How to Stop Topping the Golf Ball:
Causes, Fixes & Drills

A topped shot happens when the bottom of your club strikes the top half of the ball (or misses the ball and hits only the equator or above). Instead of compressing the ball against the face and launching it into the air, you're essentially driving it into the ground. The ball shoots forward low, skipping along the turf with almost no height.

Here's the core issue: during your swing, something changes between address and impact that raises the low point of your swing arc above the ball. At address, you're positioned perfectly — the club sole is on the ground behind the ball. But during the swing, your body moves in a way that lifts the club's low point by an inch or two, and now the leading edge catches the top of the ball instead of the center of the face.

There are five main reasons this happens. Some golfers have one cause, some have a combination. Let's work through each one with specific fixes.

This is the most common cause of topping, and it affects an estimated 70% of amateur golfers to some degree. Early extension means your hips push toward the ball during the downswing, straightening your spine and lifting your upper body. Your address posture had you bent over at a certain angle — early extension straightens that angle, pulling the club up with it.

Think of it this way: at address, your hands are a certain distance from the ground. If you stand up during the downswing, your hands are now farther from the ground. The club follows your hands, and the low point rises. If it rises enough, you top the ball.

How to check: Have someone film you from down the line (behind you, looking at the target). Compare a freeze-frame at address with one at impact. If your hips are significantly closer to the ball at impact and your spine angle has increased (more upright), you've got early extension.

The fix: Feel like you're maintaining the bend in your hips throughout the swing. Your belt buckle should stay roughly the same distance from the ball from address through impact. A good swing thought is "butt stays back" — literally feel like your backside stays over your heels rather than pushing toward the ball.

One drill that helps immediately: place a chair, alignment stick, or pool noodle against your rear at address. Make swings maintaining contact with the object throughout. If your hips thrust forward, you'll lose contact with it. This gives you instant feedback on whether you're early-extending.

You've heard "keep your head down" a thousand times. And it's partially right — but "keep your head down" is the wrong cue because it makes people stiffen their neck and restrict their rotation. The real issue isn't your head position — it's your eye focus.

When you look up to see where the ball is going before you've actually hit it, your shoulders lift, your spine angle changes, and the club rises with everything else. The ball goes exactly nowhere good because you've raised the arc by looking at the result before producing it.

This is especially common on tee shots and pressure putts, because anxiety makes you want to see the result immediately. I've caught myself doing it on first-tee drives where there's a crowd watching. The urge to look is almost irresistible — but you have to resist it.

The fix: Instead of "keep your head down," try this: keep your eyes on the spot where the ball was sitting until well after impact. You should see the divot appear (with irons) or the tee pop up (with a driver) before you lift your gaze. The ball isn't going to disappear — it'll be in the air for 4-5 seconds. You've got time to look up.

A good practice drill: have a friend drop a coin where the ball was sitting right after you swing. Try to read the year on the coin before you look up. It sounds silly, but it trains your eyes to stay focused through impact instead of chasing the ball.

In a proper golf swing, your weight shifts to your back foot during the backswing, then transfers to your front foot during the downswing. In a reverse weight transfer (sometimes called a "reverse pivot"), you do the opposite — you lean toward the target in the backswing, then fall backward in the downswing.

When your weight falls back, it pulls your entire upper body away from the ball and raises the low point of your swing. Instead of the club descending into the ball, it's ascending — and you either top it or catch it thin.

How to check: At the finish of your swing, where is your weight? If it's mostly on your front foot and you can lift your back foot off the ground easily, your weight transfer is fine. If you're leaning backward, falling away from the target, or your weight is still on your back foot — that's the problem.

The fix: Exaggerate the forward weight shift. During the downswing, feel like you're stepping toward the target with your front foot. Your hips should bump slightly toward the target before they start rotating. At the finish, 90%+ of your weight should be on your front foot, your back toe should be on the ground with the heel up (like balancing on your tip-toes), and your belt buckle should face the target.

Drill: hit shots with a tennis ball or headcover under the outside of your back foot. This forces you to shift your weight forward because you can't push off your back foot. After 20-30 reps, remove the ball and the forward transfer should feel natural.

