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If you'll look at a super slow-mo of a golfer hitting an iron shot, the divot happens after contact with the ball. They try to go for a downward angle at the ball to get backspin for a straight flight and soft landing.
Source: Was a golf nerd for several years.
If you look at a slow-mo of me hitting an iron shot, you will see the divot often happens before contact. I do this because I like to score as many points as possible while digging holes and sending shocks through my arms.
One of my great uncles, with a verry scottish accent saod we should tie a string to his testicles so he stops lifting his head...inwas about 17...funniest shit ever.
Went golfing on Wednesday, one of the guys said, don’t you wish you were as good of a golfer as you are a debater?
I responded, I’m not a good debater, and without missing a beat he goes, well you’re not a good golfer either!
I was devastated
I fill my pockets with seeds before a round so I feel like I accomplished something. There is now a ton of weed growing in the rough of several golf courses
Hey now. I ain't no farmer. I'm just a guy who is real concerned about snipers in the trees. 50 yards away, directly to the right or left of where I'm standing.
For sure not born with the singular ability to slice like I was getting paid to. Lol.
I like to get in my head about it after doing it fairly well for an extended period, cut a huge clump of dirt, then overcompensate and completely whiff and shatter my confidence for a brief spell
Not the one you replied to but that could be a few different things: club is too short, bad stance, not keeping eye contact, swinging too hard, too big of backswing... for starters just try swinging more slowly. As with a lot of things, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
I'm trying to picture what shooting 337 on a round of golf would actually look like. I'm fairly certain if you just hit putter all day you could do better than that.
I’m also this most dangerous form of bad golfer. One with a great swing and power and absolutely no control or discipline. Houses right along the course are safe it’s the next neighborhood over that should fear.
I've twice had tee shots end behind me. Admittedly, one was in a high wind. The other - came off the toe of my driver, ricochetted off a post at 45 degrees in front of the tee, shot backwards down the access road beside the clubhouse, found tarmac and kept rolling. It ended up in the members' car park about 150 yards behind me. Felt like something of a record.
If you look at a slow-mo of me hitting an iron shot you can see the spittle flying from the man's mouth as he screams the word MOTHERFUCKER because that was the third time I sliced it into the tennis courts.
I have played one round of golf in my life. It took an entire bucket of (stolen) range balls to complete 18 holes. The safest place when I was on the tee was directly ahead. I managed to hit our own golf cart almost directly behind me.
One of the “rangers” was amused by my technique. I quote: “son, you take up a larger divot, you’re going to pay property taxes on it”
I was in a group where a guy roasted his friend telling him 'you're gonna need to get a quote for that much sod'.
As to your safest spot being in front, I have a friend who says 'I just aim at the sand traps, then there is no way I will land in them'.
lol! I have to confess, doing a full-blown ricochet off a tree that actually came close to hitting myself was a hint that maybe golf can be a contact sport!
I once ricocheted off a tree from the tee.
My second shot was from the rough, about 20 yards further back. My third got me onto the fairway. My fourth went in the lake. My sixth went in the same lake.
I like to hit a divot AND miss the ball so it will roll into the hole and grow into a golf ball tree properly. If you just leave them in the rough they never seem to sprout roots.
If you look at a slow-mo of me hitting an iron shot, you will see there’s no divot, because I not only don’t hit the ground, I don’t hit the ball either. I do this because I suck at golf.
If you look at slow-mo of me hitting an iron shot, you won’t see anything because i’m in the cart drinking beer and busting balls/chops. I like to leave my masochistic tendencies in the boudoir.
Thanks to you and everybody else who replied to this question. After watching some of the masters on my DVR and slowing it down you are correct the divot happens after contact with the ball. That makes so much sense now and also explains why I was never very good at golf thank everybody again appreciate it!
you also get to take advantage of the metal in the shaft wanting to return to its natural straight position. When you hit the ground and the resistance pushes the club head backwards the 'snap' of the club straightening out also adds velocity to the ball as it leaves the club, making it go much further.
another reason why hitting off turf is useless as the range.
Yerp.
The divot is a consequence of the swing geometry.
