Hearing the click and seeing your golf ball screech across the ground instead of soaring through the air is one of the most frustrating feelings in golf. That low, blistering shot - the dreaded thin or blade - robs you of distance, accuracy, and confidence. The good news is that thinning the golf ball is rarely a mystery. It’s almost always caused by a few common, and very correctable, swing issues. This article will break down exactly why you’re hitting it thin and give you some simple, actionable drills to start making clean, crisp contact.
Before we can fix it, we have to understand it. In simple terms, a thinned golf shot occurs when the leading edge of the iron strikes the golf ball around its equator (the middle) or even slightly higher. An ideal iron shot involves a descending blow where the club strikes the ball first and then the turf, taking a small divot after the ball.
When you thin it, the bottom arc of your swing is too high as it reaches the ball. Instead of compressing the ball against the clubface, the club’s sharp leading edge nips it, sending it low and hot with very little backspin. It's the opposite of a "fat" shot, where the club hits the ground before the ball, but both faults often stem from the same root causes related to the bottom of the swing arc being in the wrong place.
While there can be little nuances, most thinned shots come from one main issue: your body lifts up during the downswing, raising the swing's low point. Let's look at the specific faults that cause this to happen.
This is, by far, the most common reason for hitting a thin shot. During your setup, you create a very specific posture, with a certain amount of forward bend from your hips and flex in your knees. Early extension is when you lose that posture during the downswing. Your hips thrust towards the ball and your chest stands up and lifts away from the ground before your club makes contact.
Why does this cause a thin shot? Think of your spine as the center of your swing's circle. When you stand up and straighten your spine angle during the downswing, you lift that center point higher. As a result, the entire arc of your swing rises. The low point that was supposed to occur just after the ball now rises up, causing the leading edge of the club to strike the middle of the ball. Golfers often do this subconsciously because they feel "stuck" and need to create space for their arms to swing through.
A powerful, consistent golf swing requires your weight to shift from your trail foot onto your lead foot during the downswing. At impact with an iron, around 80-90% of your weight should be on your lead foot. Many amateurs fail to make this shift effectively and "hang back" on their trail foot instead.
Why does this cause a thin shot? Your swing's low point follows your weight. If your weight stays on your back foot, the bottom of your swing arc will occur behind the golf ball. To avoid hitting the ground way too early (a fat shot), your body instinctively tries to "save" the shot by lifting your chest and arms. This upward correction raises the swing arc just enough to catch the ball thin. It's a compensation that swaps one bad shot for another.
This fault is closely related to early extension. When your body stands up, you run out of room for your arms to extend through the impact zone. Out of self-preservation, your lead arm (the left arm for a right-handed player) bends excessively through impact, looking like a chicken wing. Your hands get pulled in close to your body, shortening the radius of your swing.
Why does this cause a a thin shot? When you pull that lead arm in, you are shortening the club’s path to the ball. Just like standing up, actively bending your arm on the way down lifts the clubhead higher off the ground. The result is contact on the equator of the ball. A proper golf swing involves the body rotating and the arms extending out and away down the target line after impact.
Sway is any excessive lateral movement away from the target in the backswing. A good swing involves rotating your hips and shoulders, not sliding them side-to-side. When you sway heavily onto your back foot, it becomes very difficult to get your body and weight back over the ball in the much shorter time you have for the downswing.
Why does this cause a thin shot? Feeling stuck behind the ball, your body’s only option to try and make contact is to lift up and throw the club at the ball with your arms and hands. Just like hanging back on your trial foot, a big sway leaves your swing's low point behind the ball, forcing you into compensations that usually involve lifting up and thinning it.
Understanding the problem is one thing, feeling the solution is another. Here are some simple and effective drills you can do at the driving range to make thin shots a thing of the past.
This drill gives you instant feedback on maintaining your spine angle throughout the swing. It teaches your lower body to rotate correctly instead of thrusting towards the ball.
This is a classic drill for a reason: it exaggerates the feeling of a proper weight shift through the ball. It eliminates any tendency to hang back on your trail side.
This drill helps you keep your arms and body connected in the swing, preventing that lead arm from breaking down and pulling in through impact.
Curing thin shots ultimately comes down to keeping your swing center stable and learning to control the low point of your club’s arc. By focusing on maintaining your posture, shifting your weight correctly onto your lead side, and allowing your body's rotation - not just your arms - to power the swing, you will replace those frustrating skulled shots with flush, powerful iron strikes.
Sometimes, even with the best drills, it can be hard to know which swing fault is causing your issue. Self-diagnosing is tricky. We created Caddie AI to act as that expert set of eyes you can access anytime. If you're struggling with thin shots, you can describe what's happening and get instant swing analysis along with a simple, tailored drill to work on. Even on the course, if you find yourself with an awkward lie that you're afraid of thinning, you can snap a photo of the situation and immediately get a smart recommendation on how to play the shot. It’s like having a personal coach in your pocket, taking the guesswork out of your game so you can work on the right things and play with more confidence.
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