Irons are accuracy clubs. When getting fit for irons, the first consideration should be accuracy. Distance is not an important factor. Consideration should be the following: lie, shaft flex, length, and shaft type. The best style club head would be a perimeter-weighted design, as they allow better results for off-center contact.
The key to generating ball speed is creating width in your takeaway. I see a ton of recreational golfers who struggle to create a full turn or rotation. That problem starts during the takeaway. Many golfers just pick up their driver and turn their shoulders. In order to create maximum speed, you have to create maximum width. This is something I work on a lot.
Try taking the club back almost as far as you can, creating that width. Naturally, you body will want to turn with you.
On the fairway, many golfers have a tendency to try and lift the ball into the air, and in doing so, they lift their body on the downswing as though their arms were going to pick the ball up and send it away. But the only way to get a ball in the air is to hit down into it. The loft of the club, plus the down-and-through motion of the downswing, gets the ball in the air and makes it impossible to top it.
The choice of clubs, particularly on long shots, changes a great deal in rainy weather. It should be dictated by the lie, the ground to be covered ahead, and the condition of the turf underfoot. Bear in mind that a golf ball will fly, or float higher in the air, when hit off wet turf. This happens because the ball sits up more, and a wet face gives the ball more up-spin. Because of this it is bound to carry much farther in the air from soft ground. In such going, a club with more loft than would be used from a dry lie should be used.
The important thing is to make sure to keep the ball airborne. With turf conditions aiding you, you can get as much distance with the more lofted 4 as with a 2 iron in dry weather. And a 6 iron will fly the ball as far as a 5 iron from unsoaked turf.
Choose a 7-iron or a 6-iron, whichever one you feel the most confidence in, and use it for 80% of all your full-swing practice.
The reason for this is I want you to develop faith in your golf swing.
The best way to learn to trust your swing is by practicing your swing with a club you trust.
A high handicapper who learns to hit a good 7-iron can build his game around that shot.
Don’t devote too much time to the driver. The driver is the most difficult club to hit, which is why they let you put the ball on a peg.
Looking back, I suppose I could have used a pitching wedge and played the ball just short of the green, to avoid the bunkers and any real trouble. But whenever I get an iron in my hands, my first instinct is to be aggressive. The irons are the true offensive weapons in golf.
From a scientific standpoint, golf is a game of opposites. I think that’s what makes it such a hard game for some people. A lot of the things that occur when the club strikes the ball are just the opposite of what your instincts tell you should happen. For instance, a shot that slices to the right occurs because the clubhead, square to the target line, is traveling to the left at impact. Another example is grip pressure. If you grip the club tightly in an effort to hit the ball harder, you end up swinging the club even slower, because tight muscles don’t move as fast as loose muscles.
The best example falls in the area of iron play. In order to get the ball airborne, you must hit down on it. Countless golfers try to help get the ball in the air by swinging up on the ball. That makes it go down — a toppled shot, or a thin one at best.
The driver is the only club you want to hit slightly on the upswing.
The 5-iron: The ball is positioned slightly forward of center at address. Nevertheless, I still can hit down on the ball because my body moves forward laterally on the downswing, which moves the bottom point of the swing closer to the target.
The pitching wedge: I want to hit down a bit more sharply on the ball with my wedges. Therefore, I play the ball dead in the center of my stance. I have less lateral body movement on my short irons because the swing is shorter, so I don’t want to position the ball forward or center.
The mark of a good iron player is the ability to control spin, trajectory and distance. I never had full control of those factors until the year following my victory in the 1997 Masters. Only after a long period of hard work was I able to get my iron play where I wanted it.
When playing a par-3 hole, the first rule is to always use a tee. I found out a long time ago that air offers less resistance than dirt. Using a tee goes a long way to guaranteeing solid contact.
- The longer the iron, the farther forward I position the ball in my stance.
- I sweep the longer irons, hit down on the rest. I trust the club’s loft to get the ball airborne.
- My backswing with the irons is shorter than with the woods.
- To promote good timing, I start down slowly from the top of the backswing.
- The clubhead strikes the ball first, the turf last. I don’t begin to take a divot until the ball has left the clubface.