If the ball is too far forward in your stance (toward your front foot), the club may have already passed its low point by the time it reaches the ball. This means the club is ascending when it contacts the ball, and if the ascending angle is steep enough, the leading edge catches the top of the ball instead of the face catching the center.

This is especially common when golfers use the same ball position for every club. A ball position that works for your driver (inside the front heel) will cause topped shots with your 8-iron because the 8-iron's low point is much farther back in the stance.

The fix: Match ball position to the club. Driver: inside front heel. Long irons: one ball-width inside front heel. Mid irons: center to slightly forward. Short irons: center. If you're not sure, default to center — it's rarely wrong and it's far better than too far forward.

Check out our ball position chart for a visual reference. One session of practicing with alignment sticks marking your ball position can fix this permanently.

Excessive tension — especially in your hands, forearms, and shoulders — changes the effective length of your arms during the swing. When you're tense, your muscles shorten slightly. Your arms pull up, the club rises, and you're suddenly swinging an inch higher than your relaxed setup suggested.

This is the sneakiest cause of topping because it doesn't show up on video. Your positions can look perfect, but if you're gripping the club like you're trying to strangle it, the tension adds that tiny bit of lift that catches the ball thin or tops it outright.

It's also self-reinforcing: you top a shot, which makes you tense up more, which makes you more likely to top the next one. That's how a golfer goes from one topped shot to four in a row — the embarrassment creates tension that creates more tops.

The fix: Before every shot, grip the club as hard as you can for 3 seconds, then release to about 40% of that pressure. This "clench and release" technique calibrates your grip pressure by comparison. 40% feels light, and that's exactly where you want to be.

Also check your shoulders. Shrug them up to your ears, then drop them. That's your swing posture. Shoulders up = tension = topped shots. Shoulders dropped = relaxed = clean contact.

1. The Tee Drill

Push a tee into the ground so only the very top is visible — maybe a quarter-inch above the surface. Now hit iron shots off that tee. The tee provides a tiny margin for error that lets you feel what solid contact is like without the anxiety of hitting off the turf. Gradually push the tee lower and lower until it's flush with the ground. Eventually, remove the tee entirely. By then, your body has grooved the correct low point.

2. The Eyes Closed Drill

Hit mid-iron shots with your eyes closed (after taking your setup with eyes open). This sounds terrifying, but it eliminates the head-lifting problem completely — you can't look up early if you can't see. It also forces you to trust your body and reduces the tension that comes from visual anxiety. Start with half-swings and work up to three-quarter swings. The contact is usually shockingly good because your body maintains its posture without the interference of your eyes chasing the ball.

3. The Two-Ball Drill

Place a second ball about 8 inches behind the ball you're hitting (between you and the ball). If you early-extend or fall back, you'll hit the back ball first or your club will catch it on the backswing. The back ball acts as a guardian — it keeps you honest about your spine angle and low point. If you can swing without disturbing the back ball, your contact point is correct.

Topping is usually a symptom of a deeper swing issue — tension, poor sequencing, or a fundamentally flawed downswing pattern. If the drills above help at the range but the topping comes back on the course, you might need a more systematic approach.

A launch monitor like the Garmin R10 can help diagnose the problem by showing you the data behind your topped shots. A topped shot will show extremely low launch angle (often negative), low ball speed relative to clubhead speed (poor smash factor), and minimal spin. If you see those numbers, you know the contact was thin or topped — even if it felt okay. The data removes the guesswork.

The Stress-Free Golf Swing program addresses the root causes of most topped shots — tension, early extension, and poor sequencing — by building a swing around relaxed, natural movement patterns. The "stress-free" part is literal: the program is designed to eliminate the physical tension that pulls the club up through impact. If anxiety and muscle tightness are contributing to your topping, this approach is worth looking at.

Sometimes the fastest fix is one lesson with a local teaching pro. A good instructor can identify your specific cause in 5 minutes and give you one or two feels that fix it immediately. A 30-minute lesson focused specifically on "I keep topping the ball" is one of the highest-value lessons you can take.