Golf Tips » February 2003: Get rid of that “Pop Fly”

This months request comes from David Smithfield of Lancaster, England who asks:

“I have had a problem skying the ball with my tee shots for the past couple of weeks. I have never had this problem before– what’s going on?”

Well David, my guess is that you are playing more than you are practicing, or maybe not practicing at all. The tendency when playing only is to start getting too “armsy” because you are steering the ball to keep it in play. This is most prevalent when playing very tight courses. You’re reluctant to trust your swing and swing freely because you are afraid of the result.

The way to overcome this is to spend some time on the practice tee each week building a swing you can trust on the course. Unfortunately we all like to play more than practice , but in order to enjoy our playing more, we have to spend about 20 to 30% of our golfing time on the range.

The main reason you “pop” the ball up high into the air with your woods is that the “angle of attack” or the angle that the clubhead approaches the ball is too steep. This is usually caused by an “over the top” swing causing the clubhead to come into the ball at the angle depicted in picture #1.

A divot taken in front of the ball with the tee shots also indicates the club has come into the ball too steeply.

To correct this mistake, make sure the club is coming into the ball at a more shallow angle as in picture #2.

This will also make your extension down the line much easier to achieve creating more accurate shots.

You can get more details on this method by reviewing four of my previous tips:

• September, 2000 – Coming over the Top
• June, 2001: How to Finally Stop Coming Over the Top
• March, 2002: Downswing Key – The Position of the Right Forearm
• June, 2002: Keep the Shoulders “Square” to Hit It Straight!

With a little practice, the clubhead will now be traveling from the inside towards the target. This will completely eliminate the pop-up shot and you will regain lost distance resulting in lower scores and more enjoyment of the game.