A step-by-step guide, from club selection to ball positioning.
Imagine standing up on the first tee and striping the perfect drive down the middle of the fairway. You’re feeling great as you drive your golf cart down the path to find your perfect drive in a deep..fat..divot. What are the chances, right? With the increased number of golfers frequenting the links, I would say your chances are pretty high during peak season. Unfortunately, an unfilled divot is even more likely.
Here’s your guide to hitting your ball out of a divot.
Step 1: Assess the divot and ball placement
Assess The Divot And Ball Placement. Take a look to see how deep the divot is and where the ball sits in the divot. If the ball sits anywhere toward the front of the divot, it will be a much more manageable shot. If it sits toward the back, you will need to hit the ball with a steeper angle.
Step 2: Select a club to best carry the distance needed
Select A Club. I highly suggest you grab an iron to hit this shot since the ball sits below ground level, so if your measured yardage is longer than the longest iron distance you have in the bag, grab the longest iron.
Step 3: Visualize the shot you want to hit
Decide The Shot. Wherever the ball sits, you are looking to hit a punch shot out of the divot. Your swing size will be at most a 3/4 length, and you will finish low. The goal is to make a deeper divot with your shot, so the ball comes out clean. If the ball sits toward the back of the divot, you will need a steeper angle of attack into the ball. The ball flight won’t be high, but you can expect more spin than usual most of the time.
Step 4: Play the ball back of center to ensure ball first contact
Position The Ball. Set the ball two revolutions back of center, so it’s positioned for you to hit down.
Step 5: Stay down and through the shot
Stay Down And Steady. If you even take a small peek at where the ball might go, you will most likely top the ball, so make sure you maintain posture and go after the ball. Once you finish, make sure to replace your divot!
Tip provided by: Cathy Kim, PGA/LPGA & Top 25 Instructor
The Foundation of Power: Why Your Setup is Sabotaging Your Swing
Welcome to Day One of your transformation. You aren’t here to “tweak” a few things; you’re here because you’re tired of the inconsistency that haunts every amateur’s weekend.
This is the first of a four-part series designed to strip your game down to the studs and rebuild it with the precision of a professional. Most golfers approach the tee like they’re trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube while falling out of a plane. They focus on “fixing” their swing mid-air—trying to manipulate the clubface at 100 mph—but the truth is much simpler: you’re sabotaging yourself before you even move the club.
Think of your setup like a skyscraper’s foundation. If the concrete is tilted at the base, it doesn’t matter how expensive the glass is or how pretty the penthouse looks; eventually, the whole thing is coming down. In golf, that “collapse” looks like a snap-hook into the trees or a thin shot that rattled your teeth. Today, we’re ending the guesswork. We’re getting your body into an aggressive, athletic position that makes success inevitable.
The Anatomy of the Athletic Setup
Before we touch a club, we have to talk about posture. The biggest mistake high-handicappers make is confusing “bending over” with “hinging.” When you simply bend over, you round your spine, tuck your chin into your chest, and kill your ability to rotate.
You become a hunchback, and a hunchback cannot move with speed. A pro-level setup requires Dynamic Balance. This means your weight isn’t on your heels (which causes a slice) or on your toes (which causes a shank). It’s centered over the balls of your feet, allowing your large muscle groups—the glutes, quads, and core—to bear the load. When you sit into a proper posture, you create “secondary tilt.”
This is the slight angling of the spine away from the target. It creates the “room” your arms need to swing freely. Without this space, your brain realizes mid-downswing that your knees are in the way, forcing you to “stand up” through impact. We call this early extension, and it is the primary killer of distance.
The Drill: The “Wall-Butt” Posture Check
To find this position, we’re going to use a tool you have at home: a flat wall. This drill removes the ego and the golf ball from the equation so you can focus entirely on feel.
The Mission: To find that elusive “athletic hinge” and create a flat back without looking like a hunchback or a folding chair.
1. The Starting Block: Stand with your back to a wall, feet shoulder-width apart. Position your heels about six inches away from the baseboard. Stand tall, shoulders back, and look straight ahead.
2. The Hinge: Place your hands in the creases of your hips (where your thighs meet your torso). Without bending your knees yet, push your hips backward. Your goal is to “hinge” at the pelvis until your glutes lightly graze the wall behind you.
3. The Soften: Once your glutes touch the wall, add a very soft flex to your knees—just enough to unlock them. Let your arms hang naturally. They should feel like “dead weight,” dangling straight down from your shoulder sockets.
4. The Checkpoint: If you’ve done this correctly, you will feel a slight tension in your hamstrings and your weight will be distributed over the balls of your feet. You should feel “heavy” and connected to the ground, yet ready to spring in any direction. This is the blueprint for a repeatable swing.
How did the Wall-Butt drill feel on your first few tries—did you notice any tension in your hamstrings?
The blueprint for a repeatable swing, begins with a solid foundation.
Why “Dead Weight” Arms Matter
In the drill above, I mentioned letting your arms hang like dead weight. This is a secret many pros won’t tell you: Tension is the enemy of speed.
When you reach for the ball or pull your arms in too tight, you create tension in the forearms and shoulders. This tension acts like a brake on your swing. By finding the correct hip hinge against the wall, your arms naturally hang in a position where they can swing like a pendulum. This “hanging” position ensures that the club travels on a consistent arc, reducing the need for your hands to “save” the shot at the last second.
Summary: Balance is Your Only Constant
A great setup isn’t a suggestion; it’s a requirement. By mastering your hinge and your weight distribution, you eliminate the frantic compensations that lead to those “where did that come from?” misses.
When you start in balance, you stay in balance. You’ve now built a frame that can handle high-velocity rotation. You’ve cleared the path for your hips to turn and your arms to fire. Most importantly, you’ve stopped fighting your own anatomy.
What’s Next?
Congratulations—you’ve officially moved out of the “hopeful” category and into the “intentional” one. You’ve got the stance of a pro, but let’s be honest: a statue doesn’t hit 300-yard drives.
A great setup is just a loaded gun; tomorrow, we’re going to learn how to pull the trigger. We’re taking this rock-solid blueprint and turning your body into a high-tension spring. We’re moving from Posture to Power.
Check back tomorrow for Part 2, where we break down the “Coil vs. Turn” and show you how to generate effortless speed without swinging harder.
