Unfortunately, common sense has little to do with the golf swing. I have written on several occasions that the swing is often opposite of what you think. One major flaw that most beginning golfers do during the swing is flip the right hand during impact in an effort to scoop the ball off the ground. The way you can determine if you are doing this deadly habit is if the club shaft and your left arm form an angle after impact. Take a slow practice swing and try to stop at the position just past where you would hit the ball. At this point, your left arm and the shaft of the club should be in a straight line. Also, if you rarely take a divot – and when you do, it’s behind the ball and not out in front as it should be – then you are also guilty of the dreaded flip.
What is so wrong with trying to scoop the ball off the ground is that it causes the clubhead to travel abruptly upward at the time of impact. If the clubhead is traveling upward this means that you will hit the top of the ball with a lot of regularity. Even when you do make decent contact with the bottom of the ball, it will be with the lower part of the clubface and the shot will not be solid.
To cure this, make sure your hands lead the clubhead into the ball. You never want your club head to flip past your hands. If your left arm and shaft remain on a straight line during impact and you gently roll your right forearm over your left instead of flipping the right hand you will have much more success at properly striking the ball.
