How to Stop Chunking Irons and Get Ball First Contact Shot-After-Shot

There’s almost nothing more demoralizing than a chunked iron.

You set up to a perfect lie in the fairway. You’re 150 out, the green is sitting there inviting you in, and you make what feels like a normal swing… and the ball travels 100 yards at best. The club bites the turf two inches behind the ball, and your playing partners pretend not to notice.

It’s one of the worst feelings in golf…

Chunks. Fats. Heavies. Whatever you call them, we’ve all dealt with that humiliation. And here’s the cruel part: most golfers who fight this issue have been fighting it for years.

You’ve probably already tried: moving your ball position more towards your back foot, hitting more down on it, keeping your head still, pushing your hands ahead, getting your weight forward, and keeping your head down…

But in my experience and after almost 20 years coaching I can tell you none of those bring about long-term, consistent ball first contact. They are usually band-aids, and practically every amateur golfer that bounces through these tips only ends up with more fat shots and more swing issues.

See, none of those tips definitively fix the two root problems. And until you understand what’s actually causing your club to hit behind the golf ball, you can chase fixes for the rest of your life and never solve it.

Today I’m going to walk you through what’s really happening when you chunk shots, why most of the tips you’ll see or your buddies tell you only make it worse, and how to go about fixing things the right way.

Let’s get into it.

What “Chunking” The Golf Ball Actually Means

A chunked, or “fat,” shot happens when the club not only strikes the ground before it reaches the ball, but also causes the carry of the shot to be lesser than normal. Instead of a crisp, ball-first contact, the leading edge or sole of the club tends to dig in a few inches behind the golf ball, the club decelerates through impact, and the shot comes up short and heavy.

This also tends to take height and spin off the golf ball, and can lead to clubface instability, and thus crooked golf shots. What we are instead looking for when playing golf is to have the leading edge of the club engage with the ground rather at or after the golf ball. So how do we accomplish that?

The Real Culprits of Chunk Shots: Low Point and Arc Depth

The two root problems you must solve are Low Point and Arc Depth. Everything else is secondary. Get those two right and the rest of the swing tends to organize itself so you can stop chunking for good.

It’s not a timing accident so much as a symptom of where the swing’s low point is located and how deep the arc is traveling. Every golf swing has a low point, the spot in space where the club bottoms out (see green arc line in image above).

For a shot sitting on the turf, it’s optimal to have that low point occur in front of the ball, not behind it. Professional golfers tend to have their low point some 3 to 6 inches in front of the golf ball for this reason. If the low point is behind, the ground gets in the way first.

Arc depth is the second half of the equation. Even if the low point is theoretically forward, an excessively deep arc still dumps the club into the turf too early (see red arc line in image above). Many amateur golfers don’t even realize this is how it’s supposed to work. Many genuinely believe the bottom of the swing should occur at or behind the ball rather than ahead of it. This is why so many golfers are effectively trying to lift the ball into the air.

Check out this golf lesson where my student had this exact issue and misunderstanding:

So once this basic model clicks, everything else about how to stop chunking irons starts to make sense. The phrase “chunk” basically means the club hits the ground first, whether by the low point being too far behind, or by the depth of the swing arc being too underneath the golf ball.

Rather than treating a chunk as an isolated bad swing, it helps to think of it as evidence. The ball position, the club’s path, and the body’s motion all leave a trail, and chunk shots almost always tell you the low point arrived too early or the arc was too deep. The task isn’t to “hit down less” or consciously try to scoop the ball, it’s to figure out why the low point is showing up in the wrong place and why your swing arc is diving into the ground behind the ball.

In many cases, the low point is roughly four inches in front of the ball for a well-struck iron shot. That means the club should just be grazing the turf right around where the ball used to sit, then continuing to bottom out slightly ahead of that. This gives you ball first contact! Arc depth must also be shallow enough that the club approaches the ground on a manageable angle rather than plunging straight down.

If your divots consistently start behind the ball, or if you catch the ground before the ball with any regularity, these are the two pieces of the puzzle to chase down first. Everything else in this guide is really just a different way of asking the same questions: what is keeping the low point from getting far enough forward, and what is forcing the arc too deep? Great golfers solve both and move the club properly, and more consistently through impact because of it.

