[grosqueneen]

I think that's just more of a figure of speach, designed to explain to people that they need to hit down on the ball. ie; club goes down, ball goes up.

You're right and I understand why people use that phrase. But you wouldn't believe how many times I've caught snippets of conversations on driving ranges where one person is telling another - in great detail, no less, about how he should try to "trap" the ball between the clubface and the turf.

Personally, I think that the phrase "Hit down on the ball" is one of the worst images someone can have because I've seen too many people, intent on hitting "down", basically throw the club at the ball in a manner in which someone might throw an axe into a log.

I think a better phrase would be; "Hit through the ball", because that phrase implies that there will be acceleration and a through-swing; that the club will continue swinging even after the ball has been struck. To me, that has a more positive feel to it than "Hit down".

I either read or heard a comment a while back which has been stuck in my mind ever since which was: "The difference between a professional golfer and an amateur is that the amateur swings to hit the ball, while the professional swings to hit the target."
I've actually hit shots on a driving range with wedges and short irons where I looked at my target the whole time and I was amazed at the fact that my body did exactly what was necessary to swing the club in such a way as to get the ball to go where I was looking. I think that "swinging to the target" takes a lot of needless fiddling and mechanics-oriented worrying out of a golf swing and simply allows me to do what I know how to do to properly strike the ball and propel it towards the target.

When I'm thinking in terms of results rather than execution, I tend to swing better and and usually with positive results.


Just some thoughts.


-JP