Taking A Divot?

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Russell Middleton

[FORUM MODERATOR]
Handicap : 14.7

Posted : Thu 4th Mar 2010 10:29

What club would you say that you should take a divot with, and which ones should you not?

Thinking about my irons it appears to me that I've never really taken a divot with any of my shots.

This is probably due to starting golf on a driving range mat that was as hard as concrete and me not wanting to damage my clubs!

I'd say that a 3, 4 or 5 iron should be sweeping the ball off the turf, then the rest of the irons you should be taking a divot.

What do you think?

Russ

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John Pettitt

Handicap : 18

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 11:10

"Sweeping the ball off the turf" is an expression that has no place in the golf vocabulary as far as I am concerned. The reason, is that it infers an upward strike of the ball, yet as we all know this would only produce a top.

Only the driver is hit with an ascending blow and even that is so fine that the majority of us will still be hitting it at the bottom of the arc.

A ball struck correctly with an iron will always produce a divot as the ball has to be squeezed in conjunction with the turf to give a solid strike and ultimate control.

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John Flood

Handicap : 11.9

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 11:36

I've never really been a 'divot' person until recently where I made some tweaks to my swing & now I take a divot, smaller the club the bigger the divot, on most shots.

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David Marshall

Handicap : 9.9

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 12:14

I usually produce a divot about the size of a £5 note, but not as wide. Apparently a dollar bill is about the right size.

My wedges produce monster divots, but that's because I am hitting down and through to produce spin

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Lewis Gladstone-buchanan

Handicap : 15.3

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 12:59

during the summer months, do you guys make any adjustments to take into account the harder ground. I have thought that the hard ground could put alot of stress on the wrists?

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Tim Hawkins

Handicap : 16.2

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 13:06

I can do it with all of them Russ, including my putter.

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Patrick Bourke

Handicap : 11.1

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 14:03

I can go with what JP says but sometimes I do take a divot with the lower irons 1,3 and possibly 4 but then again sometimes not so much that you'd notice. I don't intentionally try to sweep it off the turf (I only do that in a fairway bunker). The key is if I hit it sweetly and then the difference between the 'divot' shot and the 'slightly rough up turf' shot is v negligible

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Greg Hughes

Handicap : 7.9

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 14:21

Wish I could play off 11.9 and never take a divot!?

As someone said above, a divot as big as a five pound note is spot on.

Emphasis on hitting down on the ball and then taking the divot adds height and correct ball flight.

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David Lythgoe

[FORUM MODERATOR]
Handicap : 2

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 14:32

There is a difference between "burning the grass" and taking a divot. I take the top off the grass but other than when playing a certain type of shot, I never take soil.

TheLyth

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Russell Walker

Handicap : 3

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 17:27

The only time I don't take a divot is if I hit a long iron or wood off a tee, when trying to go for distance and roll, anything else played straight off the turf I take a divot, as long as you hit the ball first then take a divot it's ok, can't see how you can strike the ball with a decending blow and not take a divot, I would think that the ball striking and spin control would be poor if you didn't take a divot..

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Greg Hughes

Handicap : 7.9

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 17:37

Completely agree Russell.

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Graham Brown

Handicap : 18.5

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 18:45

I rarely take a divot, but I don't think I strike the ball very well with my irons. Something I really need to work on this year.

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Dave Patrick

Handicap : 17.3

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 20:52

I get divots about 8" long and about 4" wide from 8 iron through sand iron off the fairway. It just started to happen all of a sudden as I improved. Im very poor with 3,4,5 & 6 irons off the fairway so I dont tend not to play those clubs. I would love to play long irons when about 180-200 yds out. Never seem to get a good contact. Anyone got a simple fix to get the ball up in the air. I hit the 8 iron about 145 carry but fairly low.

Cac handed Geordie.

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Christopher Watmore

Handicap : 12.4

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 21:14

I'd have given anything to have taken a divot on one shot today. I played the Warwickshire and honestly have never had a poorer day on the course. All I did today was either top or thin the ball for the whole round. Off the tee I was fine, drove the ball marvellously all day. However once it was sitting on the ground I just couldn't strike it properly.

I've played so well over the last six months hitting my lowest ever handicap currently at 13.6, todays total lack of ball striking has really come at a shock to me.

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Steve Cowle

Handicap : 0

Reply : Thu 4th Mar 2010 21:28

Hi Guys,

Taking a divot is not something that you should consciously do, it depends on the movement of the body and the extension of the arms through impact. The depth and length of divot is dictated by the club length.

With short irons the swing plane is steeper so the divot will be longer and deeper, with long irons the plane is shallower and so the divots will be small and shallow.

I personally take a divot with all of my irons and even my 3 wood off the floor. When the ground is firmer the divot will still be there just not as much.

To view my full article visit: http://www.stevecowlegolf.co.uk/golftips-divots.html

Hope this helps

Steve

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