Driver Swing vs Iron Swing (Made Simple)

Golfers tend to be either good with their irons and struggle with driver, or vice versa but often don’t do both things well. In this instruction video, one of a series in association with Callaway, PGA pro, Jack Backhouse lets us know what the driver vs iron swing differences are.

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Are the two swings the same?

The best way to understand this is by working things back from impact. With an iron, we want a downward angle attack on the ball so that we can compress the ball for spin and control and take a divot after the ball. With a driver, we are looking for an upward attack angle on the ball so we can launch the ball high with a low lofted club for maximum power and distance.

These impact positions are very different, and so the golf swing that produces them must also be.

Differences at Set up

To achieve the upward attack angle with the driver, it helps to make the following changes to your set-up:

• Move the ball forward in your stance up towards or even past your front heel
• Add some trail side bend into your posture to tilt your spine angle away from the target

This pre-sets the golfer in a position where they can swing and get their body behind the golf ball to hit up, get the ball airborne and get the desired high launch low spin.

The setup for iron shots is different as we want the downward angle of attack, so a golfer should make the following changes to the driver set-up:

• The ball should be positioned further back in the stance.
• It might help to change your weight distribution by moving your weight forwards onto your lead foot and hands further ahead at address, as this is the desired impact position we are searching for.

Are the swing thoughts the same?

The golf swing doesn’t necessarily need to change a great deal, depending on your stock ball flight. We are still trying to achieve the same swing fundamentals, like having good hand depth at the top of the swing, a full turn in the backswing, having a nice shallow swing plane, etc.

Hopefully, just simply changing the address position will do enough to alter the swing to produce the desired impact to where the swing thoughts don’t need to change!

How Can You Practice This?

It will come as no surprise that I recommend golfers go to the range and practice this over and over again. Moving from long irons to driver and then to a wedge, then back to a driver, constantly making conscious adjustments to the address position will ensure that you do this successfully on the golf course.

Simulating the shots your are going to place out on the golf course is a great way to work on this too. Getting your driver and irons out, making sure that with each change in the golf club, you make the changes it needs to give yourself the best chance of success with each club.

Have you tried these drills before? Or do you have other drills that you think might work better? Let me know with a tweet.  

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This video was filmed at Celtic Manor and we are wearing Puma apparel.