Thin / Skulled Chip
The leading edge catches the middle of the ball and it rockets across the green, well past the hole.
Why it happens
The club is still rising, or the body has come out of its posture, catching the ball's equator with the leading edge instead of gliding underneath it.
Possible causes in your swing, and how to fix each one
Tap any cause to see its fix. Work through them one at a time, usually one or two are the real culprit.
1Weight shifting backward during the stroke
"Hanging back" raises where the club is in its arc by the time it reaches the ball.
2Trying to help the ball into the air
Scooping or lifting through impact is a common instinct that leads directly to thin contact.
3Standing up out of fear of chunking
After hitting one fat, many golfers overcorrect by rising up on the next attempt, leading straight into a thin shot.
4Ball too far back combined with an ascending stroke
This timing mismatch causes the club to be moving up by the time it meets the ball.
When to stop self-diagnosing
If you've genuinely worked through two or three of these causes over several range sessions and the miss keeps showing up, that's not a failure since it usually means the real cause is something you can't feel or see in your own swing. A single 30-minute lesson with a certified instructor, who can watch you hit balls, will find it faster than any website. Bring this page along and tell them what you've already ruled out; it'll save you both time.