Home   >   Instruction   >   Reading Your Divots

Reading Your Divots

By on May 28, 2014
Reading Your Divots

Are You Reading Your Divots Correctly?

Reading your divots can tell a great deal about how you swing the golf club and what steps you need to take to improve your game.

Reading Your Divots

1.  When you are reading your divots, pay attention to what side of the divot is deeper than the other.  This is critical information to know in order to make possible corrections to your set-up as well as your swing

2.  As you are reading your divots and see the outside or “toe” side of the divot as deeper than the inside or “heel” side of the divot, don’t be surprised to see your ball slice.  This is the most common divot golf instructors see.  For a right-handed golfer, this is the right side of the divot (opposite for the left-hander). This type of divot commonly indicates several different possibilities for your to fix in your swing, such as: your aim being too closed to your target; your swing being too steep; you may have an outside-to-in club path; your body could be losing its posture; your clubs could be ill-fit having too flat of a lie angle; your hands could be releasing the club too soon, and a whole host of other possibilities.

3.  If you are reading your divots and you see the opposite trend, with the divot being deeper towards the heel or inside of the divot (left side for right-handers; right side for left-handers), you may be seeing pulled or hooking shots.  Typical causes of this type of divot can be aiming too open to your target; losing your posture allowing your hands to be lower than they should be at impact; the club has too up-right of a lie angle, a severe inside-to-out club path; along with other potential issues.

4.  The one most important factor to remember as you are reading your divots is no matter how deep your divot might be to either side, you must insure your divots occur in front of where the ball lied. A divot occurring behind the ball is robbing you of distance and accuracy. To cure this type of unwanted divot, place a tee in the ground in front of the ball you intend to hit. As you hit the ball, you should also try to clip the tee out of the ground.  Doing this will help you hit the ball first, not the earth, and in-turn, transfer more potential energy to the golf ball.