Whether you are a beginner or have been playing the game for a while now, this question gets stuck in a player’s mind, making him insecure and he cannot help trying to hit the ball higher in the air to form that solid patch behind but alas he fails.
Not only does the player feel demotivated to play but he also begins to question his progress and skills. Your divots can expose a lot about how you play and how much you can improve on the course. We will tell you the reasons why you are unable to form divots and how you can form them soon with our tips and tricks.
Why can’t I create Divots?
A few reasons why you can’t create a divot like the professionals you see are:
Bad start:
Indeed, the start is one of the important parts of the shot, it defines the ball’s speed, trajectory, the direction and is the foundation of a perfect strike. Beginners mostly get very excited or nervous trying to make out the best of this by forcing the ball to go higher and not realizing that they are not helping.
The ball will already go high as that is the function of the ‘loft’ so a player should focus on ‘compression’. When you compress the ball it will give it the essential ‘airborne’ and you will be proud of the resulting ‘divot’. Just keep your nervous instincts at bay and let the loft do its job.
Empty Strikes:
Even though you think that swinging your club across your body to extremes will make that ideal ‘divot’, it does no more than deliver a flat swing. A flat swing is a curse that results in ineffective impact with the ball and a very unsatisfactory strike that stops you from creating a divot.
On the contrary, sometimes the harsh back swinging can result in a lot of divots from the steepness. The problem in both cases is the way you stand. If you lean backward then you will be unable to get a good strike in and therefore no turf will form as the impact doesn’t even happen properly. Try positions where your front foot is forward and your weight rests on it.
The Proper Club:
Players get frustrated when they see that their irons and wedges are not forming the divots that they are trying so hard to create. The problem can be your equipment. You really can’t expect to have a driving iron and make a divot. Wedges are popular for making divots because of their short length. The relationship is simple, the shorter the length, the greater the turf.
However, you can use a mid-length iron or even fairway woods and expect a small turf (if you’re not a completely nervous beginner) but drivers are just off-limits.
Strike Strategy
Before you take the strike, look at yourself and analyze if your hands are near the clubhead, they should rest a bit ahead. Besides that, you should wait for the release. The anxiety can make a player overlook details like the position of the ball or the center of mass position. Everything should be taken into account before you strike.
Whilst many people would believe that taking a divot is like a sign which says that you messed up your incorrect swing. Divot might serve as a bad sign in most cases but they also more than not signify the potential of a good move through the ball upon impact.
What most people do when they choose the Divot is that they read their divots. This in turn determines whether the Divot will bring good or bad to your technique.
A divot is valuable in a game for a plethora of reasons. One of them being adding distance when you strike that ball. Taking a divot with one of your balls properly can significantly add distance to your shots.
Incidentally, it also adds backspin with also a dash of good stopping power giving you that extra feel of a pro stopping their wedge when the ball lands on the green. Being too reliant on a divot is not a good choice.
However, using the proper divot for the proper shot is key. For example, do not use a divot when hitting a driver from the tee. If you keep the prior mentioned advice in mind, you will never go wrong with a divot.
Tips and Tricks for Improvement:
There are numerous points to mention when talking about divots but I will briefly only mention some key ones. Firstly, the starting point.
It is essential that when you play an iron shot from the fairway, you strike the ball first before your club heads down into the turn to take a divot. To avoid small mistakes, try checking the starting point of the divot. Make sure the divot is just a bit in front of them where the ball was resting.
Another key point is checking the direction. The best way to check your swing after you divot is the direction that the hole in the ground is pointing. It is best to view this from behind where your ball was. See whether your divot aim deviates or not.
It is great visual feedback on a swing the player makes and greatly improves play.
Lastly, evaluating the depth. The depth of your divots says a lot about the angle of the shot you used in your downswing. Deep dives are usually swung aggressively into the ball with a shallow divot.
Although the act of having a Divot itself is a more controversial topic for some players than others, it is not to say it is not worth using. Everyone has their reasons for picking a divot, some wanting to score whilst others wanting to ease their shot.
On the higher level of golfing, Divots are either much loved or much hated and frankly, it is both ways for me. Divots are useful on the field but becoming overly reliant on them is very much archaic golfing.
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I am Kelsie J. Associated with the golf industry since 1998. I am here to provide you with some of the most unbiased and host golf product reviews along with gossips, news and latest happenings in the world of Golf.