- Welcome to South Florida.
I'm Adam Bazalgette, founder of Scratch Golf Academy,
two time PGA Teacher of the Year Award winner
here in Florida.
And today's subject, one that affects a lot of people,
how to stop hitting behind the ball.
Stay tuned.
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Okay, so how to stop hitting behind the ball,
this affects a lot of people.
I'm gonna show you at the beginning
of the video here in just a moment,
the two big variables that really govern that.
And then the bulk of the video we'll talk about,
what are some of the mental obstacles,
maybe give you a few drills that I think would help.
What are some of the ways you can crack this thing
and get over the hump once you understand the variables?
If you like this video, please subscribe to the channel.
Love to get you more free content coming your way
and of course, ScratchGolfAcademy.com is my home website,
have full courses in every aspect of the game,
including a full course on iron play
that has a lot of content and details there.
Okay, let's get started.
Okay, so what are these two primary variables
that would cause someone to hit the ground behind the ball?
Well, to me they're these two,
first off, and not necessarily in a particular order,
but first off is a premature straightening of the wrists.
I mean, even the most simple grasp
of geometry would tell you
that the sooner you straighten your wrist,
the sooner the club gets down to ground level.
So an early release or even a premature release
of some degree is gonna make you hit the ground sooner
than holding more lag.
We'll get into that in just a minute.
The other thing, of course, your arms are attached
to your body so it's the location of your body.
The more your weight is back on the back leg there,
and the further over here you are,
the sooner you're gonna hit the ball.
I'm gonna show you a couple of pros here
in just a minute or two, briefly,
and you will be amazed how far
for an iron they are on the left side.
So those are our two variables.
They're not that difficult.
Put your body more here
and release the club a little bit later,
but clearly they are, in fact,
difficult for a lot of people.
So what are the barriers?
What are the things that cause people not to be able
to do this consistently?
That's what the meat of this video,
I hope, is gonna be about.
Let's have a look through one element here
that I think is critical.
Then we'll look at a couple of other things
that might hold you up, and a couple of suggestions
as to how to sort this out.
Okay, counted number one on my list,
most people's target isn't really the target.
It's the golf ball,
that's really what they're aiming their swing at.
Now, the mind controls the body.
You know that, but deep down if you're really just trying
to make contact, and you're worried about hitting the ball,
you're not gonna move freely enough in a direction
that would be appropriate to energy going out there
to consistently hit in front of the ball.
So take a risk, and by risk I mean,
hey don't worry about a bad shot.
Loosen up a bit and say hey,
if I really did not worry one ounce about contact,
could I swing in a manner that's related to the target.
You maybe won't make contact first try,
but can I unlock that?
Because if you can unlock that,
you're well, well on the way.
And come back to check in this once in a while,
your mind will go back to aiming at the ball again.
So I'm gonna make a setup here.
I'm gonna try in my mind's eye
to only think of creating energy out there.
Hopefully we'll hit it, we'll see what happens.
I felt a really free swing there.
Happened to be a pretty good shot,
but I felt some freedom that's number one.
Let's check out the next things.
Okay, so here's another thing,
and this is a biggie that comes along with that.
People don't realize it, but deep down most of us
have a deep fear of not making contact with the ball,
not even not making solid contact,
sometimes just not making contact at all.
And when the mind's too keenly aware
that that's gotta be hit or those whatever,
emotional damage, it's gonna tend
to strike at it a little bit more.
You've gotta allow yourself some freedom
to make some mistakes.
Now, I'll get into that in just a moment.
Let me show you a couple of pros,
and you will be amazed, relative to most golfers,
how much they're moving to their left side,
and how much the hit is out towards the target,
not down at the ball.
Check it out.
So Lydia Ko, watch her lower body slide forward there.
Look at the wheel of that car.
Now her head's pretty still,
I'm not suggesting she moves her head in front of the ball.
And look there, if you draw a line up from the golf ball,
look how much she is past that golf ball with her lower body
Even if the camera angles off a fraction,
that gives you the idea.
And look at how far past her hands get
before she snaps those wrists straight.
So it's not like she just doesn't have any release,
it just happens much more on the front side of the ball
than the average golfer would have.
Sergio Garcia, always a favorite example there for sure.
Just move him up just a hair, and again,
camera angle might be off a fraction,
but you get the picture.
Look at him move towards the hand
of that guy that's a martial,
and look at how far past the golf ball the handle goes
before he snaps those wrists straight.
Okay, here's the thing,
if you're gonna make a change in something,
several suggestions for you, and these are really important.
They're not difficult.
Number one, you cannot make 100%
of your mistakes on one side.
If you're learning to ride a bike,
and every time you lose your balance it's on one side,
there's no learning going on.
There's no adjusting happening.
But again, people's fear of missing the ball,
I'll bet you, if this is a problem that you have,
ask yourself have I ever really hit
so far over there it's been a catastrophic mistake
in terms of outcome?
Probably not, probably 100%
of the time you're either hitting a little behind it
or maybe just getting up into the zone of solid contact.
You cannot learn that way,
so don't be afraid to make some real mistakes.
Mistakes as defined in terms of unsolid contact
and make a few mistakes on this side of the ball.
Let me demonstrate.
That divot was too far forward there.
I hit too much down on that ball.
It was actually a manageable, sort of,
75 yard shot or whatever.
I was just fooling around with it,
but don't be afraid to make some mistakes here.
So that you can feel the proper kind of position.
Second thing I would do is a drill,
once you've made a few mistakes on that side of the ball,
you might hit the top of the ball on the way down
or something like that.
Play around with ball position
to learn some different feels.
So let's setup with a ball,
maybe more in my middle of my stance.
Hit a little pun shot there.
Now let's play the ball way over here forward.
Now the only caveat in this,
you can't come over the top to get to the ball,
and let's see if playfully I can move enough
to get to that golf ball.
I was able to get over there and take a divot
in front of the ball that time.
No real swing thought, just a playful intention,
just making some adjustments.
Here's my final point, and this is a big one.
I guess I've said that for every point in this video,
but this is a big one.
Don't prioritize good outcomes,
and solid contact at the beginning.
Don't try for good shots as a benchmark,
try to make a broad change,
make it playfully as we've showed you,
and then let contact work its way in.
You'll probably find, if your mind's free,
and you're able to change around
and play with it a little bit, it won't be 15 to 30 shots
before you'll just start noticing your subconscious
is starting to make good contact with the ball
and start to find its way.
So in summary, don't make the ball the target.
The target's the target.
You know what the two variables are,
and playfully make some mistakes
on the front side of the ball, move around a little bit.
Do it on a small scale, pretend you're a 10 year old kid,
no consequences of outcome.
The driving range doesn't matter,
play with your ball position a little bit,
and again, let solid contact be the last thing to come.
It'll work its way in.
Well, I hope that helps you,
hope that gives you some thoughts
and some strategies practice wise,
as to how to stop hitting behind the ball.
Hope you'll have some fun with it.
Please subscribe to the channel if you like the video.
Would love to get you more free content.
Leave a comment if you like, I'll get to that.
Love to have you go to Scratch Golf Academy
and check that out.
Have a full course on iron play there, as well as much more.
Thanks again.
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