Visualize Your Full Swing as a Circle

It helps to picture the golf swing as a circle with the club head tracing its edge. Somewhere along that circle, the club has to bottom out, and where it bottoms out is entirely up to you and your golf swing mechanics. Most struggling ball strikers are unknowingly bottoming out on the back half of that circle, the half that sits behind the ball, while also letting the arc dig too deeply.

When your energy and focus are aimed at, or even behind the ball like that, the swing tends to feel tight, nervy, and defensive rather than free. It’s a pattern worth naming: we refer to it as “ball bound,” where the golfer is so focused on arriving at the ball that the swing never gets to move freely through it. That tightness shows up in a jerky transition, early wrist breakdown and casting, and exactly the kind of early extension that pushes both low point and arc depth in the wrong direction.

The better picture is a circle where the front half — the section in front of the ball — is where the energy and the low point live, while the arc stays controlled rather than diving. Shifting your mental image from “hit the ball” to “swing through a point in space where the ball happens to be sitting” changes a surprising amount about how the body organizes itself on the way down (see the image below with me and my assistant Henry Fall demonstrating this).

The Golf Swing Mechanics That Cause You to Hit Behind The Ball

So now that you know the simple outcomes we are looking for (low point forward mixed with manageable arc depth), I think it’s important to understand that there are infinite mechanical reasons you could be chunking your irons and fairway woods from the ground. Here are some of the countless “fixes” I’ve seen online…

“A stance that’s too narrow or a hunched-over posture can restrict your swing and cause you to bottom out too early.” “The ball position should be forward of center for the long irons and positioned in the middle for the other irons in the bag.” “A crowded stance can cause the club to get stuck in the ground, resulting in chunked shots.” “Excessive shaft lean at setup can lead to the club digging into the ground, causing chunking.” “Practicing with a step drill can help you feel the proper weight shift during your swing.” “The ‘bump and pump’ drill can help you initiate the downswing correctly.” “Keeping your head still during the swing prevents dipping and a reverse pivot, and enhances accuracy.” “Proper grip pressure is essential to prevent the premature release of the club, which can lead to fat shots and poor accuracy.” “A flat-footed forward swing with no weight shift can result in hitting the ground before the ball, leading to chunking.”

But from all my years coaching, here are some of the actual big mistakes I see on my lesson tee every single day leading to more chunk shots:

• poor golf grip
• poor ball position (often too far back)
• poor golf swing sequence
• poor golf posture and spine angle at setup (often too much tilt)
• swaying in the backswing and hips sliding
• turning too flat in the backswing with an overly inside takeaway
• lifting the hands and arms in the backswing
• moving head too far off the golf ball
• sliding hips in the downswing
• upper body tilting away from the target in downswing
• pressure not getting back to lead side early enough
• early extension and standing up out of posture in downswing
• casting wrists out of the top
• early release and flipping wrists at impact
• right arm pushing and extending too much in downswing

So yeah, that’s a long list of things that can cause chunk shots, and I know I’m missing many more… But, for the purposes of this blog, let’s boil it down and prioritize improving your low point through only 3 simple golf swing mechanics, and 3 practical, yet proven golf drills I highly recommend for flush ball first contact.

The 3 Golf Swing Mechanics That Will Help Move Your Low Point Forward for Pure Iron Shots!

So without seeing your golf swing and determining what specific items from that list above may need work, I’d like to focus in on three golf swing mechanics that I know can help reduce the number of chunk shots you are seeing. None of them needs to be mastered in isolation, but understanding all three gives you a fuller picture of what your body needs to be doing.

1) Chest Rotation

I’ve added this first here for a reason, as it’s one I feel most golfers miss (and in my opinion) isn’t talked about enough in the golf instruction world. Most concern themselves only with the hips. The best players in the world are getting their chest somewhat open at impact, while many amateurs I see stay overly closed off. If the chest, hips, and shoulders stay closed off in the downswing, the club almost has nowhere to go but bottom behind the golf ball unless you work some magic with your hands and arms.

Plus, in my experience, it’s a big speed leak to stay closed off. Continuing to unwind through the strike, rather than stalling the rotation, is something that can help push the bottom of the arc forward and prevent the swing path from getting too much from the inside. Now some will argue that chest rotation will only cause you to spin out and swing over the top, but if you learn to turn on plane (think shoulders for ease) then you’re good.

It’s those that truly keep their back to the target I see suffer most with chunking shots from the ground. Think about it, you wouldn’t try and keep your chest closed when throwing a ball, hitting a forehand, swinging a baseball bat (see below), or chopping a tree with an axe would you?

