What’s the Best Way to Hit Lower Golf Shots? | Golf Trajectory Tips

💨 Swing slower = lower spin. Less speed means less backspin — and less lift. Simple physics to flatten your flight.

⛳ Club down to club up. Use a lower-lofted club (like a 6- or 5-iron) instead of your normal 7 to keep launch angle in check.

🎯 Ball back = lower launch. Move the ball slightly toward your trail foot to deloft the face and keep the ball down.

🏌 Shorter swing = more control. A compact backswing and follow-through help you manage speed and trajectory.

🧠 Combine or customize. Mix any of the four moves depending on the shot — or stack them all for the lowest possible flight.

🌬️ Real-world tip. Into the wind? Use a 5-iron, shorter swing, and center ball position to hold your yardage without ballooning.

0:00 - If you have ever wondered how to hit a little bit lower ball flight, whether that's because you're hitting it into the wind or you're just trying to control your trajectory, I've got four different ways you can do it.
You could do all four of these at once if you really wanted to flight it down, but you could do each of these individually. So, let's talk about different ways to control your trajectory.

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0:25 - So, the first way that you can do this — this is what you'll see a lot of really good players talk about when they're trying to flight the ball down — is they're going to have a slightly slower swing speed.

0:45 - The reason they're going to do that is they're trying to control spin. The more backspin that I create generally happens when I swing faster. So, as I create more speed, more backspin starts to be imparted on the golf ball.

1:05 - More backspin equals more lift. That means the ball's going to go higher. So, you'll see a lot of really good golfers who are trying to flight the ball down, potentially swinging slightly slower.

1:25 - The other way that they do it is they actually change their club. So, they might go with a club that has a little bit less loft. So, if it's normally a 7-iron, they might go to a 6-iron or even potentially a 5-iron depending on how low they're trying to hit it.

1:45 - So, that can also help you lower the flight. So, you've got your slower speed, you've got potentially changing the loft of the club. One other thing you can do in your setup to help you hit it lower is you can move the ball position.

2:05 - So, if you move that ball position further back in your stance towards your trail foot, that will help to deloft the club as well — can also help keep that ball down. So that's the third way to do it.

2:25 - And then the fourth and final way would really be in how you swing. So what you'll again see a lot of really good players do when they're trying to control trajectory is they will make a shorter backswing and a shorter follow-through.

2:45 - That kind of ties into the first point that I made about swinging a little bit slower. If I don't take the club back as far, it's going to be hard for me to create the same amount of speed.

3:05 - So, you can incorporate all of these. You can incorporate one or two of these. There's a ton of different ways to do this. You kind of need to play with this a little bit in your own game and figure out which ones you want to incorporate.

3:25 - But, if I wanted to hit the absolute lowest shot possible, that's what I would do. So, this is normally going to be — I'm hitting a shot here into the wind on the range.

3:45 - I would normally hit a 7-iron about, call it, 180 yards. I'm going to switch to a 5-iron. So, I'm going to go with a stronger lofted club and make a shorter swing, move the ball back in my stance.

4:05 - Let's see if we can still hit that shot about 180 yards. So, I've got my five iron here. You can see that there. Um, like I said, I'm going to make a shorter swing. I might even choke down on the grip a little bit just to remind myself that I'm not trying to hit this as hard as possible.

4:25 - Instead of playing that ball towards the front of my foot like I normally would for a 5-iron, I'll play it more in the center or even slightly back. Then, I'm going to go ahead and make that more abbreviated swing.

4:45 - So, let's see if I can hit this shot into about a 10 mph headwind, a little bit lower, and about 180 yards.

5:05 - So, a little shorter on the way back. Carried about 185-ish. I was a little bit long, but still would be really happy with that if I was hitting that out on the golf course.

5:25 - Those four things are really nice ways to help you lower the trajectory. So try those the next time you're playing in the wind or you need to hit the ball a little lower. Should find a lot of success.

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