How to Stop Fatting the Golf Ball

Hearing that sickening thud of your club digging into the turf before the ball is one of the most frustrating feelings in golf. That fat or chunked shot robs you of distance, kills your accuracy, and can shake your confidence for the rest of the round. This guide will break down precisely why you’re fatting your shots and give you several simple, effective fixes to start making crisp, ball-first contact for good.

Why Am I Fatting the Golf Ball? Understanding the Root Cause

In every golf swing, there is a "low point." This is the very bottom of your swing arc where the clubhead is closest to the ground. For clean, compressed iron shots, that low point must happen after the club makes contact with the golf ball. A fat shot is simply what happens when your low point occurs too early - behind the ball.

Your club bottoms out in the turf, losing a massive amount of speed and energy before whatever is left manages to strike the ball. The result is a short, weak shot that often flies off-line. This isn’t a mystery, it’s a problem of physics. The question is, what’s causing your low point to be in the wrong spot?

While every swing is unique, fat shots almost always trace back to a few common culprits:

• Poor Weight Shift: This is the big one. Many amateurs tend to "hang back" on their trail foot during the downswing. Your body mass - and therefore, the low point of your swing - stays behind the ball, making a chunk almost inevitable.
• Casting the Club: This is a premature release of your wrist angles from the top of the swing. It feels like you're trying to generate power by throwing the clubhead at the ball, but it actually causes the club to dive down to the ground too soon, often behind the ball.
• Upper Body Sway: If your head and chest move away from the target in the backswing and fail to move back toward the target in the downswing, your entire swing center gets positioned behind the ball. This is different from a proper turn or rotation.

Fixing your fat shots means addressing these root causes. It’s about retraining your body to control where the bottom of your swing happens. Let’s start with the simplest changes you can make before you even swing.

The Foundation: Correcting Your Setup to Prevent Fat Shots

You can make hitting fat shots more or less likely before your backswing even begins. A good setup creates the space and balance needed for a correct downswing sequence, while a poor setup can put you at a disadvantage right away. A bit like the foundations of a house, if your setup isn’t solid, the rest of the swing is bound to have problems.

Ball Position

Many golfers who fat shots subconsciously play the ball too far forward in their stance. They think this will help them get the ball in the air, but it actually forces them to reach for the ball, increasing the chances of the club bottoming out early. As a simple guideline for irons:

• Short Irons (9-iron, wedges): The ball should be directly in the center of your stance, right underneath your chest.
• Mid Irons (8-iron, 7-iron, 6-iron): The ball should be just slightly forward of center, maybe one ball width toward your lead foot.

By keeping the ball more centered, you’re encouraging a descending blow where your swing bottoms out over the ball, not behind it.

Posture and Weight Distribution

Your posture sets the stage for a proper turn. As a coach, I see so many players sit back on their heels or fail to bend over from their hips. The correct athletic posture involves sticking your bottom out and tilting your upper body over the ball, letting your arms hang naturally beneath your shoulders. This creates the room you need to turn properly in the backswing and unload into the ball on the downswing.

At address, your weight should be balanced 50/50 between your lead and trail foot. Starting with too much weight on your back foot pre-loads a "hanging back" motion, which is a major sin if you want to eliminate fat shots.

Your First Fix: Mastering the Weight Shift

If you only work on one thing to stop fatting the ball, make it this. You must get your weight transferred to your lead side during the downswing. This shift is what moves the entire swing arc - and its low point - forward. When pros take a divot after the ball, it's because their weight shift has successfully positioned the bottom of their swing in front of where the ball was.

Drill: The Step-Through Drill

This is a fantastic drill to feel the correct weight transfer sequence. It virtually forces you to get forward, making it nearly impossible to hang back and hit behind the ball.

1. Set Up Differently: Take your normal address position, but then bring your feet together so they are touching.
2. Make Your Backswing: Take a normal, smooth backswing. You’ll feel a little less stable, which is okay. Focus on rotating your shoulders and hips.
3. Step and Swing: As you start your downswing, take a step directly toward the target with your lead foot (your left foot for right-handers), and plant it firmly on the ground at your normal stance width. As your foot lands, allow your body to unwind and swing through to a full, balanced finish.

After a few swings, you’ll feel the rhythm. The "step" naturally initiates the forward weight transfer, bringing your hips and chest through the shot along with the club. This aggressively moves your low point forward, helping you achieve that crisp, ball-first contact.

Your Second Fix: Stop Casting the Club

Casting happens when you lose the angle in your wrists right from the top of the swing. Think of it like a fishing rod - you wouldn't start the forward cast by flicking your wrists first. You use your body to bring the rod forward, and the wrist "snap" happens last. The golf swing relies on a similar principle. By holding that wrist angle for longer into the downswing, you store power and, more importantly, you control the width and bottom of your swing arc.

Drill: The Towel Drill

This drill provides immediate, undeniable feedback. If you cast the club, you will fail the drill. It’s that simple.

1. Prepare Your Station: Take a small-to-medium-sized towel and fold it a few times so it has some thickness. Place it on the ground about one clubhead-length behind your golf ball.
2. Set Up as Normal: Address the golf ball. Your target is the ball, not the towel.
3. Execute the Task: Take a smooth swing with the single goal of hitting the golf ball cleanly without touching the towel on your downswing.

If you hit the towel, you’ll know instantly. That means your club bottomed out too soon because you cast it. To miss the towel, you have to do two things correctly: you must shift your weight forward (moving the low point) and you must retain your wrist angles longer (creating a steeper angle of attack down into the ball). This forces your club to approach the ball from the inside and on a downwards trajectory, striking the ball first and then the turf.

Your Third Fix: Tying It All Together with a "Divot" Drill

Now that you have the feeling of a proper weight shift and hand action, it’s time to move your focus to the result you want: a divot that starts at the ball line and moves forward. This drill provides a powerful visual reference for achieving exactly that.

Drill: The Line Drill

This is my go-to drill on the practice range for anyone struggling with contact. You can do this with spray paint, a tee scratch, or even by placing an alignment stick on the ground.

1. Draw Your Line: Create a straight line on the ground perpendicular to your target line.
2. Place a Ball on the Line: Position one golf ball directly on the front edge of the line.
3. Define Success: Your only goal is to strike the ball and make a divot that starts on or after the line. The divot should be entirely on the target side of the line you drew.

Set a few balls up along the line and work your way through them. Don't worry about where the ball goes at first. Just focus on the line. Are your divots starting behind it, on it, or after it? This tangible goal reinforces the feeling of keeping your chest and weight over the golf ball through impact. You’re no longer just trying "not to be fat", you are actively trying to produce a very specific, positive outcome.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to stop fatting the golf ball comes down to mastering one fundamental concept: controlling your swing’s low point. By improving your setup, committing to a proper forward weight shift, and maintaining your wrist angles longer, you systematically move that low point from behind the ball to ahead of it, guaranteeing that coveted "ball-then-turf" contact.

Mastering these adjustments on your own takes practice, and personalized feedback is the fastest way to improve. That's why we created Caddie AI. For those moments on the course when you're facing a tough lie and the thought of fatting it is looming large, you can snap a photo, and our AI analyzes the situation to give you the smartest play. It’s like having a 24/7 golf coach to guide your on-course decisions, helping you avoid those big mistakes and commit to every shot with confidence.