The chalk line: ten balls to fix the fat shot. Plus Marcus broke 80, and Desert Stadium is back on the board for a week.
No. 088 Tue, Sep 29
Ten Balls
One drill a week. Ten balls. That’s it. Nate Okonkwo, Scottsdale, AZ
This week: the fat shot
Stop hitting the planet first.
A chalk line, ten balls, and one rule. The only fat-shot fix I’ve ever seen stick.
Bay 4, Thursday, 6:10 pm. Setting up before the group gets here. The chalk comes out on the grass tee.
Morning, Sam.
Your best at Desert Stadium was 23′ 4″, and when you entered you told me you’re working on fat shots. More of you said that than anything else, so this one’s for you.
Last Thursday on the grass tee I watched a 9-handicap hit eleven balls in a row off a perfect lie and take a divot the size of a business card on every one. Behind the ball. Every one. He kept telling me he was “catching it a little thin.” He wasn’t. He was catching the planet first and the ball second, and the ball was just politely going along with it.
Here’s the thing nobody tells you about fat shots: you can’t feel where your low point is. You can only see it. So this week we’re going to look at it. Chalk, ten balls, one rule. That’s the whole lesson.
Drill of the week
7-iron · 10 balls · 12 min
The chalk line
Spray a straight line across the turf. Ball goes on the line. The only rule: every divot has to start on the line or on the target side of it. Not behind. Ever.
← Tap to compare
Fig. 1: side view. Same ball, same line. The only thing that moved is the bottom of the swing, and it moved two inches.
How to hit your ten
Balls 1–3
Half swings. Don’t care where it goes.
Hip-high to hip-high. Brush the line. The divot can be tiny; it just can’t start behind the chalk.
Balls 4–7
Three-quarter. Same rule.
If one starts behind the line, stop and re-chalk. You don’t get to skip the bad one. You get to look at it.
Balls 8–10
Full swing, real target. Count.
How many of the three start on the target side? That’s your score for the week. Reply with it. I read every one, usually from the cart.
If you go 0 for 3 on the half swings…
your weight is hanging back. Finish with your belt buckle at the target and your trail heel off the ground. Move the low point with your body, not your hands. Hands move it for one ball and then lie to you for nine.
Ball 6 from Thursday’s group. Divot starts on the chalk, points at the flag. This is what we’re after. No tee, no mat, no excuses.
One swing thought
Your divot is the receipt.
Ball flight will lie to you all day. The turf never does. Look down before you look up.
Ball 2, same group. The divot starts behind the chalk. That’s the receipt for a fat one, and it doesn’t care how it felt.
Reader shoutout
Saturday · his home muni
79
Broke 80
Marcus D. 14 hcp → not for long
On this list since No. 012, in my Thursday group since March. Six weeks of the chalk line, twice a week, ten balls each. On Saturday he shot 79 on a course where I have personally shot 84. He sent me the card at 4:52 pm with no words, just the photo, which is the correct way to send a 79.
Hole
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Out
Par
4
5
3
4
4
3
5
4
4
36
Score
5
5
3
5
4
4
6
4
4
40
Hole
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
In
Par
4
4
3
5
4
4
3
5
4
36
Score
4
5
3
5
4
4
2
5
7
39
A birdie on 16 (the 2, 7-iron to four feet, divot on the line) and a triple on 18 he would like me to not mention. 40 + 39 = 79. Got a number of your own? Reply. Cards welcome, excuses optional.
This week’s sponsor
Sightline Optics
Sightline S2. Yes, it’s a sponsor. It’s also in my bag.
Every student who has ever told me they “pulled the wrong club” didn’t have a number. Get a number. Sightline sent me the S2 in March and it hasn’t left the bag: the slope toggle is a real switch you can feel, so you’re never guessing whether it’s legal on the tee, and it locks the flag at 200 without the shaky-hand dance.
Code works through Sunday and they throw in the magnetic cart mount, which is the part you’ll actually love. Sponsored. I only take these for gear I already use, and I turn down most of them.
This week’s challenge
3 shots
Prove it works. Desert Stadium, 163 yards.
The hole most of you played to get on this list, back on the board for a week. Par 3, 163 yards, the green set in the desert with sand short left and short right, so a fat one gets punished exactly like it does at your course. Three shots, closest to the pin. It plays in your browser, nothing to download, and I’m on the board, which is now your problem.
This week’s board, so far
Theo R.
Inside 10 ft
6′ 11″
Nate (me)
Inside 10 ft
8′ 2″
Marcus D. (yes, that one)
10 to 20 ft
14′ 9″
You, presumably
Last time 23′ 4″
?
418 of you have played since Monday. You see your band and your distance, never a rank. The board closes Sunday at 9 pm ET, and the closest gets a swing review from me and a very public shoutout in No. 089.
One tap, no form. Results in No. 089, and I’ll pick the next drill from the honest answers.
Go hit the ground. The ball is in the way anyway.
Nate
Nate Okonkwo
FLUSH · Scottsdale, AZ
P.S. FLUSH 6 enrollment closed Sunday. The cohort starts Monday, October 5, with Dani from Tempe (2′ 11″ at Desert Stadium) on the free seat. If you’re not in it, nothing changes here. Ten Balls stays weekly and stays free.
Ten Balls
Every Tuesday from FLUSH
You’re getting Ten Balls because you played Desert Stadium, took a lesson, or a friend forwarded it and you were smart. It’s free and it stays free. If it ever stops being useful, the door is right there and I won’t take it personally.