Most students I work with who really struggle with getting steep and over the top are in fact powering the club too much with their hands and arms, and effectively pushing the club into the wrong path. Learn to use chest rotation properly and I promise you’ll own a more efficient swing, increase swing speed, and achieve more consistent contact!

2) Stacking Upper Body and Lower Body

Generally speaking, I like to see the upper body and lower body staying relatively stacked together rather than sliding or tilting independently, and pressure should ideally be moving toward the lead side through impact rather than hanging back on the trail foot, especially with irons in hand.

Imagine your sternum as the middle of your swing. If you overly tilt away from the target, and side bend excessively behind your pelvis, chances are your low point will move too far backwards. This can also make weight shift and pressure shift difficult. This is something I see a lot on the lesson tee.

A pronounced hip bump can produce a similar problem. This isn’t to say you should reverse pivot, but generally speaking I find it best to see golfers’ upper body somewhat on top of their lower body. This is also why I don’t recommend moving your ball position way back to stop chunking. I tend to see a back ball position cause more tilt, and weight parked on the back leg makes it very difficult to get the low point anywhere near the front half of the swing arc.

In theory getting all your weight on your front foot and off your back foot seems helpful as well, but in my experience this can also limit your dynamic motion. Plus, just because your weight is forward doesn’t mean you won’t still find a way to chunk it. Conversely, some will say proper weight transfer is essential for solid ball-striking in golf, but in reality weight and pressure are different things altogether. So rather than complicating things here and jumping down a rabbit hole, let’s just focus on our middles to take care of these things for us and I bet you’ll have better success with eliminating your chunk shots.

3) Wrist Hinge

Throwing, casting, scooping, flipping wrists, or however you describe it, are all things that can further cause your club to hit the ground early. Typically I see this wrist action in a well-meaning attempt to help the ball into the air, but it’s one of the fastest ways to undo everything the pivot and weight shift are trying to accomplish. Plus, you are not using the club correctly when doing this, as the club’s loft will naturally get the ball airborne, so long as you effectively pinch the golf ball correctly with the leading edge bottoming later.

This is why I encourage a different wrist action. Maintaining some trail-wrist extension (think fingers back to the top of your trail forearm) into impact, rather than releasing it early, preserves some of the shaft lean that a compressed iron shot depends on and prevents the arc from bottoming out too soon. Proper wrist action and wrist mechanics can be a game-changer!

Think Beyond Ball Position and Move Your Intention Forward

So the mechanics we just covered can certainly help, but again, without seeing your golf swing, I can’t say which, or what moves exactly you need most. But, the feels and drills we talk about from here will 100% help you, and I guarantee will move your low point forward and give you more consistent contact.

Before we get into those golf drills that will help bottom your club properly and move your low point more forward, I think it’s crucial we change your intention. See, a lot of golfers are told to “hit down” on their irons, and that advice isn’t wrong — irons are built with loft and are meant to be struck with some forward shaft lean and a descending blow. The trouble is that “hit down” is an incomplete instruction on its own, and chasing it directly often makes things worse.

If you try to force the club downward out of the top through pure effort, the far more common result is a steep, over-the-top move that rips a divot out well behind the ball rather than in front of it. Trying harder to hit down, without addressing where the low point actually sits or how deep the arc is, tends to backfire.

A more useful intention is to think of the downward strike as something that happens automatically once the low point is in the right place and the arc is controlled — a byproduct, not a goal to chase on its own. Move the bottom of the arc forward and manage depth, and the descending blow, the compression, and the forward shaft lean all show up for free, without any extra manipulation at impact.

This is why legendary ball strikers like Sam Snead and George Knudson always said, “You don’t hit at it, you hit through it.” So if you are truly looking at how to stop chunking irons, change your intention to more target side, let the ball get in the way, and move that low point 3-6 inches forward like the pros!

Master Your Practice Swings to Path Your Club Properly

One overlooked detail is what happens during the rehearsals you take before you actually hit the shot. Watch closely and you’ll often see the bottom of that practice arc landing at or even behind where the ball is about to sit — which means the golfer is essentially rehearsing the exact miss they’re trying to avoid.

