At the academy lesson tee we often here that the poor  shot that was just hit by the pupil, was caused by many different things. Either I lifted my head or my left arm was bent or the ball position was'nt quit right. All of these may be true but really have little or no effect on the way the ball has been struck. The golf swing is complex and understanding that it is a complex mechanism is better than being confused by oversimplified myths such as above.

The golf ball is topped for many reasons,the most common reason is that during impact (when the clubhead touches the ball ) the radius arm (Left for right handers) has a bent wrist. This in turn shortens the radius of the swing and the club head now is ascending into the ball. This would cause the club to strike above the center line or Equator of the ball. This then causes the golfers head and body to lift as a balancing reaction to the bending left wrist(right wrist for left handers). We can see this quite clearly with video computer analysis but to the naked eye as we watch a golfer it is undetectable.

Also the problem is that the golfer can rarely detect that the left wrist has caused the problem as we cant feel it happening nor can we see it happening at normal speed, so if we cant see or feel it then can we believe it?

For the golfers that have seen themselves at slow motion analysis it is a eye opener and we often find that until you have seen it a number of times you still are in disbelief.

This also appplies to just about every other Bad shot in golf, a bent left wrist is nearlly always the culprit. 

At the academy we work on the flat left wrist and we start with small strokes first so our tip is that when hitting a chip shot hold your finish position and take a look at your wrist conditions. Flat left wrist will stike the ball solidly.