The Long Iron Dilemma! The Long Iron Dilemma Do you feel pretty confident with a mid or low iron? Is the trajectory nice and high allowing the ball to stop on the green? Good, now do you have that same confidence with a 4, 3 or 2 iron? Chances are, NO. Modern clubs have lower lofts: The average golfer has more difficulty hitting long irons for several reasons. First of all, in order to hit a long iron with the trajectory needed to stop a ball on the green, you have to generate more clubhead speed. This is because the loft of today’s 4 iron is the same as a 2 iron of 15 years ago. The lower the loft of the club, the higher the clubhead speed necessary to get the ball in the air. Hybrid clubs: Rather than invest gazillions of dollars learning how to generate more clubhead speed, invest in a hybrid club, a.k.a. an “ironwood”, or higher numbered fairway woods ( 7 woods and 9 woods). These hybrid clubs are a nice mix between a high-lofted iron at the length of a wood, resulting in more clubhead speed (length) and extreme forgiveness (loft). There are also more forgiving irons that players have known to combine with their existing set. For example, the MacGregor 455 irons are a very forgiving forged iron that has the look of and iron and a hybrid. Aaron Baddelly replaced his 2 iron with a M-455 and is having trouble adjusting because he hits it farther than his 3 wood! Wouldn’t you like to have these problems? Ball position is key: The next thing you can do to adjust to your long irons is to check your ball position. Ball position with a 4, 3, or 2 iron should be slightly forward of center. This allows optimum contact for the added length of these irons. Hit long irons in your practice routine: Last, but certainly not least is a practice routine. I bet most golfers have a favorite iron, usually the 7 iron, that they practice with. About 65% of the range balls are hit with this iron (especially if you are working on a particular swing technique). In order to gain confidence with any club, make sure you practice with it. It is a wise idea to alternate between a 7 iron and a 3 iron. Hit a shot with the 7, then hit a shot with the 3 and keep doing this until you have built up some confidence. Fear the long irons no more. If you have a slower clubhead speed, think about a hybrid like the Infinity Hot Shot or Taylor Made Rescue. If your clubhead speed is a little faster, think about a more forgiving iron head like the MacGregor 455. And in any event, check ball position and PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE Launch your driver 15 yards further. Believe it or not, you can gain 15 yards on your drives without changing your ball, or even your swing. You can even do it without going to the gym. All you need is more launch angle and less backspin. For most of us, we hit our three wood almost as far or farther than our driver because it has a higher launch angle. So take advantage of that new high-tech driver with the hot face and launch it down the fairway. In order to achieve this goal, here are the things that must take place:
In summary, the most important way to increase distance is to hit the ball solid and straight. Experiment with the above techniques. They will result in longer, higher shots with improved carry distance. Keys to Crisp Iron Shots! Nothing is worse then to take a nice “feeling” swing and making terrible contact. A majority of golfers take too big of a back swing, over rotate their hips and close the distance between their knees in an effort to swing the club as hard or as fast as they can. This usually results in an over-the-top swing, which requires your wrists to release early thus, tending to hit the ball thin or fat. Here are three keys to swinging shorter and making crisper contact: 1. Keep the flex in the right knee Many golfers will tend to straighten the right leg (right-handers) on the backswing and get an extreme rotation of the hips. If you keep the flex in your right knee your club will have a better chance of staying on plane. A club on plane has a much better chance of making crisp contact. An added benefit of keeping the right knee flexed is that it makes it easier to start your forward swing with your lower body, which creates more power.
Most of the time when the space between the knees is compromised it is caused by kicking in the left knee (right-hand golfers). This gives a feeling of power generation, but the opposite happens. Look in a mirror and watch yourself as you swing backwards. Do you like to turn the left knee or even pick your left heel off the ground? It is too easy to sway backwards when kicking in your left knee. This movement in your swing will make it difficult to put the clubface solid on the ball. Make an effort to change this and watch how your fat and thin shots disappear.
3. Keep your belt buckle from passing your right big toe on the backswing This may be one of the hardest moves to grasp. When a golfer can limit the rotation of the lower body he/she will be more likely to have the hips open at impact, the correct position, and will tend to keep their swing on plane. Take your backswing and then visualize a line going straight out from your belt buckle. Has it passed your right big toe? If so, there is a good chance that you are over rotating and having to compensate in order to hit the ball.
Put these three keys in place and focus on hitting the ball more solid. Enjoy your practice and enjoy the journey. Shoulders Square for Straighter Shots To eliminate this setup flaw, put your left hand in its normal grip position, then put your right hand on your right leg and slowly move your hand over to the club and grip it in it’s normal position. This will do two things to get you in the proper position. First, it will align your shoulders in the proper angle with the right shoulder below the left shoulder. Second, it will align your shoulders parallel to the target line on the same line as your feet, knees and hips.