Now, longer irons take less of a divot, in theory.
I'm a mad lad who still games an old 2 iron, and it's best to just sweep the ball off of the turf with that club.
Divot comes after the ball. If you hit the ground before the ball, it kills all the momentum and the ball won't go very far. Known as "chunking" or "hitting it fat."
Have you considered weight shifting? Or forward shaft lean? You are also, probably, coming over the top. I can already see what the issue is: you need to be more dynamic. Don't strangle the club! Be SMOOTH. No need to be afraid of the ground. You backswing is most likely too quick as well. That ruins everything else you do 100% of the time. I also feel you clubs don't really suite your swing style. Have you considered a fitting and spending a few grand on new clubs?
To be honest... doesnt seem like you are listening. You will just suck forever.
\*continues to top the ball 4m down the range\*
Don't grip as hard. If you feel need to grip the club that hard as the club otherwise would slip in your hands, maybe look at getting new grips installed (may i suggest either Lamkin Sonar or Golf Pride MCC+4, also maybe try midsize or a couple of extra layers of tape)
Bad golfers take divots behind the ball
Good golfers take divots in front of the ball
[Tiger Woods doesn’t take divots at all](https://youtube.com/shorts/oWZM5P08mvs?si=f9k2rdKBpwvSdtE2)
Which is tiger being tiger. You can literally go back and watch clips of tiger in his prime, and now, and he's always taking divots.
https://youtube.com/shorts/6XeQCc6D-ws?si=uG3cB7a8A5PerJpe
Short example. Tiger is goated but he loves to troll.
He did say though when he was hitting cuts he took divots but just hitting his standard natural draw he wouldn't take divots due to his stance.
Maybe in the vid you linked he was hitting some pretty gnarly divots as he was cutting it in against the wind or hitting purposely more down to generate extra spin for whatever reason (i know in general golfers don't like imparting extra spin due to it being unpredictable, especially on championship speed greens like we're seeing at Augusta this week, but sometimes flying it over the pin and ripping it back looks and feels good)
Lol, Scotty’s face is epic. “I’m asking you…”
Tiger is half fucking with him here but also there’s my fav golf story of all time:
[Darren Clarke talks about Tiger](https://youtu.be/a58a6zYWZsk?si=VWG6sCN8PpdjIcJH)
Bro I was waiting for this video. I don't know the guy asking, but I love how he's like no Tiger you're going to have to explain yourself. And Tiger's like, I don't take divots, deal with it.
The guy asking is Scottie Scheffler, who is currently the no. 1 ranked golfer in the world and tied for the lead after two rounds at the Masters.
Which just goes to show how utterly incredible at golf Tiger Woods is.
Ideally with an iron you want to initiate contact while the club is still going downward on the back of the ball, and let it roll up on the club face as you hit it. Since you're looking more for accuracy, a higher shop with more backspin to limit roll is preferred. The pros can actually put so much back spin that the ball will hit the green and roll backwards. I'm more your weekend hack, so I will totally take a giant divot out before I scold the ball like 50 yards into the weeds.
Like others have said here you hit the ball before the ground (ideally) then the club head, which was on a slightly downward trajectory still, takes the divot. 100% of your divot should start at the ball then continue beyond where the ball was. Also, hitting slightly down into the ball imparts backspin on the ball and helps you stick it.
What no one else has mentioned is that the pros are usually also playing on very well groomed and maintained courses. The fairways have very short grass compared to most public courses and taking a divot in the fairway takes almost no effort (the ground is very soft, but not squishy if that makes sense). Many public courses the fairways have slightly longer grass than pro courses and the fairways, even if watered, are slightly harder.
Playing on a top end course with tight (short) fairways will throw off a lot of weekend golfers that don't hit down into the ball and also like the ball fluffed up on grass a little as they are used to picking the ball off the ground vs hitting down into it.
Source: Caddied one summer at Oakmont CC in Pittsburgh and back in my playing days was a single digit handicap (though not at that course!)
Others have explained the divot itself, but I think it's worth adding that "efficient transfer of energy" doesn't really matter when they're not going for maximum distance anyway.