Before you step in to hit the ball, make sure your practice swings are bottoming out several inches, even up to a foot (like many professional golfers) ahead of where the ball will be. I also like to sweep the grass with these air swings to feel like I’m just collecting the golf ball vs hitting at it or taking an unnecessary divot. This costs nothing and takes no extra time, but it primes the body to repeat a forward low point and controlled arc depth instead of grooving the old pattern one more time right before the shot that counts. One solid air swing can change everything.

Simple Free Drills To Compress Your Golf Shots

Chunking irons is one of the most frustrating misses in golf. You make a smooth practice swing, feel great about it, then step up to the ball and hit a fat shot that barely gets airborne. If you already understand what causes chunk shots, the next step is simple: put the right drills and habits in place so your club can consistently hit the ball first and the ground second. And in my experience, golfers can best improve their action by practicing specific drills that target these swing mechanics. Here are some practical, actionable tips and exercises that will help you stop chunking irons for good.

Drill #1 – The Two-Ball Low Point Test

One of the most useful free drills you can use at the driving range requires nothing more than two golf balls. Set up the ball you’re going to hit as normal, then place a second ball directly outside it but with enough room between so you don’t hit both. You could use alignment sticks for this exercise as well. Make your normal full swing and hit the shot.

Once you’ve hit it, look down at the turf. Where did the club head first touch the ground? Where was the lowest part of the arc, or the low point? This will tell you almost everything you need to know about your contact and how much command you have of the impact zone.

Ideally, we’d like the divot to start at least at the golf ball, or in front of where the ball was originally resting, that way your club hits the turf later and is bottoming out on the target side of the ball. This will ensure we produce clean, ball-first contact.

This drill is powerful because it gives you instant, visual feedback without needing a launch monitor, a swing coach, or any special equipment. Run this test every few buckets of balls (or even every ball you hit) at the range and you’ll quickly start to notice patterns in your ball-first contact — and just as importantly, you’ll start to feel the difference between a move that bottoms out too early and one that doesn’t.

Drill #2 – Stop Giving Yourself the “Perfect” Lie

Here’s a habit worth breaking immediately: many golfers set their ball right at the front edge (or the target side) of an old divot on the range. It feels good because the turf behind it is already gone and there’s no resistance for the club to fight through, but it’s actually letting you get away with a low point that sits too far back. This is a common error I see from amateurs.

This fix is super simple, but super effective — flip the script: from now on hit balls from the back of your divots. Instead of teeing up on the front edge of an old divot, place your ball toward the back of it. Now there’s no forgiving margin behind the ball; you’re forced to strike it first or you’ll take a big, punishing chunk.

Better yet, once you have the professional approach down, take it to the next level like many Tour Pros do and start hitting golf shots directly out of old shallow divot patches. Set up right in an existing divot and hit golf shots from that lie. With no room for error, this drill trains your body to consistently deliver the club with a forward low point and hit the ground later!

Try a fairway bunker for the same effect. Hitting from a tighter, less forgiving lie in a bunker (with less margin for error) forces the same kind of precise, ball-first contact. It’s not a coincidence that you’ll see the best players in the world doing this kind of practice constantly…

And you too at some point should challenge yourself if you’re serious about wanting to consistently hit the ground after the ball. Again, almost all the pros I’ve been around are constantly hitting a batch of shots from a normal lie, and then immediately moving to hit out of their own divots or a fairway bunker (or a difficult lie when they play on the golf course) to sharpen their low point distance control under less friendly conditions.

Drill #3 – The Towel Drill

The towel drill is simple, well known among better players and golf coaches, and remarkably effective. Lay a golf towel on the ground several inches behind where the ball will sit, then hit shots without catching the towel on the way down. If your low point is too far back or your arc is too deep, the club will clip (or strike) the towel every time. Learn to hit the ground after the ball and the towel will be an after-thought.

I’d recommend starting with the towel roughly six inches behind the ball to first give you enough room, and begin with small punch shots before working up to bigger swings. As your low point control and arc depth improve, move the towel closer — down to around four inches behind the ball — for an even more precise checkpoint for your club. And please use a towel over alignment sticks, although using alignment sticks can help with ensuring consistent ball position and swing path so long as they aren’t in the actual way of your club’s orbit.

