Fat shots feel like a technique problem — the club digs, the ball goes nowhere, the ground wins. But the root cause isn't usually a swing flaw. It's a low point problem: the club is bottoming out too early, behind the ball, before contact is even made. Fix the swing without fixing the low point and the fat shots continue. Fix the low point and the contact cleans up immediately — regardless of what the swing looks like.
Eric Barlow builds the physical marker that makes low point control immediately testable on every swing.
The drill
Eric Barlow — PGA Master Professional and Director of Instruction at Winchester Country Club, Golf Digest Best Teachers in Every State (2022–2027), NEPGA Section Teacher of the Year (2018), Massachusetts Chapter Teacher of the Year (2016), NEPGA Massachusetts Chapter Player of the Year (2016, 2018), US Open Local Qualifying advancer (2019), and winner of the New England PGA Stroke Play Series Finals (2025) — places the pathpal ground rod perpendicular to the target line behind the ball as a low point marker. See the full drill page here.
The setup:
- Alignment rod placed in the bottom pathpal ground tunnel, perpendicular to the target line
- Ball positioned one clubhead width — or slightly more — forward of the rod
- pathpal angled rod set to match the shaft angle at address — the swing plane reference
- Drill cue: up the rod going back, under it coming down
- Goal: clear the ground rod on every swing — low point forward of the marker
The feedback is binary and instant. Hit the rod: low point was too early, fat shot. Clear the rod: low point was forward of the marker, ball-first contact. No launch monitor, no video, no interpretation required.
Watch the drill
Eric demonstrates the full setup and explains the plane cue in the video below. Watch on YouTube or play it directly here:
Why it works
The perpendicular ground rod is the most direct low point feedback mechanism available without technology. It marks exactly where the fault is happening — not approximately, not conceptually, but physically on the ground — and it catches the fault at the precise moment it occurs.
A golfer who is habitually bottoming out two inches behind the ball will catch the rod on nearly every swing initially. As the low point shifts forward, fewer reps catch the rod. When zero reps catch the rod, the low point is consistently in the correct position.
Eric's plane cue — up it going back, under it coming down — addresses the swing shape that makes a forward low point mechanically possible. When the club shallows in transition and approaches from under the backswing plane, the angle of attack into the ball is slightly descending, which naturally places the low point at or just forward of the ball rather than behind it. The plane cue and the ground rod together address both the mechanical cause and the measurable outcome of ball-first contact in a single, integrated drill.
Who this is for
- ✓Golfers who chunk shots regularly and have been unable to identify what's causing the early ground contact
- ✓Players who understand ball-first contact conceptually but can't feel when their low point is actually in the correct position
- ✓Anyone whose iron play is inconsistent — sometimes thin, sometimes fat, sometimes pure — with no physical reference for where the low point should land
- ✓Instructors who want an immediate, portable, no-technology diagnostic and corrective tool for angle of attack
Try it
Set the ground rod perpendicular behind the ball and hit 20 iron shots with a 7-iron at 75% effort — tracking whether the rod is contacted on each swing. Count how many reps catch the rod in your first set. After 20 swings, apply Eric's cue — up it going back, under it coming down — for the next 20 and count again. The reduction in rod contacts between sets is your low point improvement made measurable. Once you're clearing the rod on 18 out of 20 swings, remove it and hit five shots — the forward low point habit will carry into the free swings.
For the full setup details, visit the "Ball-First" Impact Control Drill page on pathpal.
- 20 iron shots — count how many catch the ground rod (baseline)
- Apply Eric's cue — "up it going back, under it coming down" — and run 20 more reps, counting again
- Track the reduction in rod contacts between sets — that number is your low point improvement
- 5 shots without the pathpal once you clear 18 out of 20 — the forward low point carries over
Related drills
The low point ground rod is the diagnostic core of a complete impact quality system on pathpal. These three drills address adjacent variables — swing plane, lower body stability, and short game angle of attack — that all connect to ball-first contact.
"Up It, Under It" Swing Plane Drill — Eric Barlow
Eric's companion drill sets the pathpal to match the shaft angle at address and trains the "up it going back, under it coming down" plane cue through rehearsal swings without a ball — building the swing shape that makes a forward low point possible before adding the ground rod feedback. Start here to groove the cue, then add the ground rod to measure the outcome.
Ball Position and Low Point Drill — Shawn Koch
Shawn Koch uses two pathpal rods to create a physical reference for the lead heel–to–ball relationship — training consistent ball position as the foundation for a consistent low point. If Eric's drill reveals variable low point rep to rep rather than a consistently late one, inconsistent ball position is often the culprit. Shawn's drill fixes that variable before Eric's drill can fix the angle.
Downward Strike Drill — Grayson Zacker
Grayson Zacker places the pathpal behind the ball for chip and pitch shots — training the steep angle of attack that produces ball-first contact in the short game. The same low point principle Eric applies to full iron shots, applied to the short game. If you're clearing Eric's ground rod on iron shots but still chunking chips, Grayson's drill is the next piece.
About Eric Barlow
Eric Barlow is a PGA Master Professional and Director of Instruction at Winchester Country Club in Winchester, Massachusetts. He is a Golf Digest Best Teacher in Every State (2022–2027), NEPGA Section Teacher of the Year (2018), Massachusetts Chapter Teacher of the Year (2016), NEPGA Massachusetts Chapter Player of the Year (2016, 2018), US Open Local Qualifying advancer (2019), and winner of the 2025 New England PGA Stroke Play Series Finals.
Frequently asked questions
What actually causes a fat shot?
A fat shot occurs when the club's low point — the lowest point of its arc — happens behind the ball rather than at or just forward of it. This is caused by one of three things: an angle of attack that is too shallow, an early release where the clubhead passes the hands before impact, or a body that hangs back on the trail side rather than shifting toward the target. All three produce the same spatial result: the club bottoms out before it reaches the ball. Eric's ground rod marks exactly where the low point is currently landing and gives the motor system a clear, measurable goal to train toward.
Why is the rod placed perpendicular to the target line?
Fat shots are a forward-to-back problem — the club is hitting the ground too far behind the ball on the target line. A perpendicular rod constrains the low point position in exactly that dimension. A parallel rod would constrain left-to-right path, which isn't the variable this drill targets. Placing the rod perpendicular behind the ball puts the physical marker precisely where the fault is occurring, making every rep's feedback directly relevant to the problem being trained.
What does "up it going back, under it coming down" mean?
"Up it going back" means the club travels on the same plane as the angled pathpal rod during the backswing — matching the shaft angle at address and staying on the correct plane going back. "Under it coming down" means the club shallows in transition and approaches from below the rod's angle on the downswing — the classic shallow, inside-track delivery that produces ball-first contact and a forward low point. Together the two-part cue defines the complete swing shape: match the plane going back, shallow under it coming down.
How far behind the ball should the rod be placed?
Eric places the rod approximately one clubhead width — or slightly more — behind the ball. This gives the low point enough room to arrive in the correct zone without catching the rod on a borderline-acceptable swing. As contact quality improves and the low point consistently clears the rod, the rod can be moved slightly closer to the ball to tighten the drill and demand a more precisely forward low point. Start at one clubhead width and earn the right to move it closer.
Make low point feedback instant on every swing
The pathpal is an integrated, all-in-one training system used by PGA Master Professionals to build ball-first contact with immediate physical feedback — no launch monitor, no video, no guesswork.
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