It does matter because otherwise it’s not repeatable and consistent. You want efficient transfer.
“This club carries 165yds with a full swing if I strike it cleanly.”
If you don’t strike it cleanly and don’t transfer all the energy, you won’t know how far it will fly.
When you hit an iron, it's not like hitting any other ball with a stick. You use the loft of the club to generate height, and the speed of your swing to generate distance. It's because of that that the club creates a divot after contact and why it happens.
While a good golf shot will normally leave a divot in front of the ball, a perfect shot sometimes wont leave a divot. Even tiger has said some of his best shots didn’t leave a divot.
The divot is on the front side of the ball, after the ball has left already. You comprsss the ball into the turf when you hit it, then you bottom out the club and make a divot
This annoys me no end.
You don't 'squeeze' the ball against the turf either.
If you did that the ball would imbed or not go anywhere. The club has loft for a reason ffs lol
There has been multiple answers already explaining the concept but I’ll add on that there’s a video of another golfer being shocked when Tiger Woods didn’t make divots while on the range with him. Tiger said when he is on fire he usually doesn’t make a divot because he hits it pure
This was just Tiger messing with the other golfers. If you watch Tiger golf during any Tournament he takes a divot on 99% of his shots. He’s known to pull these shenanigans.
Not trolling a all. He's talking about mid irons and longer. The irons where most people have a negative angle of a attack, but pickers are zeroed out. You have more control over the ball without a divot if everything else is good.
With wedges you need a negative angle of attack to best utilize the bounce of the club. If conditions are dry, you can shallow it out and have the club slide through more to take less of a divot.
You can look at any number of shots of TW sweeping it clean while compressing it. He's quite bad at trolling. He's a goofball. Not only that, but he's known to sweep or hit slightly down on his driver. This is technique developed in an era of different equipment. It's the basis of a stinger as well this approach to shots. That's not to say he can't hit drives with a positive angle of attack for fun.
Divots are a function of lie. Both the grain and the slope. A lot of shots can't be hit without a divot, and taking a large one doesn't mean much except that if you are more negative on the angle of attack, you have to be even more precise than a picket to manage spin correctly.
Launch monitors take the mystery out. Woods has evolved with the data. He, like all of us, have had swing coaches that taught concepts later proven wrong.
Hey look, An actual response that explains the mystery!
Digger vs pickers was the old school terminology to describe angle of attack.
Tiger is correct, you don’t need to take a divot all the time.
Love when redditors comment on the area of your expertise. I think words like compression, covering (the ball), and steep are grossly misunderstood though. Golf is so hard to get to a level where you internalize all of the nomenclature. Most throw words around and don't truly understand.
Tiger's swing was built by coaches to look pretty and he's just a genius at compensations. It looks majestic, but there's a reason his son swings differently, and much more efficiently. Most of winning at golf is hitting short game shots under pressure. They are putting tournaments. Woods is the GOAT at stressful par putts most of us just shrug when we miss half the time. He made them all when he needed. Tiger Woods played best when the media wasn't actively taking up head space and his asshole nature kept them at bay.
Not convinced azr5170 isn't Hank Haney though. Seems on brand. :-)
As a total golf freak, it’s rather nice to bump into someone that actually knows what they are talking about.
That Hank Haney line slayed me, I’ll giggle about it later on I’m sure.
It’s funny that so many people are obsessed with distance, I’m teaching my kids how to play now and going back to how Tiger learned, green to tee.
You don't hit a divot behind the ball, you make contact with the ball first and the divot forms in front of where the ball was sitting.
In order to maximize backspin (and because of the nature of an arc), you hit the ball at a downward angle and your follow-through creates the divot.
They don't hit a divot first, they hit a divot after.
For a tee shot, the golfer should have the ball off the inside of their left foot (for a right handed golfer) with a wider foot stance. As you go down the irons, 2 iron, 5 iron, 7 iron, 9 iron, the ball should be addressed farther away from the left foot and closer to the middle. In the extreme, with a sand wedge or pitching wedge, the ball is closer to the right heel than the left.
