutralized try hitting 20-30 balls just standing on your front leg.  What this does is train you shift your weight forward, forcing you to swing through the ball instead of swinging under to try and lift it.  When done correctly you should be able to feel your weight rolling from your big toe to your little toe on the foot where all of your weight is placed.

After a few shots you can bring your back leg back into your stance but be sure to remain aware of your weight shift and distribution and don’t allow yourself to start leaning too heavily on that back leg again.

Swing

Try slowing your backswing a bit without slowing your swing speed down.

Slowing down your swing speed can cause you to drop your body and shoulders which will result in your hands being lower to the ball, and ultimately, striking the ground first.  Instead, try practicing a slower backswing with a normal follow through – you can do this by bringing the club back at 75% speed and coming through at full speed with your weight shifted forward.  The slower backswing should help improve your overall tempo and will give your body more time to get into proper alignment before the downswing begins.

Of course if your only 30-40 yards off the green you cannot take a full swing, so practice all types of scenarios and see if this helps you compress the ball better when on approach.

Club Face

Sometimes golfers open their club face too much because they’re afraid of skulling the ball or hitting it “thin.”  However, the wide open club face will force you to pop the ball up and hit it short, essentially not allowing the club head to do what it is designed to do.

Close the face to a normal angle but be careful not to close it too much.  A closed club face may cause the heel of the club to strike the ground on a downward angle before the club makes contact with the ball, causing the dreaded chunk shot.

To recap, focus on shifting your weight forward and practice hitting approach shots on just your front leg.  Sometimes it helps to practice taking a step forward with your front leg to over exaggerate the weight shift like you’re taking a fast ball over the left field wall.  Slow down your back swing a bit but try to still come through the ball at normal speed and make sure your club face stays square through impact.

Give these tips and try and you’ll be salvaging those pars and birdies instead of hitting your shots fat and losing control of the hole.

As an added bonus, here is another simple drill you can perform using just a towel and an alignment stick that should help you stop chunking the ball:

How To Stop Chunking Shots

This video will help you understand the reasons behind why you tend to strike the ground before the ball – in other words you hit heavy, fat, or chunky shots far too often! Whether its in the shortgame or with a full swing you will learn what you need to do to overcome this demoralizing tendency.

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