Hitting the ball fat (taking a large divot before the ball) and hitting it thin (catching the ball above its equator with the leading edge) are two of the most frustrating and common ball-striking errors in golf. They feel like opposite problems — and they are — but they often share the same root causes. Understanding why fat and thin shots happen, and which specific swing patterns produce them, is the first step to eliminating them from your game for good.
This guide covers the causes, diagnosis, and fixes for both fat and thin shots — with specific drills you can use on the range to retrain the movement patterns that produce consistent, solid ball-striking.
Why Fat and Thin Shots Are Related
It seems paradoxical that fat shots (hitting behind the ball) and thin shots (hitting too high on the ball) would come from similar causes — but the connection lies in how the swing’s low point is controlled.
The golf swing has a low point — the lowest point of the clubhead’s arc — that needs to be consistently just forward of the ball’s position at impact for solid ball-then-turf contact. When the low point is behind the ball, you hit fat. When you try to “fix” fat shots by instinctively scooping upward or pulling back, you often produce the thin shot instead. Many golfers cycle between fat and thin during the same round because they’re fighting a moving target without addressing the underlying low-point control issue.
The Main Causes of Fat Shots
Early Extension (Losing Posture)
Early extension — the hips thrusting toward the ball on the downswing — is one of the most common and most damaging patterns in recreational golf, and it’s the leading cause of fat shots. When the hips thrust forward, the spine straightens prematurely, which raises the hands and forces the club to bottom out behind the ball. TrackMan data consistently identifies early extension as the number-one fault in higher-handicap golfers.
You can check for early extension by setting up in your address posture against a wall, with your backside lightly touching it. If your hips leave the wall on the downswing and push forward, you’re early extending. The fix involves maintaining the forward spine tilt through impact and learning to rotate through the ball rather than driving toward it.
Swaying or Sliding the Lower Body
Lateral movement of the lower body in the backswing (sway) or downswing (slide) shifts your center of gravity away from or ahead of the ball, moving the low point away from its optimal position. A significant sway puts the low point behind the ball at the point of impact — producing consistent fat contact. Work on keeping your weight more centered in the backswing, with the hips turning rather than sliding.
Weight Remaining on the Back Foot Through Impact
At impact, 80–90% of your weight should be on your lead foot. Golfers who “hang back” — keeping weight on the trail foot in an attempt to “help the ball up” — inevitably produce fat or thin contact. The ball gets airborne because of loft and backspin, not from lifting it. Letting weight transfer naturally through impact is the solution, not the problem. Drills like hitting balls while keeping your trail heel raised earlier in the downswing help train the correct weight pattern.
Grip Pressure and Tension
Excessive tension in the forearms and hands reduces the ability to release the club naturally, slowing clubhead speed and causing inconsistent low point control. Fat shots can result from tension causing an early release (casting) that brings the club to its low point before the ball. Grip pressure should be around 5/10 — firm enough for control, relaxed enough for speed and feel.
The Main Causes of Thin Shots
Compensating for Expected Fat Contact
The most common cause of thin shots in recreational golf is the instinctive compensation for expected fat contact. Golfers who know they tend to hit fat will often instinctively pull the club away from the ground in the impact zone, producing a thin. This is a loop — the fat shot creates the anticipation that creates the thin. Breaking the loop requires addressing the low-point control issue rather than managing the symptoms.
Standing Up Through Impact
If the legs straighten fully before impact — a form of early extension — the hands rise above their address position, catching the ball with the leading edge rather than the face center. This produces the classic bladed shot: a low, raking thin that runs with minimal trajectory. The fix is maintaining knee flex through impact and feeling as though you’re “staying down” through the ball, even after it’s gone.
Ball Position Too Far Back
Ball position affects where in the swing arc you make contact. Ball too far back in the stance catches the ball on the descending part of the arc — before the low point — but if the descent angle is too steep or the golfer instinctively compensates, thin contact results. As a general rule, iron ball position should be roughly center to slightly forward of center; driver should be just inside the lead heel.
Key Drills to Stop Hitting Fat and Thin
The Towel Drill (Fat Shots)
Place a rolled towel 4 inches behind the ball. Take normal swings and try to miss the towel while making contact with the ball. If you’re hitting fat, you’ll make contact with the towel — immediate, clear feedback. This drill rapidly trains your brain and body to shift the low point forward, and most golfers see improvement within one 20-minute session on the range.
The Tee Drill (Both Fat and Thin)
Push a tee into the ground 3–4 inches in front of your ball (in the direction of your target). The goal is to make contact with the ball AND clip the tee on the follow-through. This trains ball-first contact (you can’t clip the forward tee if you hit behind the ball) while also keeping the club traveling forward (preventing the scooping action that causes thin contact).
The Step Drill (Weight Transfer)
Set up normally, then step your trail foot to meet your lead foot on the downswing — shifting your weight dramatically to the lead side as you step through. This exaggerated weight-transfer drill eliminates hanging back and naturally moves the low point forward. Hit 20 balls this way, then resume your normal stance — many golfers find their contact immediately improves.
The Alignment Stick in the Ground Drill (Early Extension)
Push an alignment stick into the ground just outside your trail hip, pointing toward the sky. Take swings and feel that your trail hip rotates away from the stick rather than thrusting into it. If you’re early extending, your hip will hit the stick — an immediate physical reminder to rotate rather than thrust. This is the most effective drill for eliminating early extension that most instructors recommend.
Club-Specific Fat and Thin Tendencies
Fat and thin shots manifest differently across club types, and it’s worth noting the specific situations where each is most common.
Irons: Fat shots are most common with mid and long irons, where the reduced loft amplifies the effect of poor contact. Thin shots with irons often come from over-compensating for an expected fat. The ball-first, turf-second contact that irons require is the benchmark — a small, crisp divot just forward of where the ball was sitting is the target.
Fairway woods: Thin contact with fairway woods is extremely common because golfers try to sweep the ball rather than make a slightly descending strike. Fairway woods are designed to be swept off a tight lie — but that sweep should still be slightly descending into the ball, not scooping. The low point should still be at or just past the ball.
Wedges: Fat wedge shots typically result from overly steep angles of attack combined with tension and deceleration. Short-game fat shots — chili-dips — often involve a breakdown in the lead wrist through impact. Keeping the lead wrist flat (not cupped) through impact on chip shots is the most important technical element for eliminating the chili-dip.
Course Management: Avoiding Situations That Invite Fat and Thin Shots
Beyond technique, smart course management reduces the frequency of fat and thin contact under pressure. Tense, high-stakes shots invite the compensation patterns that cause these misses. When you need to carry a hazard, approach a tough pin, or hold a lead, your swing technique becomes slightly less reliable — which is when fat and thin shots appear even in good players’ rounds.
Strategies: take one more club than you think you need (reducing the need to force a swing and the tension that comes with it), aim for the center of greens rather than challenging pin positions that put bunkers and water in play, and accept that conservative management of fat and thin tendencies is better strategy than hoping technique holds up under maximum pressure. Our guide to golf shot troubleshooting covers other common ball-striking problems with the same diagnostic approach.
Final Thoughts
Fat and thin shots frustrate golfers at every level — but they’re among the most correctable problems in the game once you understand their cause. For most recreational golfers, addressing early extension and improving weight transfer through impact will produce the most dramatic improvement in ball-striking consistency. The drills above will accelerate that improvement if practiced with intention and repetition.
Start with the towel drill and the step drill. Practice them on the range before taking them to the course. And remember: solid ball-striking is a repeatable, learnable skill — not a talent you either have or don’t.