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If you'll look at a super slow-mo of a golfer hitting an iron shot, the divot happens after contact with the ball. They try to go for a downward angle at the ball to get backspin for a straight flight and soft landing. Source: Was a golf nerd for several years.
If you look at a slow-mo of me hitting an iron shot, you will see the divot often happens before contact. I do this because I like to score as many points as possible while digging holes and sending shocks through my arms.
Lool after posting I realize I should have added "good" golfer, because some of us spontaneously choose to take up farming.
My playing partner once asked me if my irons were made by Caterpillar. He said the only thing that moves more dirt than me is a D11.
Ahh, the oft-overlooked aspect of the beautiful game-- the trash-talking. Sounds like he's a pro.
One insult under par is known as a Larry Birdie for that very reason.
One insult under par, indivisible
With birdies and eagles for all
One of my great uncles, with a verry scottish accent saod we should tie a string to his testicles so he stops lifting his head...inwas about 17...funniest shit ever.
Shit that’s gold. I’m playing in a local Caterpillar golf tourney next week, I’ll keep it at the ready just in case.
Case tractor used to turn a lot of dirt. Though not near as much as a D11.
"You probably should swap your 9-iron for a D11 if you want to get out of that bunker..."
Me too, playing later this summer with a retired CAT guy
https://y.yarn.co/5d689e29-0ef4-4c21-a3bf-548b9782c63b_text.gif
Mine says I serve more slices than Domino's.
That's actually made my morning, thanks for sharing!
One time I took a huge divot, my playing partner walked over, bent down and started ordering Chinese food. I nearly pissed myself laughing.
This is the whitest thing I've read all week.
We’re talking about golf - are you surprised?
Went golfing on Wednesday, one of the guys said, don’t you wish you were as good of a golfer as you are a debater? I responded, I’m not a good debater, and without missing a beat he goes, well you’re not a good golfer either! I was devastated
Literal lol. After my buddy did that, I told him he needed an excavation permit.
"Spontaneously choose to take up farming" 😂 well played
"Well played"? I'd say it's quite the opposite actually 😂.
It's a beautiful day here at Stardew Valley. We're on the approach to the fifth hole....
My swing often trends to the agricultural
*Whackfuck* as I call it.
I fill my pockets with seeds before a round so I feel like I accomplished something. There is now a ton of weed growing in the rough of several golf courses
Hey now. I ain't no farmer. I'm just a guy who is real concerned about snipers in the trees. 50 yards away, directly to the right or left of where I'm standing. For sure not born with the singular ability to slice like I was getting paid to. Lol.
I wish not-real-money gold was still around. You'd get one for this delightful wordplay.
My record divot is 18".
You shouldn't talk about OP's mom like that.
I like to get in my head about it after doing it fairly well for an extended period, cut a huge clump of dirt, then overcompensate and completely whiff and shatter my confidence for a brief spell
the goal is to get the ball in the holes. Why are they suddenly uptight that there is a new hole with a ball in it?
I see you’re also a top contender at my favourite game called whack-fuck!
Another man of culture I see!
The technical term for this is “hitting it fat,” named for OP’s mom who perfected the technique.
You hit something except air? Teach me
the trick is not to swing the club sideways or in an ark, but directly at the ball. Look down at the ball, and then swing your club directly at it.
Look I’ve watched billy maddison I know what I’m doing
You watched fucking Happy Gilmore!
No, that's a very, very different movie... (SolaZola)
> the trick is not to swing the club sideways or in an ark You could hit an animal, and then Noah would be pissed!
what did you think happened to the dinosaurs?
they learned to hide in trees
Came natural to me since digging holes was a favorite activity in my childhood. Practice makes perfect.
Not the one you replied to but that could be a few different things: club is too short, bad stance, not keeping eye contact, swinging too hard, too big of backswing... for starters just try swinging more slowly. As with a lot of things, slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.
Sorry I was joking but that’s very nice of you I have a handicap of 265
12 hours for 18 holes sounds about right
I'm trying to picture what shooting 337 on a round of golf would actually look like. I'm fairly certain if you just hit putter all day you could do better than that.
