How to Find the Low Point of Your Golf Swing

Updated October 12, 2026 · Written by the Your Golf Plan team · Written for right-handed golfers; if you play left-handed, flip left and right.

Every swing has a lowest point where the club bottoms out. Where that point sits relative to the ball decides whether you strike the ball cleanly, hit it thin, or hit it fat. Understanding it makes a lot of contact problems easier to fix.

Where it should be

With an iron off the ground, the low point should be a couple of inches in front of the ball, on the target side. The club is still moving down when it hits the ball, then brushes the turf.

With a driver off a tee, the club is usually near the bottom of its arc or just past it, so the strike is level to slightly upward.

What moves it

Weight and pressure: more on the lead side moves it forward.
Ball position: farther forward moves the strike later in the arc.
Shaft lean: hands slightly ahead of the ball at impact.
Your posture: standing up moves it back or leaves the club rising.
Rotation: if the chest turns open through the strike, the low point moves forward.

How to find yours

The deepest part of your divot is your low point. After a few iron shots from grass, look at the divot. Does it begin behind the ball, at it, or in front of it? If the deepest part is behind where the ball was, you are fat. If there is no divot or it begins at the ball, you are on the upswing and likely thin.

For a more precise look, draw a line on the turf and place the ball on the target side of it. Make swings and see where the turf is brushed.

Drills that help

Line drill

Draw a line across the target line, or use a club shaft.
Put the ball on the line.
Make swings that brush the turf on the target side of the line, not on your side of it.

What you should feel: You hit down and through, with the lowest point just past the ball.

Brush the grass

Make practice swings and brush the grass in the same spot each time.
Move that spot a little toward the target until it sits just in front of where the ball would be.
Then hit balls and keep the same brush point.

What you should feel: The club arrives at the same place every time.

Not sure this is your problem?

Drills only work if you are fixing the right thing. Film your swing from down the line and face-on, and a PGA coach will tell you what is actually happening and give you one drill to work on.

Get a coach to look at your swing · $35

What a coach looks for on video

Where the club meets the turf relative to the ball
Pressure and weight transfer to the lead side
Shaft lean at impact
Posture and spine angle through the strike
Whether the club is still descending at contact

That is the difference between guessing from a guide and knowing from your own swing. Two short videos are enough for a coach to check all of this.

Keep going

Common questions

What is the low point of a golf swing?

It is the lowest point of the clubhead arc. For irons it should be a bit in front of the ball.

Why does low point matter for driver?

With a driver you want to hit the ball on a level to slightly rising path, so the low point is near the ball or just behind it.

Have a coach look at your swing

Send two short phone videos and tell us what you are working on. A PGA coach sends back a video review and a drill built around your swing, usually within 24 hours and always within 48.

Get your swing analysis · $35