Hearing the sharp click of a bladed golf shot is a sound no golfer wants to hear, but it's one we all know. It’s that low, screaming missile that flies twice as far as you intended, skating over the green and into a world of trouble. This article breaks down exactly what blading or thinning a shot means, identifies the most common reasons it happens, and gives you simple, actionable drills to start making clean, crisp contact.
A "bladed" or "thon" shot happens when the leading edge of your golf iron or wedge strikes the golf ball around its equator (the middle) instead of catching the ball on the club's sweet spot with a descending blow. Think of it less as a strike and more as a pinch. The club literally hits the ball *thinly*.
The result is a shot with very little backspin that comes off the clubface extremely hot and low to the ground. Because there's no spin to make it climb, it stays low and just keeps running once it lands. While an amateur might see a shot that goes a long way and think it's powerful, it's actually a sign of poor contact and a complete lack of control. True power and control in golf come from compressing the ball - hitting the ball first and then the turf - which gets the ball airborne with predictable spin.
To put it simply, blading the ball is the opposite of hitting a "fat" shot. When you hit it fat, your club hits the ground *before* the ball, taking a big chunk of earth and draining all the energy from the shot. When you hit it thin, your club makes contact too high up on the ball, usually because the bottom of your swing arc was behind an inch or two higher it was supposed to be.
Figuring out *why* you're blading the ball is the first step to fixing it. It's almost always related to the low point of your swing being in the wrong place. Here are the most common causes.
This is arguably the number one cause of thin shots for amateur golfers. "Early extension" is a golf-coach term for losing your posture during the downswing. You start your swing in a good athletic posture, bent over from the hips with your chest over the ball. But as you swing down, your hips thrust forward toward the ball, causing your spine to straighten up and your chest to lift away from the ball.
When you stand up, you lift the entire swing arc with you. The low point of your wing, which should have been at the ball or just after it, rises up by a few inches. Now, instead of the sole of the club sweeping through to make solid contact, the sharp leading edge catches the ball right around its middle. Voilà, a bladed shot.
Proper weight shift is fundamental to a good golf swing. Ideally, your weight moves to your trail foot (right foot for a right-hander) during the backswing and then shifts powerfully to your lead foot during the downswing. This move forward helps you hit *down* and through the ball.
A "reverse pivot" is the opposite. It's when a golfer leans their weight toward the target on the backswing and then hangs back on their trail foot during the downswing. When you hang back, the bottom of your swing arc moves behind the ball. As your club travels toward the ball, it's already on its way up. An upward path at impact is excellent for a driver, but for an iron shot, it results in the leading edge catching the ball's equator.
This cause is more mental than physical, but the results are just as damaging. Many golfers, especially on delicate chip and pitch shots around the green, have an instinct to try and "help" or "scoop" the ball into the air. This often comes from a deep-seated fear of chunking the shot.
When you try to lift the ball, your arms get tense, and you flick your wrists at the ball in a scooping motion. This action breaks down the nice structure between your arms and chest and causes the clubhead to rise up too early. The reality is, your golf clubs are designed with loft for a reason. Your job isn't to lift the ball, your job is to deliver the club's loft to the ball with a descending strike. Trust the club. Let it do the work of getting the ball in the air.
This is a simple setup issue that can have big consequences. If your ball position is too far forward in your stance for the club you're hitting, you are pre-setting yourself up for a thin shot. The golf swing moves on an arc. Its lowest point happens generally in line with the lead shoulder.
If you're hitting a 9-iron but have the ball positioned where you'd play a driver (off your lead heel), your swing will have already "bottomed out" and begun its ascent before it ever reaches the ball. The result? Once again, the club head smacks the ball's equator on an upswing. A good rule of thumb is to play your short irons in the middle of your stance, your mid-irons slightly forward of center, and your hybrids/fairway woods even more forward.
A golf swing needs to be a unified sequence of movement, powered by the rotation of your torso, hips, and shoulders. When golfers neglect this rotation and instead try to swing using only their arms, the swing becomes disconnected and unstable. A swing that relies purely on hand-and-arm timing is incredibly difficult to repeat.
Without the big muscles of the body guiding the club, the path and low point of the swing can change every single time. One swing might be fat, the next might be thin. A proper body turn creates a much wider, more stable swing arc, making it far more likely that you'll deliver the club back to the ball consistently.
Now for the good part: how to fix it. Here are some simple drills, each one designed to attack one of the common culprits we just discussed.
To combat early extension, you need to feel what it's like to stay in your posture.
This is a classic drill to fix a reverse pivot and groves the feel of a proper forward weight shift.
To train yourself out of a "scoopy" swing and encourage a downward strike, this drill is fantastic.
This isn't so much a drill as it is a constant checkpoint.
To improve your body rotation and get your arms and body in sync, try this.
Eliminating the dreaded bladed shot boils down to understanding one core concept: you need to hit down on the ball to make it go up. The thin or bladed shot is almost always caused by an upward angle of attack created by standing up, hanging back, or consciously trying to lift the ball. By focusing on maintaining your posture and shifting your weight forward, you can deliver the club properly and achieve that pure, compressed contact every golfer is chasing.
Understanding these concepts is one thing, but applying them can still be a challenge. Sometimes what you *feel* isn’t what’s *real*, and that’s where getting objective advice makes all the difference. In those moments when you're stuck on the course or range, I created Caddie AI to be your personal coach in your pocket. You can get instant, simple feedback on what might be causing a swing fault or even snap a picture of a tricky lie to get expert advice on how to play the shot. My aim is to remove the guesswork so you can understand your game better and swing with confidence.
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