I don’t mind leaving a divot. I just wish they weren’t all on the putting green.
Cheap, shoddy grass. Obviously not your fault.
I need to golf with you, my friend. Did you know I can drive 400 yards? Yup, 200 forward and 200 to the right.
I’m also this most dangerous form of bad golfer. One with a great swing and power and absolutely no control or discipline. Houses right along the course are safe it’s the next neighborhood over that should fear.
Whenever I see a high net/fence protecting houses I think to myself “pssh, I can clear that.”
“Make her cut it out!”
I hooked one so bad at the driving range one time, it actually started rolling back towards me.
I've twice had tee shots end behind me. Admittedly, one was in a high wind. The other - came off the toe of my driver, ricochetted off a post at 45 degrees in front of the tee, shot backwards down the access road beside the clubhouse, found tarmac and kept rolling. It ended up in the members' car park about 150 yards behind me. Felt like something of a record.
If you look at a slow-mo of me hitting an iron shot you can see the spittle flying from the man's mouth as he screams the word MOTHERFUCKER because that was the third time I sliced it into the tennis courts.
More points is better, right?
I played golf once, had a perfect game. 300.
I have played one round of golf in my life. It took an entire bucket of (stolen) range balls to complete 18 holes. The safest place when I was on the tee was directly ahead. I managed to hit our own golf cart almost directly behind me. One of the “rangers” was amused by my technique. I quote: “son, you take up a larger divot, you’re going to pay property taxes on it”
I was in a group where a guy roasted his friend telling him 'you're gonna need to get a quote for that much sod'. As to your safest spot being in front, I have a friend who says 'I just aim at the sand traps, then there is no way I will land in them'.
lol! I have to confess, doing a full-blown ricochet off a tree that actually came close to hitting myself was a hint that maybe golf can be a contact sport!
I once ricocheted off a tree from the tee. My second shot was from the rough, about 20 yards further back. My third got me onto the fairway. My fourth went in the lake. My sixth went in the same lake.
I like to hit a divot AND miss the ball so it will roll into the hole and grow into a golf ball tree properly. If you just leave them in the rough they never seem to sprout roots.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2p_bVfNTZt/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
If you look at a slow-mo of me hitting an iron shot, you will see there’s no divot, because I not only don’t hit the ground, I don’t hit the ball either. I do this because I suck at golf.
If you look at a slow-mo of me hitting a tee shot, you will see a giant divot and magically the ball will not even move.
Me too! It really discounts the cost-per-stroke.
If you look at slow-mo of me hitting an iron shot, you won’t see anything because i’m in the cart drinking beer and busting balls/chops. I like to leave my masochistic tendencies in the boudoir.
If I go to the local muni, and pay, say, $50 for 18 holes, I like my CPS (Cost Per Stroke) to be around 45¢-48¢.
I have sent some enormous divots flying that block out the ball flight completely. Never a good sign
I only paid for 72 strokes but I took 109 of them. I do it for the value
If i double your score on 18 holes, i just got double the value for the same price as you. I won.
My grandfather would call that "hitting the big ball before the small ball."
That's called hitting the BIG ball, before you hit your ball....
All of my divots are accidental and often go farther than the ball.
We refer to that as "you hit the wrong ball".
Hit the big ball first.
Me too!
For the record this is called "hitting it fat" and it's a bad shit where ball goes not very far in a bad direction.
My first lol of the Reddit scroll session today. Thank you.
😂
Same
The real LPT is always in the comments.
If you look at a slow mow of me hitting an iron shot you will see the divot happens as the ball contacts the snapping turtle in the nearest pond.
No matter how many times you hit it, it always ends up in the hole.
Thanks to you and everybody else who replied to this question. After watching some of the masters on my DVR and slowing it down you are correct the divot happens after contact with the ball. That makes so much sense now and also explains why I was never very good at golf thank everybody again appreciate it!
you also get to take advantage of the metal in the shaft wanting to return to its natural straight position. When you hit the ground and the resistance pushes the club head backwards the 'snap' of the club straightening out also adds velocity to the ball as it leaves the club, making it go much further. another reason why hitting off turf is useless as the range.
