There is a lot of confusion in amateur golf around the differences or similarities a player makes in their swing when hitting a driver or an iron. In the video below, PGA Professional Jack Backhouse breaks down driver swing vs iron swing so you know what to do when you next go play.
It Is All About Impact
The big difference between hitting iron and hitting driver is how you are trying to present the golf club to the ball at impact.
With iron shots we are trying to hit the ball with a descending angle of attack, where the low point of our swing is well ahead of the golf ball. The deepest part of your divot should be 2-4 inches ahead of where the ball sits on the ground.
With a driver we are trying to hit the ball with an upwards angle of attack, this gives us a higher launch angle, lowers the backspin on the ball and creates those optimal launch conditions to help us hit the ball as far as possible.
With the driver, we are often looking for maximum power and distance whereas with the irons we are looking for accurate distance control.
Iron Swing
These are some easy adjustments you can make to your iron swing set up to produce more successful shots:
- Address the ball your weight distribution more on your front foot. This helps move the low point of your swing forwards and will stop you hitting fat shots. This also is like moving your ball position further back.
- Shoulder tilt. Because we trying to hit down we want to address the ball with more level shoulders. A low trail shoulder will encourage an upward strike.
Inswing thoughts:
- Try to strike the ball with hands ahead of the golf ball. This delofts the club and produces an optimal ball flight.
- Try move our hands more left through the strike zone. This encourages the clubhead to cover the ball more into contact.
Drill
A great drill to improve your iron strikes is to hit shots with a reverse grip or cack-handed. This forces you to release the club down more than normal and will give you a good feeling for what you need to do with your hands on actual shots.
Driver Swing
Set up changes to produce a more upward angle of attack:
- We are going to move the ball from the middle of your stance to just inside the lead foot, this helps launch the ball upwards and can be checked with an alignment stick on the ground.
- We still want to keep our weight forwards at address, we just want to make sure our head is further back than with an iron
- Lower the trail shoulder to create more of a tilt in the shoulders
- Tee the golf ball up as high as possible
Inswing thoughts:
- Keep your head back when swinging down into the ball
- Try to encourage your hands to travel straight down the target line rather than to the left.
Drills:
- Put a tee in the ground 1 inch ahead of the ball on the tee and hit some shots, trying not to hit the 2nd tee. If you manage this you are definitely making a golf swing with an upward angle of attack.
Give these tips a try and let us know how you get on! If you want to keep up to date with Jack’s instruction you can subscribe to his YouTube Channel here, or keep watching our instruction page!
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If you want to watch some more of Jack’s driving instruction videos, you can get to his YouTube Technique Tips playlist by clicking here. Please check out our other instruction articles if you liked this how to video on to driver vs iron!
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