- I swing within myself. On standard shots, I never expend more than 80% of my effort.
- The worse my lie, the farther back I position my ball in my stance.
- I always tee my ball on par 3s. You want every edge you can get.
- The perfect divot is about the same size and shape as a dollar bill.
Keep in mind, the fairway wood is a lot longer than, say, your 7-iron and thus is harder to control. The best key for keeping the ball on the straight and narrow is to make the clubhead track straight down the target line for as long as possible after impact. You should feel you are chasing the ball into the distance with your right hand, keeping the clubhead low to the grown and allowing your right arm to extend fully after it has struck the ball. This will keep the clubface square to the target for longer period through impact.
If my swing with the driver is sound, my swing with the irons tends to be good as well. As the driver goes, so goes the rest of my game from tee to green.
But the biggest thing about the driver isn’t tactical or mechanical. To me, the driver has the special capability of giving me an emotional lift and a big edge psychologically. A super drive that stops on the center mowing stripe fills me with strength, energy and confidence.
The driver swing is the most physical act in all of golf. But there’s a strong mental aspect to it, too. To consistently drive the ball long and straight, you need to be single-minded about what you’re doing. You must be totally impervious to distractions and immune to thoughts that can make your swing fall to pieces.. Because the driver swing is long and a bit violent in terms of the sheer speed you’re trying to generate, timing is extremely important. If you allow something to break your concentration and upset your rhythm or tempo, you’re in deep trouble.
When you absolutely have to hit the ball straight, try teeing the ball a little lower. It won’t curve as much to the left or right.
When playing super-long par-5 holes, I occasionally have so far to go on my second shot that my 3-wood just won’t get me there. If my lie is very good, I’ll hit my driver from the fairway. It’s a tough shot to pull off consistently, but the reward can be great — in some cases I can get 300 yards out of the shot.
If your ball is sitting on a challenging lie, such as deep rough, a downhill or uphill slope, or a tight lie on hardpan, using a wood club may not be the best option. These situations require more precision and control, so using a club with a shorter shaft, like an iron or hybrid, can help you navigate the difficult lie more effectively.
Rescue clubs have a wider sole and a lower center of gravity, which helps them perform well in various lies. However, in situations where the lie is extremely tight, such as hardpan or compacted fairway, a club with a narrower sole, like an iron, might provide better contact and control.
For pros, driving distance is more important than driving accuracy. For amateur golfers, driving distance is even more important for scoring than driving accuracy.
Among the top 40 PGA Tour pros, approach shots accounted for 40% of their scoring advantage, driving accounted for 28%, the short game 17%, and putting 15%.
Notice that when you swing 5i to wedge, you are much more likely to brush turf along with the tee. The reason is the shorter the club, the steeper the plane.
With a longer club like fairway wood or 4i you really don’t want to brush much ground. If you brush the ground, then the club is coming in too steeply and you’ll probably hit a slice.
When inexperienced players initially struggled with fairway woods, they sometimes conclude that they simply can’t hit the club. They start improvising and looking for shortcuts. They might change their grip. Or they might alter their takeaway and backswing.
Improvising is the worst mistake you can make. If you hit a string of poor shots, retrace your steps, rehearse P1 and P2, and get back on track.
If you are a beginner or novice, I recommend that you don’t hit a driver, even on the practice tee, until after you are comfortable and confident with the rest of your fairway woods. The driver is by far the most difficult club to master, no matter what swing philosophy you subscribe to, because the club has such minimal loft.
If you are slicing shots, the first thing you should do is check your ball position. Many players tend to place the ball too far forward in their stance, believing that it makes it easier to get their shoulders behind the ball on their backswing, thereby adding power and distance. Actually, having the ball too far forward makes slices even more pronounced. Since the golf swing is somewhat circular, your club is likely to cut across the ball if the ball is positioned too far forward.
The next step is to go back to P1 and P2 to see why your plane is too vertical. Remember, you want to make sure you aren’t bringing the club back too low and inside. And go through the P2 checklist: Are you hands in front of your sternum at the top of the backswing? Is the back of your left hand square to the back of your forearm? Is the back of your left hand pointing in the same direction as the clubface?