GOLF INFORMATION ARTICLES

Bad Golf Shots

The most common cause of bad shots in Golf is when you hit the ball with another part of the Clubhead except the center clubface, or striking the left or the right side of the ball and not the center. A Golf Shot directly effects your Golf Ball Flight. Having a good Golf Swing Technique can help you prevent making bad Golf shots. Your Golf Stance is another very important factor. Note that where your feet are pointing to will also be the direction your Golf Ball will fly to. Learn the Types of Bad Golf Shots, how they happen and techniques to eliminate them in this section.

Fat Shot
Hitting a Fat Stroke means you hit more of the ground and less of the ball. Your club hits the grass or the sand too soon, making it slow down and lose the power to make the ball go where you want it to go. A ball hit Fat flies in the air and fall to the ground quickly. Fat shots are also called "chunky" or "thick". The easiest way to solve this problem is to change the position of your ball in your stance. Move your ball as near as possible to the point where you will hit the ball and not the ground first.

Shank Shot
Another type of Bad Golf Shot you may have is a Shank where you hit your ball with the side of your club and not with the clubface. It happens when you push the Clubhead out and away from your body too much. This is the most dangerous faulty shot you may take since you may send your ball in a right angle towards you and get hit by it. To correct a Shank, practice with a five iron and take a Half-Swing. Your Golf Club should lie in a straight line towards the target on the other side of your ball.

Slice Shot
The common Bad Golf Shot that Golf Beginners encounter is the Slice. A Slice is when your ball flies from left to right. This happens when your Golf Club hits the ball from the outside-in, making it spin from left-to-right. This is also the result when you lift your hand too high in the Backswing and the subsequent loop forces your swing to come outside.

Hook Shot
When your Golf Ball flies with a sharp curve from the right to the left, the shot you make is called a Hook. This is the opposite of a Slice, In a Hook shot, the ball tends to roll more in a Hook than in a Slice. A Hook flight usually happens when the clubface is closed or pointed left of the target when you hit the ball.

Fade Shot
A Fade Shot is similar to the Slice, though the left to right motion in a Fade is gentler than in a Slice. In a Fade, your Golf Ball flies with a slight curve from left to right. This kind of shot is usually done intentionally to follow the contour of the Hole from left to right.

Push Shot
You hit a Push when your ball flies straight to the right of the target. This happens when the Clubhead is aimed and is perpendicular to the right of your target. The path of your swing is too much from the inside towards the outside with the clubface exactly square to this swing path.

Pull Shot
This is the opposite of Push. In case of a Pull, you make the Golf Ball fly straight but to the left of the target. A Pull happens when the path of the Clubhead through the contact area is in a line toward the left of the target, and the clubface is perpendicular to this line. The path of the swing is more from outside the target line before impact to inside the target line after impact. The correct path is from inside-to-square-to-inside swing path.

Top Shot
A Top Shot happens when you hit the ball on its top half. This may turn into a "worm-burner" when it flies and bounces on the ground. Topping may happen on the way down to the bottom of the swing, at the bottom of the swing or on the way up from the bottom of the swing. Try concentrating on shifting your weight from the back to front during your swing to solve this problem.

Chili-Dip
This shot is a Fat Shot around the Green. This happens when you try to bump the ball onto the Green and hit the ground too far in front of your ball.

Aiming towards the wrong direction may lead to bad results - like hitting towards a hazard. These are some of the different Types of Bad Golf Shots. Learn how to avoid them so you can play Golf properly and safely.

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