The Setup Adjustments to Hit the Ball High

Hitting the ball higher is matter of setup and club selection. Too many amateurs attempt to gain a high ball trajectory by manipulating the ball with their hands which leads to a variety of ball striking problems.

To hit the ball higher on command, play the ball slightly forward in the stance than usual. Be warned though, playing the ball more forward in the stance, encourages a more handsy approach as the mind will subconsciously believe in order to hit the a ball that is so far up in the stance that that hands MUST flip in order to make solid contact and get the ball up.

As we know, that is all wrong. To get the ball up we MUST hit down!

Because the ball is played slightly more forward in the stance, the spine angle must also adjust and bend slightly further away from the ball.

The feet should be a little wider than normal as well to support the swing and encourage the proper swing path.

The swing should be normal and careful attention should be paid to the impact. Release the club through the ball by hitting down and through and avoid an early release. The key to hitting it high is that the release must be more aggressive through the ball to pull off a higher golf shot.

Because the ball is further forward and the spine angle is tilted further back, timing the high trajectory shot will require some practice to hit the shot with confidence and avoid an early release which in most cases will lead to less powerful shots or shots that are pulled or hooked.

Even though the ball is forward and the body is further cocked back, focus on hitting down on top of the ball for powerful, high flying shots.

Depending on the distance required, a third adjustment to hitting it higher is to open the clubface and setup for a fade. The fade shot will have a higher trajectory but will generally travel a shorter distance than the setup for a straight shot. A fade shot will require taking more club to compensate for the loss of distance.

Outside of all of that, the easiest way to hit the ball higher without making setup adjustments is to simply take a higher lofted club. Taking a more lofted club to cover more distance will require a swing that is able to achieve higher club speed on demand to hit a higher lofted club extra yards.