There's no worse feeling than that solid *thwack* you were expecting turning into a sickening *click*, followed by a low, screaming line drive that rockets across the green and into the woods beyond. The skulled shot, also called a thin or bladed shot, is one of the most destructive and confidence-shattering mistakes in golf. The good news is that it’s almost always caused by one of two simple mistakes in your setup or swing. This guide will help you understand exactly what’s causing you to skull the ball and give you straightforward, actionable drills to ensure you make that crisp, ball-first contact every time.
Before we can fix it, we need to understand the mechanics. A skulled or "thin" shot happens when the leading edge of your iron or wedge strikes the golf ball around its equator, or even slightly above it. Instead of the clubface compressing the ball and taking a divot after it, the sharp bottom edge catches the ball on the upswing or at the very bottom of the arc. This sends the ball forward with very little loft and a lot of unpredictable speed.
Ninety-nine percent of the time, this happens for one of two reasons:
Both issues are incredibly common, but also very fixable. Let's start with the things you can correct before you even take the club back.
A surprising number of swing faults are baked in before you even start the takeaway. If your setup isn't putting you in a position to succeed, you’ll spend the entire swing trying to make compensations. Here’s how to set up for compressed, flushed iron shots.
Where the ball is in relation to your feet has a massive influence on where the bottom of your swing arc will be. A common error I see with players who skull the ball is having the ball too far forward in their stance for an iron shot. This encourages your body to hang back to reach the ball, making the low point of your swing fall behind it and leading to an upward strike.
Keeping the ball centered or just slightly forward promotes a descending angle of attack, making it far easier to hit the ball first.
This is probably the single most important setup key for solid contact. To hit down on the ball, your weight needs to favor your lead side at impact. You can preset this at address to make it easier.
At setup, feel like about 60% of your weight is on your lead foot (your left foot, for a right-handed player). You shouldn't be drastically leaning, but you should feel a firm pressure under your lead foot. A great mental image is to feel like your belt buckle is positioned slightly ahead of the golf ball. This preset helps your body understand that the goal is not to lift the ball into the air, but to strike down and through it, with the low point of the swing occurring after contact.
Once your setup is dialed in, you can work on the dynamic movements in your swing that prevent the skull. These drills give you immediate feedback and train the correct feelings for solid, flush contact.
This is my favorite drill for curing the skulls because the feedback is undeniable. It forces you to get the low point of your swing in the correct spot.
Hit ten shots with this drill. You'll quickly develop a feel for the forward weight shift required to avoid the towel and just brush the grass after the ball is gone.
That second big cause of skulling - losing your posture and lifting your body - can be tricky to feel. You think you're staying down, but your body is instinctively trying to help "lift" the ball. This drill keeps you honest.
The feeling we are looking for is keeping your shirt buttons, or your chest, pointing down at the golf ball even after the ball has been struck. Golfers who stand up too early will have their chest pointing up and away from the ball at impact.
This will feel strange at first. You'll want to immediately look up to see where the ball went, but resisting that urge builds the powerful muscle memory of staying in your posture.
Your finish position doesn’t just look good, it’s a symptom of a great swing. If you find yourself off-balance or with weight on your back foot after you swing, it’s a clear sign your sequence was off.
Make it a habit to hold your finish position for at least three seconds after every swing, whether it’s good or bad. A proper, balanced finish position should look and feel like this:
If you can hold this pose without stumbling, you’ve transferred your weight correctly. If you're falling backward or feel stuck on your trail leg, work on using the earlier drills to improve your weight shift through the ball.
The skulled chip is perhaps even more painful than a full-shot skull. It’s caused by the exact same fault, just on a smaller scale: trying to "help" or "scoop" the ball into the air. The fix is also the same.
For chips and short pitches, lean even more weight onto your lead foot (around 70-80%). Position the ball in the middle or back of your stance. Critically, feel like your hands are well ahead of the clubhead through impact. This setup promotes a small, firm, descending strike that “traps” the ball against the clubface, producing a predictable pop-up with spin, not a scorching rocket.
In the end, learning how to stop skulling the golf ball comes down to controlling the low point of your swing and maintaining your posture. By improving your setup with proper ball position and a forward weight lean, and practicing drills that train you to strike down on the ball while staying connected to the ground, you can finally turn that dreaded *click* into a crisp, satisfying *thump*.
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