We play the game standing vertically and swing horizontally.Bill,
Hitting the ground first before you hit the ball simply is that the bottom of your swing is not matched with where the ball is. There are a variety of reasons for hitting the ground before the ball. I think if you look at three areas you can get a handle on the problem and begin hitting more solid shots.
The firstplace to look is your ball position in your stance at address. At address, bent over from the hips (not the waist), the ball should be under your left (target side of your body) eye. If your feet are directly under your shoulders then the ball should be slightly forward of the center of your stance. After that is established and you still are hitting ground behind the ball, then look towards the next possible errors.
The second place to look about bottoming out early is your spinal tilt at address and throughout your swing. At address you should be bent over from your hips and your spine should be tilted slightly away from your target. The neck bone directly correlates to the bottom of your swing. At address and throughout your swing, your tail bone should be closer to target than your neck. If that changes in the back swing, with the neck moving closer to target and the tail moving away, then the oppposite has to happen to make up for it. Then the neck bone is moving away from target. Therefore so is the bottom of your swing causing you to hit the ground before you hit the ball. Therefore, check your body rotation, being sure you are rotating around your spine instead of shifting your weight causing you to reverse your weight and get your neckbone closer to your target than your tail bone.
Another place where I see the bottom of the swing grounding out is from trying to swing the club too straight on the target line. Usually this mistake will make the club come down too close to your body, before the ball, and dig a deep divot pointing too far left. Golf is a "side on" game as the Brits call it. We play from the side of the ball like in Tennis or Baseball, unlike another sport like Bowling or Darts. So we need to swing the club around our spine using our body rotation to guide our arms and club. We play the game standing vertically and swing horizontally.Therefore to change this sensation, stand erect and swing the club parallel to the ground. Then starting bending over from your hips until you start brushing the ground. You will have the sensation that your arms are swinging around you and more parallel to the ground.
Try these solutions. If you can, videotape your swing and send it in and I will be glad to specific to your situation Good luck, I cannot wait to hear how you are doing!