Kim can usually keep his drive in the fairway, but he always seems to hit three or four approach shots fat. Sometimes he’ll get lucky and get all of the fat shots out of the way on the same hole. A few weeks back, Kim hit a super drive, leaving himself with an easy nine iron to the green. As expected, Kim hit it fat. Before the ball had stopped rolling he turned to me and said, “I’m not comfortable hitting long irons to a green, so I was laying up.” Few golfers can play their best game while laughing. I ended up with a bogey on that hole and can truthfully say that I enjoyed it more than the birdie on the next hole.

The place to start looking for the problem is in the set-up. When I see poor posture, I expect to see a lot of fat and topped shots. Remember: bend at the hips and stick that butt out (this is critical). Your back should be reasonably straight with the knees slightly flexed. Watch out! Don’t let your ball position slip too far forward of center. Where the club strikes the ground depends on your stance, not the ball position.

The most common swing errors are: the failure to transfer weight on downswing, or the early release of club on downswing. Both of these swing errors will cause the club to bottom out too early.

I suggest you check with your club pro. The walk-through and anti-casting drills can correct these swing flaws. If you ask about these drills when the pro is not busy, the odds are he or she will demonstrate them free of charge. In most cases, a little knowledge can save a lot of money and time. Here's a big secret: Golf professionals can hardly wait to play show and tell.