Why Am I Hitting the Ground Before the Ball? (6 Quick Fixes)

Call it a chunk, a stub or just a plain old fat shot but hitting behind the ball is one of golf’s most frustrating mishits. When the club digs into the ground before making contact, the ball barely advances, your hopes of getting close to the hole vanish and, suddenly, you’ve shifted from playing offense to scrambling on defense. While there are some swing flaws that can cause you to hit behind the ball repeatedly, the good news is that many of the fixes are straightforward and easy to work on. Check out these quick solutions to get your contact crisp and stop hitting the ground before the ball.

The ball position is too far forward

Most golf shots are played from the middle of your stance. If the ball is too far forward, your swing arc bottoms out before your golf club gets to the ball.

Quick Fix:

If you need a quick refresher on ball placement for your irons, check out our guide here. Otherwise, put the ball a little closer to the middle of your stance (for most irons) and see if that helps keep you from hitting behind the ball.

Weight is too much on the trail foot at setup

This issue often occurs with iron shots. Golfers don’t adjust from the driver to the iron stance and they set up with 55 to 60 percent of their weight on the trail foot.

By the time impact comes around, it’s too late to push this weight forward. You hang back and hit behind the ball.

Quick Fix:

For iron shots, feel like you start with 55 percent of your weight on your lead foot. Aim to keep your weight here through impact. You can still rotate just fine and you’ll make ball first contact.

Standing up during the downswing

Standing up or extending too early in the downswing can cause the club to drop down and strike the ground before the ball. Some players don’t realize they do this until they take a video of their golf swing.

If you think this could be the reason you hit the ground before the ball, take a video and watch your swing in slow motion to see if you stand up on the downswing.

Quick Fix:

Focus on maintaining your posture and spine angle through impact. You can swing using a mirror. Another great drill is to place a range ball bucket about an inch behind your lead calf. On the downswing, focus on touching that basket with your calf. If you do this correctly, you won’t be extending it early.

Lack of forward shaft lean

Forward shaft lean helps ensure ball-first contact. Of course, forward shaft lean can also be exaggerated and cause ball flight and consistency issues.

However, the lack of this forward shaft lean tends to cause a flip motion where the wrists break down and players try to “scoop” the ball into the air.

Quick Fix:

Check the forward shaft lean in your hands and make sure the hands are at least in line with the ball at setup and not behind it. Hitting punch shots with a shorter finish will help you feel what it takes to maintain forward shaft lean and get to a better impact position.

Starting the downswing with the upper body

The upper body should not initiate the downswing. Starting the downswing with your lower body helps maintain the bottom of the swing arc. It also increases your chances of hitting the ball in the center of the clubface. Starting the downswing with the upper body results in a loss of power and creates this over-the-top type motion in the swing.

Quick Fix:

Start your downswing with a shift of the lower body. A few ways to work on this include pausing at the top of your backswing or doing a pump drill where you feel your weight move to the lead foot as one of your first moves.

Over-rotating the hips

Practice this in conjunction with starting the downswing with the lower body. As you start your downswing with the lower body, you be sure not to over-rotate the hips. Over-rotating the hips can disrupt timing and push the swing’s low point back.

Quick Fix:

Try a slight pause at the top of your backswing. You can still focus on a weight transfer but you won’t rush it and get the hips too far out in front.

Final thoughts

Make these tweaks to your golf swing to see if you can stop hitting behind the ball. Sometimes all it takes is a simple reminder that your ball position is incorrect or your timing is off.