The towel turns an invisible flaw into something you can feel and hear on every single rep. This is one of the best free drills for chunk shots, and yet many amateurs I see give up on it given how frustrating it can be…

Stick with it, just like PGA Tour player Chris Gotterup has (image below) and I promise you’ll start hitting the ground in the correct position more repeatedly. I’ve even seen this little drill improve golfers’ mechanics, like: ball position, club shaft lean at impact, swing plane, swing path, weight transfer, wrist mechanics, body alignment with the target line, foot work and use of the ground, and even the way their hips move.

All of these simple golf drills work because they remove the safety net. When there’s nowhere for your club to get away with hitting the ground behind the ball, you’re forced to make the necessary adjustments in real time — and those adjustments carry over once you’re playing golf on the course.

Common Mistakes While Practicing These Changes

When golfers first start correcting a chunking pattern, a few mistakes tend to show up repeatedly. Swinging too hard, too soon is one of the most common. New movement patterns need to be grooved slowly before speed gets added back in.

It also helps to accept that early reps in a new pattern will feel unfamiliar or even uncomfortable. That discomfort is often a sign the old compensations are being removed, not a sign that something is going wrong. You very well may hit some funny shots, but keep the focus on low point and arc depth rather than forcing results. These actionable tips work best when applied patiently on the golf course and the driving range.

Once the good low point and arc depth start showing up consistently at slower speeds, it’s time to blend the changes back into a full-speed swing. This transition should be gradual. If your divot consistently begins in front of where the ball was and the depth is reasonable, the new pattern is holding up even as speed increases. Practice the full swing only after the short game and half-swings feel solid. If things are in line you might even increase distance given you are better controlling the bottom of your arc with forward low point, have more club shaft lean at impact, and thus reducing your dynamic loft.

Read Your Turf: What Your Divots Are Telling You

Your divots are one of the most honest sources of feedback available on the range, so it pays to actually look at them. Notice not just how deep they are, but where they start relative to where the ball was sitting. Turf conditions change from firm to soft to grainy, and divot shape will naturally vary day to day — but where the divot begins is far more telling than how it looks overall. Depth of the divot also speaks directly to arc depth.

If you’re a “picker” who barely brushes the grass, or a “digger” who takes a deep divot every time, that alone doesn’t tell you whether your low point is correct. What matters is whether the low point of that divot sits in front of where the ball was and whether the depth is controlled. And for you golfers out there regularly hitting off mats, you can still build this awareness by paying attention to where and how the club contacts the surface, even without a visible divot to check afterward. Clean contact starts with the right low point.

On-Course Strategy While You’re Rebuilding

While working through these changes, it can help to simplify shot selection on the golf course when you play. Focusing on lower, more controlled shots — treating full swings more like punch shots — keeps speed and hand tension down while the new pattern gets reinforced under real playing conditions. This isn’t a permanent adjustment, just a bridge while the new sequencing becomes automatic.

Trying to hit every shot at full effort while also rebuilding a pattern tends to slow progress, since the old habits are more likely to reappear under full speed and pressure when you play. Keep the emphasis on forward low point and controlled arc depth even when the stakes feel higher. And don’t forget to dial in those practice swings for best results! Playing golf with better contact is the real reward.

Don’t Forget: “Swing Through It, Not At It”

As I mentioned earlier, there’s an old, well-worn piece of golf wisdom that needs repeating, “You don’t hit at the ball, you hit through it”. Repeat those words from Sam Snead and George Knudson to yourself during your next practice session or round of golf. It’s a simple idea, but it captures the mental shift this whole guide is built around. The moment you stop treating the ball as the finish line and start treating it as a point your swing passes through on the way to a full finish, the low point has room to move where it needs to and the arc stays under control.

Picture impact not as a destination but as a doorway your motion passes through. Keep your energy, your rotation, and your intention moving a few inches past the ball rather than stopping at it, and the ball-first contact, the compression, and the proper angle of attack tend to show up as a natural consequence rather than something you have to force. That is how you stop chunking irons and produce clean contact more often!

Final Thoughts

Chunk shots are a signal, not a mystery. They point to a low point that’s arriving too early and/or an arc that’s traveling too deep. What’s the cause? To be clear, I don’t know, I’d have to see your swing to tell you that. But, I do know what the cure is…

The 3 mechanics I mentioned before about chest rotation, stacking your centers, and sound wrist action can surely help, but at the end of the day, the objective must be moving your energy more through and past the ball. I know the golf swing drills, exercises, tips and feels I have outlined in this blog post will do the trick if you put them to good use.

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