Getting the right strike on your iron shots is key for consistent performance and lowering your scores. So let’s take a look at how to hit an iron shot properly…
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How to hit an iron: Faults and misconceptions
Most golfers, especially higher handicappers struggle with mis-striking their irons all the time. It is very common to see golfers hitting both fats and thins and actually both of these issues stem from the same swing fault.
When you are swinging the club, the club head travels on an arc. The bottom is this is known as the low point or the base of the arc.
On thin and fat shots the low point has bottomed out too early before it has got to the golf ball. There are two outcomes when this happens. The club hits the ground before the golf ball and you hit the shot heavy or fat or the club misses the ground but has begun arcing up too early. In this case you end up hitting half way up the golf ball as the club travels upwards and you end up thinning the shot over the back of the green.
What most people don’t understand is that with both long and short irons you should be hitting down on the ball at impact. This will move the low point forward in front of the golf ball, create a divot in front of the ball and make your strike more consistent.
How to hit an iron: Move the low point forwards
To hit good iron shots you need to understand where the low point of your swing arc is and try and move it forwards in front of the golf ball. So how can you do this?
Firstly there are a few things you can tweak in your set-up to help your iron play. You can re-centre your hips forward towards the target which will pre-set you having more weight on your front foot. At impact, you want to get 80-90% of your weight on your front foot. Pre-setting this at address will help you strike down and hit into the back of the golf ball.
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You can also move the ball back in your stance as this will automatically mean the low point is further forward towards the target.
Finally, you can move your hands further forward. This gives you the correct feeling of the club shaft leaning forwards which is what we are trying to create at impact.
Great drills
Try putting a club or an alignment stick parallel to the target down the inside of your right foot. Do some practice swings and see if you can get the golf club to hit the ground and take a divot, after the stick.
If you hit the stick your low point is too far back, you really want to try and feel like you are taking the divot in front of your left foot if you are a right-handed golfer when the ball is in the middle of your stance.
It is also worth trying to practice your strike from a fairway bunker as it will show you exactly where you have hit the golf ball from. You can draw a line in the sand just behind the golf ball and try to strike ball then sand and get your divot appearing after the golf ball.
Sand is also much less forgiving than turf so you will need to strike the ball properly to get a good result. Practice hard, play easy!
Try out these tips and you will be hitting pure long iron shots in no time at all.
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