Discussing the topic of golf ball spin can lead down a very windy, complicated rabbit hole. Quite frankly, it can get exhausting. In this article, I’d like to get simple for all of you.

I’m going to tackle some key topics and set the record straight on a few concepts that I believe will help your game.

Here we go…

The Driver

When looking at spin with the driver it’s important to take a step back and think about the purpose of the club.

This is a very difficult article to write for a teacher like me. At best I’ve been referred to as a creative problem solver who thinks outside the box. At worst, let’s just say people have found creative ways to call me difficult. When it comes to over the top, I get difficult.

I’ve dedicated my life since the age of 19 to teaching this game and I still don’t know what over the top actually means, and that’s okay. Let’s get into why.

An Endless List 

When I see a golf swing, I can easily predict (like most of you reading) when others are going to say, “He comes over the top.”

My questions are – is coming over the top bad? If so, why is it bad?

Before I tell you when I think this phrase is useful, let’s make a list of all the definitions I’ve heard over the years:

• When the shoulders open up to start the downswing
• When the shaft of the club is steeper in the downswing than it was in the backswing
• When the player’s swing path travels left of the target
• When the path of the hands move forward at the beginning of the downswing
• When the shaft of the club stays “above plane” in the downswing

There is No Universal Definition for Over the Top

This list could get longer, but as you can see, over the top can mean something different to each person you talk to. But every scenario I listed above can create a shot that flies in the hole.

Some of the greatest players in the world have come over the top. The greatest player of our generation went through a period of time when he rehearsed coming over the top before each shot. So why is one of the most common swing characteristics so frequently referred to as a swing fault?

As a golf instructor, there are many things I have to do well to be effective. Perhaps the most important is adapting my language to match the player in front of me. If I give my player a drill, I’ll ask them what they feel when they perform the drill so when I remove them from the practice environment they have a feel to try and replicate when playing.

It’s not uncommon for them to say, “I feel like I’m coming over the top.” If I hear that, I’ll ask my player what that means to them. Whatever they say becomes OUR definition for over the top. If you work with me, you’ll rarely hear me tell a player what they’re doing wrong. My main goal is to help a player get to where they want to be.

Be Careful With This Term

Now finally how to get something useful out of this blog post. When you walk into a lesson, the best thing you can do is tell your teacher what you want to do better. Don’t waste your time and money telling the teacher what you think you do wrong.

You’re paying them to figure that out so they can help you get what you want. If your teacher tells you to feel like you’re coming over the top, don’t freak out. That feeling may help you play the best golf of your life. If you still think coming over the top is bad do a google video search of Craig Stadler and Craig Perry’s golf swings. I’m pretty confident you wouldn’t mind playing golf at their level. Try keeping an open mind.

 

To be proficient with fairway bunker shots you have to consider your club selection carefully, and fully commit to where you want to strike the ball on the clubface. Here is some information sure to help you hit better fairway bunker shots.

Club Selection for Fairway Bunker Shots

The biggest factor in club selection is how high you have to hit the ball to get it over grass mounds or lips that surround the bunker. Getting too greedy can easily lead to undesirable outcomes. The question you want to ask yourself is, “What is the least lofted club I know I can hit high enough to get over these obstacles?” If there’s any hesitation in your answer to that question, you haven’t chosen enough loft.

Make sure that beyond a shadow of a doubt, if you make decent contact with the ball, it’s soaring out of the bunker and back into a good position to minimize damage to your score.

Technique

It may be hard to believe, but I assure you fairway bunker shots can become easy with a little practice and appropriate in-swing intentions. There’s nothing fancy about the technique of the fairway bunker swing. It’s a full swing. Don’t let it be anything more complicated than that.

Most average golfers struggle with balance in their swing, especially when faced with shots that make them uncomfortable. I recommend digging in with your feet while getting set in your address position to avoid the sand breaking free beneath your feet during your swing.

The key to the fairway bunker shot swing is your in-swing intention, also referred to as your swing thought. Your in-swing intention should be to hit the ball without touching one single grain of sand. If you chose the correct club, catching it a little thin will still yield a very nice result. Being this precise with your contact takes a bit of practice, so keep reading so you know how to develop this valuable skill.

Practice

How in the world am I supposed to practice fairway bunker shots? Driving ranges don’t have fairway bunkers!

Well they don’t need to. All you need is a grass range and some sand or divot filler. Ask the proshop if you can borrow a bottle of their divot fill, and if they don’t have any, buy a cup of coffee, dispose of coffee as you see fit, and go to the nearest bunker and fill the coffee cup full of sand. Now head to the range and warm up.

