It is possible to play decent golf picking, or scooping the ball rather than hitting down and through it, but doing so leaves zero margin for error. And with the ball setting on the ground, it is impossible to play well with the club coming up, lifting the ball. Hitting down provides the greatest margin of error, because in doing so the club can contact the ball on the first, second, or third groove, and still result in a fairly decent shot.
To accomplish this, make sure that at impact the shaft angle is tilted a bit with the hands closer to the target than the clubhead. Think of the ball and the plane of impact as the finish line of a race, making sure that the hands get through that finish line before the clubhead does. If the hands win, the clubhead is still descending. Then, if you are still trying to “pick” the ball off the turf, remember, as my friend Bobby Steiner teaches, to “surrender the clubhead to gravity”. In other words, let it freefall!