Many course where I lived open the course for the season on full green in mid-April only to have it snow for a week straight. So far this season we have only been able to read about golf than actually play or practice. The local newspaper has a weekly golf section and last week it dedicated a large portion of the article on fitness, nutrition and injury prevention. One article on injury prevention was written by a doctor and had a statement that caught my eye.

“Avoid Divots. The sudden change in velocity causes stress in your shoulders and can exacerbate a prior shoulder condition. Adjust your stance and grip accordingly to accommodate swing on an incline.”

Why do I disagree with this statement. First if you hit the golf ball on the upswing you will hit the ball too low on the club face. You will tend to hit the ball lower on the club face will create a lower ball flight because the center of gravity of the golf club will be above the golf ball. You will miss the sweet spot result in a loss of distance and creating inconsistent distance control. Second the type of divot that causes a sudden velocity change is a common swing fault that can be changed. Third you will slow your progress as a golf if you make contact with the ball on the upswing.

To make proper contact where you strike the the golf ball with the sweet spot and compress the golf ball properly you need to make a divot with your irons. To make correct contact with your irons the club must be traveling downwards as the club approaches the bottom of its swing arc. The club then strikes the golf ball and then takes a thin divot after striking the ball. A thin divot will not make a sudden change of velocity. Watch the touring professionals on TV. With a mid-length iron they will make a thin divot yet their club head speed does not suddenly slow down. They will, at times, take deep divots but this is only with short clubs when they are trying to generate a lot of backspin.

The type of divots he is describing comes from an overly steep swing, an outside-to-inside swing path, which creates a divot that is too deep. The deeper the divot the more “sudden the change in velocity”. Divots created by a steep swing path are deep but also short. What can faults can cause a steep outside-to-inside swing path? Improper set up, poor ball position, incorrect back swing, or incorrect sequence of events when changing direction from back swing to downswing. If your divots are too deep you will need to make adjustments however not to hit up on the ball but to strike the ball at the bottom of your swing arc.

If you do have a shoulder injury or tendinitis then strive to strike the ball at the bottom of your swing and fell as if you are brushing the blades of grass after you have made contact. To help achieve this you will need to learn to swing the club from an inside-to-outside or inside-to-inside swing path. These paths will have a shallower angle of approach as such the divots you create will also be shallow.