How To Stop Fat & Thin Shots

How To Stop Fat & Thin Shots
Turn your hips in a tight circle to improve contact and consistency

By Brian Mogg
Top 100 Teacher

This story is for you if...
• You didn't strike your irons crisply during the round you just finished...
• You're not sure what a proper hip turn feels like.

Try This!
Find a hula hoop (or coil
a garden hose), drop it on
your back lawn and address
an imaginary ball with
your feet inside the hoop.
Make a few swings.

What You're Looking At
Your hip rotation. Swinging
inside the hoop reminds
you to make a full — yet
tight — hip turn both back
and through, and to fight
the urge to sway away from
the ball on your backswing
or slide toward the target
on your downswing. When
you turn your hips while
keeping them inside the
hoop, you lessen the chance
of catching it fat or thin.

If you tend to hit your irons fat...

Focus on your backswing hip turn. Try to keep your right
hip inside the right side of the hoop. If it strays
outside, you've moved too far off the ball.
When you turn your right hip correctly, you
should feel your weight work into your
right foot, and your upper body should be
"stacked" above your right knee.