Worm Burner...HELP

[Duff]

I have not hit one of these for years but went out today and probably hit two or three with various clubs.

What causes a worm burner. Am I raising up? Am I positioning the ball too far forward?

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[SilverUberXeno]

Both of those could cause it. The straightest answer I can give you accurately is that you are contacting the ball with the leading edge of the club near the ball's equator. WHY you are doing this is a mystery without seeing your swing.

It's PROBABLY you pulling out of the swing, since ball placement is something you should not be wondering about if you're a regular golfer.

[cypressperch]

With every club in the bag, except the driver, we hit down on the ball. The hands are ahead of the ball at contact. Put another way, the bottom of the swing is ahead of the ball. Certainly, the hands will be farther ahead of the ball with a wedge than with a three wood, but still, we are hitting down on the ball because the clubhead still has a ways to go before reaching the bottom of the swing.

With the driver, we sweep the ball, rather than hit down on it. In fact, we might even catch the ball with a clubhead that has reached the bottom of the swing and is actually starting to move up. So we catch the ball on the up-swing. A lot of people practice with their driver more than any other club. Quite often, the worm burner is the result of swinging some other club with a driver swing. In other words, the angles in the wrists release too early to hit down on the ball. So, as mentioned above, instead of a divot just beyond where the ball was, we have no divot and the leading edge of the club contacts the ball around its equator.

You are right about ball position. If it is too far towards your front foot, you would be apt to release your wrists before your hands could get ahead of the ball before the clubhead. Some sort of thinned shot would be a common result.

Sometimes, the worm burner is closely related to a fat shot. If you come at a shot from too much inside, you will probably hit a fat shot UNLESS you subconsciously raise up and release your wrist angle. The subconscious knows that the club is about to hit behind the ball which causes the raising up and the thinned shot or worm burner.

Good posture is a major key in preventing this. We should stand fairly tall at address. If we are already standing tall, it becomes pretty hard to raise up during the swing which can give us the worm burner. By maintaining our posture, it will prevent us lowering during the swing which can give us the fat shot, or a thinned shot when we abruptly raise up before impact.

Best of luck to you with your game. Sincerely, Cypressperch

[Duff]

Thanks for the response and suggestions.

I must be pulling up or raising my head.

I tried to keep my head level and it seemed to help.

I haven't changed ball positions but sometimes you develop bad habits and don't realize it.

[cypressperch]

Keeping the head level should help. Remember that it is OK to have some lateral movement of the head, but not OK to have it moving up and down. I know Nicklaus talked of a spike driven through the back staking one out so that the head was like in a vice. Today, most instruction says keep the head steady, but some lateral movement is OK. Just be sure that at impact, your head has not passed its at address position. After impact your head can move more foward because the ball is on its way by then.

Just remembered a major worm burner cause. Suppose as you go back with your swing that you let your weight shift outside your back foot. Now it will be just about impossible to get your head (and weight) back to at address position which is about the same as it should be at impact. You have effectively moved the bottom of your swing to the right (for right handed golfer) of where it was at address. This will cause a few possibilities which are not good. If you do not raise your head or release your swing early, you will hit a fat shot. If you instinctively raise up or release your swing early, the leading edge of the club hits the ball higher than it should with a worm-burner a likely result. Solution: Never allow the weight to escape outside your feet during your swing.

Sincerely , Cypressperch