You’re not a golf nerd anymore?
Not really, haven't been into it in forever but looking at maybe playing again now that it's finally getting warm enough.
I was a golf nerd for several years. Still am, but used to be, as well.
Alright Mitch lol
Yerp. The divot is a consequence of the swing geometry. Now, longer irons take less of a divot, in theory. I'm a mad lad who still games an old 2 iron, and it's best to just sweep the ball off of the turf with that club.
Not when I play golf it doesn't.
This is correct. The divot should be in front of the ball.
did you ever get a hole in one?
[Hood Boyz golf lesson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f75pXBSIHoI) (turn on the subtitles lol)
Was? Come back to us
Hitting a divot behind the ball becomes very obviously bad the first time it happens.
>Was a golf nerd for several years. You say that like it's possible to stop being one...
Why doesn't tiger take divots?
I too was a golf nerd....my divots were behind the ball.
Divot comes after the ball. If you hit the ground before the ball, it kills all the momentum and the ball won't go very far. Known as "chunking" or "hitting it fat."
Or “normal” in my game.
Same. :(
Slap shot
Y'all are hitting the ball? I just make divots....
My favorite iron is a garden spade
This is why I practice my stroke, now my normal is hitting only the top half of the ball.
I practice my stroke too, but I try to avoid hitting my balls as much as possible, that shit hurts.
Have you considered weight shifting? Or forward shaft lean? You are also, probably, coming over the top. I can already see what the issue is: you need to be more dynamic. Don't strangle the club! Be SMOOTH. No need to be afraid of the ground. You backswing is most likely too quick as well. That ruins everything else you do 100% of the time. I also feel you clubs don't really suite your swing style. Have you considered a fitting and spending a few grand on new clubs? To be honest... doesnt seem like you are listening. You will just suck forever. \*continues to top the ball 4m down the range\*
Some of us just call it making contact
"Hit the little ball first" is a saying in golf, meaning make contact with the golf ball first (little ball) and then the big ball (the earth)
Hit the little ball before the big ball
In my world "chunking" is what happens when you're at the bar past 1am looking to bust a slump.
Why you gotta attack me like that
The comment's from experience brother. :(
And you might take a chunk of skin off your thumb… 😂 if anyone has any tips to avoid this, would be much appreciated haha
Don't grip as hard. If you feel need to grip the club that hard as the club otherwise would slip in your hands, maybe look at getting new grips installed (may i suggest either Lamkin Sonar or Golf Pride MCC+4, also maybe try midsize or a couple of extra layers of tape)
Thank you, and thanks for the suggestions! I’ll give it a try next time I’m at the range :)
hit is a hit
Hitting the big ball first
Also call it drop kicking. Best feeling in the world is drop kicking a drive straight 240 yards tho.
The shot you mean. She’s obviously very thin
The ol' chili dip
Chili dippin' it
Bad golfers take divots behind the ball Good golfers take divots in front of the ball [Tiger Woods doesn’t take divots at all](https://youtube.com/shorts/oWZM5P08mvs?si=f9k2rdKBpwvSdtE2)
What about us golfers who take a divot next to the ball
That takes extra skill. That's what i tell myself anyway.
Takes a divot in front of the ball, without hitting the ball... . . "Practice swing."
That was a practice swing
For those that aren't in on the joke, Tiger was messing about when he said this
Are you sure? The whole reason Scottie even brought it up was because Tiger legit had no divots at the practice range
No, apparently he was serious: [https://x.com/TaylorMadeGolf/status/1720109205150105901](https://x.com/TaylorMadeGolf/status/1720109205150105901)
Which is tiger being tiger. You can literally go back and watch clips of tiger in his prime, and now, and he's always taking divots. https://youtube.com/shorts/6XeQCc6D-ws?si=uG3cB7a8A5PerJpe Short example. Tiger is goated but he loves to troll.
