Ignore advice: Hit Down on Ball

By T.J. Tomasi

Universal Press Syndicate

From the top of the swing, the clubhead doesn't swing directly down to the ball, but moves in the opposite direction ― away from the ball. This away-not-down concept is not only one of the most counterintuitive moves in the golf swing, but also one of the most crucial.

Who would have thought that you would start the downswing by swinging in the opposite direction from where you want to go? But all good players do the "away" part of the downswing first from the top, while almost all bad players do the "down" part first. The former produces a shallow, indirect route to the ball, while the latter produces a steep, direct route.

Many golf instructors prescribe "hitting down on the ball" as an antidote for scooping or hitting up on the ball, using the logic that this error is corrected by simply doing the opposite. This may be logical, but it is wrong.

Remember a basic tenet in building your golf swing: "Your golf swing will be no better than your concept of what a good golf swing is." And since concepts cue up motor behavior, the concept of hitting down on the ball cues up the wrong behavior.

Try to hit down and you will hit around, which is another reason the swing error called "over the top" is so prevalent. Investigate the golf history of an over-the-topper who spins his shoulders and you'll often find "hit down on the ball" in his concept queue.

My advice is to purge this concept from your golf data base and to ignore anyone who tells you to do it. "Hit down on the ball" and "keep your head down" are the No. 1 and No. 2 members of golf's hall of fame of worst advice.

Swing away

Good players don't swing up on the ball and they don't swing down on it. They swing away from it: They do what they can to make the clubhead fly away from themselves, the ball and the target.

Adding width to your swing is another way to describe this concept. Here's a drill that will help you add width:

Using one-third power, actually let the club fly out of your hand when your left arm is halfway down, so that if you were aiming east, the club would fly west. For over-the-toppers, the club would fly south toward the target line.