Impact Position
So hit straighter shots by getting your shoulders set up properly at address and returning to the proper position at impact. You will start seeing your shots go longer and straighter and your scores will start coming down dramatically! Power and Plane Last month we discussed power in the back swing, so naturally this month we should talk about power in the downswing. About 85% of golfers have a tendency to fade or slice the ball, some certainly worse than others. When we think of golf’s 9 ball flight laws (click on ball-flight fundamentals for visual), it is a law that there are 3 types of slices: pull slice, slice, and push slice. One thing is constant in all of these patterns and that is the clubface is open. The variable in these three patterns is swing path. Truly, the only way to get the clubface to square up consistently is to have a swing path that comes from the inside. Most golfers have a hard time coming from the inside because their angle of attack is too steep. To determine if you are flat or steep, come on in for a free 15- minute swing analysis using the Computer Coach Pro video system. If we can work on flattening this angle, golfers can be more successful in coming from the inside, and will have a much better chance of squaring the clubface. Commonly, a golfer who tries to flatten his/her swing will have a difficult time squaring or even closing the clubface. So, when working on flattening the plane, we must also work on closing or releasing the clubface so that your new shot pattern will actually be a draw or hook. Yes, that’s right, a DRAW… Ultimately, every golfer can produce more power by flattening his/her angle of approach, allowing the club to come from the inside and to square up more consistently.
The October tip of the month discusses power in the back swing, now in order to really be efficient we must also be doing things right in what we call the impact zone. The impact zone is not restricted to the position in which the club contacts the ball, but about waist high to waist high. As we may or may not know, this is as Gary Wiren says “the moment of truth”. What happens with the golf club in this area is what makes or breaks us. The position of the left arm in the back swing as we mentioned before, should be straight. The left arm actually remains straight or firm all the way through the swing. A common reason for power loss is the left arm breaks down through the impact zone, creating a “chicken wing” effect. The first step to take is to make sure you actually have this problem by coming in to D’Lance Golf and having your swing video-taped. This move is often times very hard to see with the untrained eye, and impossible to see yourself. If in fact, you are a culprit of the “chicken wing” here are a few drills: 1. The left arm only swing: Grip the club about halfway down with just the left hand. Take ten practice swings and notice the natural position of the left arm in the impact area is straight. Add the right hand to the grip and continue to try to feel the left arm staying straight all the way through the impact area.
Listen to the whoosh to drive it longer! One of the keys to distance is acceleration of the clubhead through the speed zone. The speed zone I am describing is that area starting level with your right hip (for a right handed golfer) and ending through impact with the ball. As you take a practice swing, listen for the sound of the whoosh the club makes when you swing. If the whoosh is behind the ball, you have reached maximum velocity BEFORE impact and will lose distance. On the other hand, if you hear the whoosh AFTER the ball impact are, your maximum velocity is reached after the ball is struck. Your goal is to get the whoosh as close to the ball impact area as possible. This means your timing and wrist release are generating maximum velocity at impact therefore giving you greater distance. At D’Lance Golf, our swing analysis machine allows us to measure your swing speed so we can actually measure the increase in swing speed when you center the whoosh! Each mile per hour increase generates three yards in distance. We can help most golfers increase their swing speed up to 10 mph! The Problem: If you are consistently hitting a pull (shot goes straight left for a right handed player) or a push (shot goes straight right for a right handed player), you may have your clubface aligned left (closed) or right (open) to the target in your setup. The Cure: Place a ball on the ground and take a normal stance with your 5 iron lined up square to the target. Bring the club straight up in front of you so that your arms are shoulder height. Relax your wrists so that the club is still straight in front of you. Look at the angle of the club face. If it is pointing left, you are lining up with a closed clubface which will promote a pull or hook. If the clubface is pointing right, you are lining up with the clubface open to your target which will promote a push/slice. Place the club back k on the ground and properly adjust your alignment and grip so that the clubface is now square to your target. You will be amazed at the improvement in accuracy! The Problem: If you are consistently drawing/hooking (shots go left for a right handed player) or fading/slicing (shots go right for a right handed player), one of the first places to look is your grip. A STRONG grip for a right handed player will promote a draw/hook. This means the left hand, when gripping the club, will show two to three knuckles and the right hand will show one. A WEAK grip for right handed players will promote a fade/slice. This means the left hand, when gripping the club will show one to two knuckles and the right hand will show two.
 Weak Grip The Cure: When taking your stance with either your woods or irons, place the club on the ground behind the ball, take your normal grip, and adjust your hands to either WEAKEN your grip by rotating your hands to the left for right handed players, or STRENGTHEN your grip by rotating your hands to the right. BE SURE TO KEEP THE CLUB FACE ALIGNED TO YOUR TARGET. Improve Consistency – Don’t Overswing! The Problem: A common swing mistake we see in our members and students is overswinging the club by taking a huge backswing. If you watch Tiger Woods and have read recent articles by Butch Harmon, Tiger’s instructor, the main reason for Tiger’s improved accuracy and consistency off the tee has been his shortened backswing. If you can see the head of the club in your peripheral vision at the top of your backswing, you are overswinging. The Result: By taking such a full backswing, your arms and hands must exert extra force to return the clubhead to its address position for an accurate shot. Most golfers that overswing will hit a shot left, then right, and then sometimes straight! This lack of consistency is not only frustrating, but costs you strokes by being in the rough, in the beach, and not on the fairway or green! The Cure: It is easy for us to say "just take a ¾ swing", but most people have a difficult time visualizing what that means. We suggest you take a video of your swing with the camera facing you, or face a mirror and take a swing and hold it at the top. You will quickly see how far you are going towards or past parallel at the top of your backswing. YOU WILL NOT LOSE DISTANCE if you concentrate on accelerating through the ball, not in taking such a full backswing!
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D'Lance Golf
14 Inverness Drive East #120A
Englewood, CO 80112
Phone: 303-730-2717
Fax: 303-730-2848
Email: info@dlancegolf.com