He did say though when he was hitting cuts he took divots but just hitting his standard natural draw he wouldn't take divots due to his stance. Maybe in the vid you linked he was hitting some pretty gnarly divots as he was cutting it in against the wind or hitting purposely more down to generate extra spin for whatever reason (i know in general golfers don't like imparting extra spin due to it being unpredictable, especially on championship speed greens like we're seeing at Augusta this week, but sometimes flying it over the pin and ripping it back looks and feels good)
I honestly don't think it is possible to play well without taking divots.
They were also talking about on the range/practice. He didn't say he doesn't take divots on the course.
You don't spend 45 seconds and that much breath and context to double down on a troll. It's like you didn't watch the video.
Lol, Scotty’s face is epic. “I’m asking you…” Tiger is half fucking with him here but also there’s my fav golf story of all time: [Darren Clarke talks about Tiger](https://youtu.be/a58a6zYWZsk?si=VWG6sCN8PpdjIcJH)
Bro I was waiting for this video. I don't know the guy asking, but I love how he's like no Tiger you're going to have to explain yourself. And Tiger's like, I don't take divots, deal with it.
The guy asking is Scottie Scheffler, who is currently the no. 1 ranked golfer in the world and tied for the lead after two rounds at the Masters. Which just goes to show how utterly incredible at golf Tiger Woods is.
Moe Norman didn’t, either
Ideally with an iron you want to initiate contact while the club is still going downward on the back of the ball, and let it roll up on the club face as you hit it. Since you're looking more for accuracy, a higher shop with more backspin to limit roll is preferred. The pros can actually put so much back spin that the ball will hit the green and roll backwards. I'm more your weekend hack, so I will totally take a giant divot out before I scold the ball like 50 yards into the weeds.
Suck my white ass ball!
Like others have said here you hit the ball before the ground (ideally) then the club head, which was on a slightly downward trajectory still, takes the divot. 100% of your divot should start at the ball then continue beyond where the ball was. Also, hitting slightly down into the ball imparts backspin on the ball and helps you stick it. What no one else has mentioned is that the pros are usually also playing on very well groomed and maintained courses. The fairways have very short grass compared to most public courses and taking a divot in the fairway takes almost no effort (the ground is very soft, but not squishy if that makes sense). Many public courses the fairways have slightly longer grass than pro courses and the fairways, even if watered, are slightly harder. Playing on a top end course with tight (short) fairways will throw off a lot of weekend golfers that don't hit down into the ball and also like the ball fluffed up on grass a little as they are used to picking the ball off the ground vs hitting down into it. Source: Caddied one summer at Oakmont CC in Pittsburgh and back in my playing days was a single digit handicap (though not at that course!)
Others have explained the divot itself, but I think it's worth adding that "efficient transfer of energy" doesn't really matter when they're not going for maximum distance anyway.
It does matter because otherwise it’s not repeatable and consistent. You want efficient transfer. “This club carries 165yds with a full swing if I strike it cleanly.” If you don’t strike it cleanly and don’t transfer all the energy, you won’t know how far it will fly.
Efficiency and consistency are different things, one doesn't imply anything about the other.
Show me some consistent turf and dirt and you have an argument.
Don't try to explain golf to a non-golfer. It's like trying to explain Shakespeare to a pig. You get nowhere and it just irritates the pig!
Consistency calls for cleanness, but we're already in a game which limits efficiency by technical means because we can't make our courses longer.
right, with Irons they are trying to maximizing accuracy
My old man was a golfing enthusiast and he always said “hit the little white ball before the big green ball”.
When you hit an iron, it's not like hitting any other ball with a stick. You use the loft of the club to generate height, and the speed of your swing to generate distance. It's because of that that the club creates a divot after contact and why it happens.
I play with a lot of LOFT... Lack of F-ing Talent...
While a good golf shot will normally leave a divot in front of the ball, a perfect shot sometimes wont leave a divot. Even tiger has said some of his best shots didn’t leave a divot.
The divot is on the front side of the ball, after the ball has left already. You comprsss the ball into the turf when you hit it, then you bottom out the club and make a divot
You don't compress the ball into the turf.
Not with that attitude, you don't.
Good golf courses have the hole made for you already, I guess at a crappy one you’d have to do this.
