Hitting Skinny is caused by incorrect posture effecting spine angle and creating poor swing mechanics. Some of the common problems listed below are:

Your centre of balance isn't distributed evenly when you take your setup due to a postural fault or musculoskeletal problem. Your balance will be poor with due to your posture causing you to have a more upright swing arc and swing plane. This will cause you to loose control of your shot with an incorrect transfer of weight during the swing causing you to hit topped skinny shots. With the centre of gravity, your weight will be too far back in your stance, your legs will move before you complete your back swing, consequently power is supplied by your arms and shoulders only.

As you come off the shot you will hit many top or skinny shots. If the centre of balance is wrong due to disturbed posture your head will move too far down on the right away from the target during the downswing or the back-swing resulting in a distorted swing arc.

Poor biomechanics will also cause you to sway your body back during your back swing and then not coming forward to your original position during your back swing, will result in your shot hit skinny, or you will top the ball through poor distribution of weight as you swing through the ball. With poor posture causing the wrong centre of gravity, as indicated in the diagram (above left) with the green line, the body will sway causing lack of balance and this will lead to backward movement on the back-swing and forward movement on the follow through. The hips will not rotate but will slide.

The diagram (above left) shows the typical hitting skinny posture at impact with the red lines indicating the shoulder and hip relationship and the green line indicates the centre of gravity.

Note: The centre of gravity (COG) refers to the line in the midline from your forehead to the centre of your stance. Changes in the centre of gravity, as indicated by the green line, will alter your centre of balance (COB).

The diagram, (above right), shows the typical hitting skinny posture with the centre of balance indicated by the yellow line. The swing arc is indicated by the blue line and travels along an upright swing path. Point your mouse over the image to see the golfer dressed in blue which is the correct posture (red lines indicate the centre of balance) and a straight and correct swing arc indicated by the purple line which also travels along the ideal swing plane. The correct posture should have a spine angle of 30 degrees, or as demonstrated in the diagram by the red lines (red lines also indicate the centre of balance), at 11 o'clock or 1 o'clock depending if you are right or left handed.

Swing Summary: Poor weight transfer due to non-neutral centre of balance. Weight too far back in stance at set-up and too upright at setup. Exaggerated body sway during swing.

Note: The clock diagram indicates a general swing arc for hitting skinny and both diagrams illustrate the posture at the point of impact.

To see the definitions of swing plane, swing arc and swing path please CLICK HERE