Find the biggest divot near you after your warm up and fill it full of sand. Gently place a ball in the sand-filled divot and swing with the intention of striking the ball thin. As you hit balls with different clubs out of your homemade mini fairway bunker, experiment with choking down on the grip and see if it helps you achieve that thin strike. When you start feeling successful graduate to trying to pick it clean without touching the sand. When executed correctly the ball should fly a little higher.

On Course Expectations

I’ve found that when I strike an iron solid from a fairway bunker it goes the same distance as when I strike it off the fairway. The biggest difference is the way it feels and sounds. You don’t get that same lovely sound from a fairway bunker as you do from the fairway, so don’t expect it. As long as you can get the club on the ball and get the ball to clear any obstacles, you should be well on your way to fairway bunker proficiency and you’ll be the envy of the other members of your foursome.

This is a guest post by Ryan Chaney

A critical shot that I believe every golfer should have in their pocket is the low hook. It can get you out of trouble and save you tons of strokes. Executing this shot with confidence is all about a functional address position and a lot of practice.

In this article we’re going to discuss the key steps to make sure you know how to hit a low hook.

Club selection

When choosing a club to hit the low hook from trouble, you want to make sure you choose a high enough loft to get the ball out of the rough, but low enough to make it easier to curve the golf ball.

I believe the sweet spot for most golfers is a 6-iron/hybrid.

Technique

First off, stay calm – you don’t have to make any swing changes to hit this shot well.

Execution of the low hook is mostly about the address position. The beginning of the ball’s flight will start very close to where the clubface is aimed at impact, so aim the face where you’d like to start the golf ball. Build your stance after you’ve aimed the clubface.

Make sure to give yourself a little margin for error when you’re trying to hook it around some trees. The last thing you want to worry about is a temporary Titleist tattoo in your forehead a second after impact.

Now that you have aimed the face where you would like the ball to start, build your stance with your body aimed significantly to the right of where you’ve aimed the face. Make your body alignment feel foolishly offline.

This is a shot best learned by exaggerating a bit at first, and perhaps over curving it.

As for ball position, let’s keep it simple and play the ball where you’d normally play it for your club of choice. If you need to change trajectory I suggest you change clubs. Messing around with different ball positions to change the ball’s trajectory only complicates things.

The Feel

You need clubhead speed to really get that ball curving, but it’s not uncommon for obstacles to be in the way. Trees, branches, roots and fences are all things that can make this swing feel a little claustrophobic.

The direction the club travels should feel normal to you. You took care of the ball flight at address. The feel of the swing is about creating power and insuring you catch the ball first in a potentially restricted space.

A familiar feeling would be one of a buried bunker shot. The emphasis there is about making sure you’ve created enough speed to get the ball out of that wet sand that swallowed your new Pro V1.

Your swing had a short follow-through because the earth absorbed the blow after impact. Your swing also had a shorter than stock backswing because you were in the sand, and we didn’t want to lose our footing and compromise our impact. But with that shorter backswing and muted follow through, boy did that swing have speed. 

How to Practice the Low Hook

If you’re right handed, move yourself to the far end of the left side of the range (of course opposite for lefties). Go through your normal warm up.

Now place your hook practice balls in some shallow divots you created in your warm up. Aim your clubface down the middle of the range. Aim your body far right. Far enough right so that if the ball flew there, no range picker would ever find it.

Now make your aggressive buried bunker shot swing. Enjoy watching the ball start where you aimed that face and turn hard away from where you’ve aimed your body. Massage the address position as you see fit based on your results.

Remember to have fun and really explore the boundaries of how far offline you can aim your body until you find it difficult to make contact.

On Course Expectations

When executed well the ball will be flying low and moving fast. If you’re hitting this shot into a green, get a yardage to the front of the green because it’s not going to stop quickly. If you have room to run it up, use it.

Again, this ball will be coming in hot. You should have practiced this shot enough on the range to know it’s going to curve the desired direction on the course. I’ll remind you again to give yourself plenty of space between your start line and the tree. It’s better to have it curving the desired direction and advancing it a long way than biting off more than you can chew.

Final Thoughts

In my opinion these are the types of shots skilled golfers embrace. Practice it enough so that when you encounter a scenario that requires this shot on the course, you look forward to the challenge of hitting the low hook instead of sighing as you accept defeat as you pitch out with your sand wedge.