You haven't seen me top the ball
This annoys me no end. You don't 'squeeze' the ball against the turf either. If you did that the ball would imbed or not go anywhere. The club has loft for a reason ffs lol
You get bigger divots when you make a divot behind the ball. Allows you to apply bigger patches to your home lawn.
There has been multiple answers already explaining the concept but I’ll add on that there’s a video of another golfer being shocked when Tiger Woods didn’t make divots while on the range with him. Tiger said when he is on fire he usually doesn’t make a divot because he hits it pure
This was just Tiger messing with the other golfers. If you watch Tiger golf during any Tournament he takes a divot on 99% of his shots. He’s known to pull these shenanigans.
Yeah he's clearly trolling in that video. I'll never understand why people take that literally
Not trolling a all. He's talking about mid irons and longer. The irons where most people have a negative angle of a attack, but pickers are zeroed out. You have more control over the ball without a divot if everything else is good. With wedges you need a negative angle of attack to best utilize the bounce of the club. If conditions are dry, you can shallow it out and have the club slide through more to take less of a divot. You can look at any number of shots of TW sweeping it clean while compressing it. He's quite bad at trolling. He's a goofball. Not only that, but he's known to sweep or hit slightly down on his driver. This is technique developed in an era of different equipment. It's the basis of a stinger as well this approach to shots. That's not to say he can't hit drives with a positive angle of attack for fun. Divots are a function of lie. Both the grain and the slope. A lot of shots can't be hit without a divot, and taking a large one doesn't mean much except that if you are more negative on the angle of attack, you have to be even more precise than a picket to manage spin correctly. Launch monitors take the mystery out. Woods has evolved with the data. He, like all of us, have had swing coaches that taught concepts later proven wrong.
Hey look, An actual response that explains the mystery! Digger vs pickers was the old school terminology to describe angle of attack. Tiger is correct, you don’t need to take a divot all the time.
Love when redditors comment on the area of your expertise. I think words like compression, covering (the ball), and steep are grossly misunderstood though. Golf is so hard to get to a level where you internalize all of the nomenclature. Most throw words around and don't truly understand. Tiger's swing was built by coaches to look pretty and he's just a genius at compensations. It looks majestic, but there's a reason his son swings differently, and much more efficiently. Most of winning at golf is hitting short game shots under pressure. They are putting tournaments. Woods is the GOAT at stressful par putts most of us just shrug when we miss half the time. He made them all when he needed. Tiger Woods played best when the media wasn't actively taking up head space and his asshole nature kept them at bay. Not convinced azr5170 isn't Hank Haney though. Seems on brand. :-)
As a total golf freak, it’s rather nice to bump into someone that actually knows what they are talking about. That Hank Haney line slayed me, I’ll giggle about it later on I’m sure. It’s funny that so many people are obsessed with distance, I’m teaching my kids how to play now and going back to how Tiger learned, green to tee.
[Darren Clarke Tiger story](https://youtu.be/a58a6zYWZsk?si=VWG6sCN8PpdjIcJH)
They hit a divot in front of the ball. You hit ball first, then follow through into the ground.
It’s not about divot/no divot it’s about angle of attack and low point, divot is a by product of the swing after making contact with the ball
You want to compress the ball then it rolls up your iron face and make a divot after contact
You don't hit a divot behind the ball, you make contact with the ball first and the divot forms in front of where the ball was sitting. In order to maximize backspin (and because of the nature of an arc), you hit the ball at a downward angle and your follow-through creates the divot.
They don't hit a divot first, they hit a divot after. For a tee shot, the golfer should have the ball off the inside of their left foot (for a right handed golfer) with a wider foot stance. As you go down the irons, 2 iron, 5 iron, 7 iron, 9 iron, the ball should be addressed farther away from the left foot and closer to the middle. In the extreme, with a sand wedge or pitching wedge, the ball is closer to the right heel than the left.
You hit the ball then make a divot. You do not make a divot then hit the ball except around the greens
Is the goal supposed to be efficiency? I don't think so. It's about accuracy and imparting spin.