How to Hit Straight Shot with your Irons

Friday, December 20, 2013

Tiger Woods once said that there are several keys to hitting good irons shot, but the most important key of all is to understand how the back if your left hand works at impact. If the back of left hand faces target at impact, you are likely to hit it straight. If the back of your left hand facces toward the sky, you tend to hit slice. If it faces toward the ground, you tend to hit hook shots. So make sure that the back of your left hand faces target at impact if you plan on hitting a straight shot with your irons.

 

If You Have Strong Grip or Week Grip

Tiger Woods uses square grip or neutral grip, with 2 1/2 knuckles of his left hand showing at address. But if you use strong grip with 3 or more knuckles of the left hand showing at address, the back of your left hand should face a bit toward the sky. If you use week grip with 2 or less knuckles, the back of  your left hand should face a bit toward the ground.

 

Hitting Solid Irons Shots

It's important to hit shots with descending blow with your irons to catch the ball solid. To do that, the shaft should lean slightly forward at impact. If the shaft is leaning toward the target at impact, that means you are catching the ball before the lowest point of the arc. If you are lucking distance with your irons, you might want to make sure that your shaft is leaning toward the target at impact.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-to-hit-it-straight.htm

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Correct Tee Height for Fairway Woods, Hybrids, Irons

Fairway Woods

Do you ever wonder how high you should tee the ball with your 3 wood, 5 wood or any other fairway woods?

 

One of the best female golfers in the history of golf, Annika Sorenstam said you should tee the ball so that the half of the ball is above the top of your fairway woods. Hank Haney who used to be Tiger Wood's coach, said to set the ball so that quarter of the ball is above the face. These methods are correct, and there is no correct answer for every player. It also depends on the type of fairway woods you have.

 

If you have a deep face fairway woods, you should tee the ball little higher. If you have a shallow face, you might want to tee it little lower. I have the deep face 3 wood and set the ball about a half inch above the ground. Your ball flight pattern is also important when determining your correct tee height. If you prefer to fade the ball, you might want to see the ball lower because the fade goes higher in the air. If you prefer to hit a draw, you might want to tee it higher because the draw goes lower. I use the same tee height for my 3 wood and 5 wood. But you may want to try lower tee height for your 5 wood than your 3 wood to see if it fits your game.

 

Hybrid Club

Generally, you should tee the ball little lower for your hybrids club than your fairway woods. Hank Haney said you should tee the ball about a half inch above the ground for your hybrid clubs. Because hybrid club has more weight on its sole, you want the weight to get under the ball for more solid contact.

 

There are hybrid woods and hybrid irons. Hybrid irons are usually easier for direction control. But the shot with hybrid irons goes little lower so you might want to tee it up little higher than hybrid woods.

 

I see some players teeing the ball just above the ground. But hybrid clubs are very forgiving on the shots being hit below or above the sweet spot. So you should take an advatage of it and tee it up little higher above the ground.

 

Irons

For your irons, you should tee the ball jsut above the ground. Make sure you have no chance of catching the grass between the ball and the clubface. Tee the ball so that the ball is above the tip of the grass. Irons are not so forgiving on miss-hits above or below the sweet spot so you don't want to tee it up too high. However, with your long irons, you want to tee the ball like your hybrid clubs or a bit lower than that.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/tee-height-for-fairway-wood-hybrid-iron.htm

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Why Pros Hit Their Irons so Far?

When watching PGA tour on TV, sometimes we are surprised by the distance that the pros hit with their iron. Pros can easily hit their 7 iron over 170 yards or more. That's really surprising for amateurs. Of course, pros do lots of training and have faster clubhead speed than most amateurs. But that's not the only reason for that. The biggest reason besides the difference in clubhead speed is the loft at impact.

 

For PGA Tour players, the lowest point in their swing occurs after impact with their irons. But the most amateurs" lowest point in their swing occurs just before the impact with their irons. This means pros deloft their irons, and amateurs add loft to their irons. Tour pros can change the loft of their 7 irons into a 5 iron if theu need to. They don't deloft their irons this much every time. But they deloft their irons at impact to some degree on every iron shots.

 

How to hit it like Pros

To hit your iron like pros, you need to hit it with the descending blow.

To accomplish this, you need to do few things.

1. Make sure your left wrist is bowed through impact

2. On the downswing and through impact, face knuckles on your left hand toward the ground

3. At impact, lean your shaft toward the target

 

You can also prevent slice if the knuckles of your left hand are facing toward the ground through impact. If you are big slicer, you might want to make sure your left hand knuckles are facing toward ground well after impact to prevent the clubface from opening.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-pros-hit-irons.htm

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How to Hit Irons Against the Wind

When hitting into the wind, you will lose some distance. So you need to take more clubs. The tendency is to swing harder because you think the ball won't go as far as you normally hit. But if you hit it harder, you will add more backspin on the ball. This will cause the ball to go higher in the air, You will even lose more distance this way. To hit the strong shot into the wind, you need to put less spin on the ball. To do this, take more club and swing easy. The ball will go lower with less spin and penetrate through the wind. When you have crosswind from right to left or left to right, what do you do?

 

You have two options when playing crosswind. You can play against the wind or play with the wind. If the wind is blowing from right to left, you have the option to hit it right of the target or hit the fade.

 

Reference:  http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/hitting-against-wind.htm

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How to Hit a Solid and Strong Iron Shot

It feels so good to catch the ball solid with your irons. Years ago, I saw one of the PGA Tour pros practicing at the driving range. He was practicing with his feet close together. It surprised me to see that the quality of the shot is not so different from regular shots he was hitting with a normal stance width.  The shot he hit was penetrating through the wind. I still remember the sound of impact he was making. He was really hitting it solid. It's a good drill to hit shots with your feet close together. When you try this drill, check the following key points.

 

1. Alignment

You need to pick a target. Then, align your shoulders and feet parallel with the target line.

 

2. Grip

If you have a weak grip, you can't hit well with your feet together. The correct grip for you may not be correct for other player. So try to find the correct grip for you. I recommend you to use strong grip at first. Turn both hands to the right until you see 3 knuckles on your left hand. Check the knuckles on your left hand, just before you start your swing. Some players twist their hands or clubhead so they feel comfortable with your new grip, you are not changing it correctly. The new grip should feel awkward to begin with.

 

3. Posture

When I ask players to hit shots with their feet close together, they tend to stand too tall at address. Make sure you bend from your hips at address.

 

4. Golf Swing

Don't think too much about mechanics of the swing. Just focus on hitting the ball in the center of your clubface. Use 7 iron or 8 iron. Swing with 60% of your power. If you can't hit it well, don't start swinging harder or faster because swing speed has nothing to do with solid contact with the ball. Go back to check the key points above if you are not hitting it well.

 

Swing from the inside

To hit it solid, you must hit it from the inside the target line.

 

Here is the drill that let you swing from the inside. Use 7 iron for this drill.

1. Stand square to the target

2. Take the club back but don't take it too much on the inside because this will cause you to come over the top on the downswing

3. Try to start the ball 10 yards right of the target

 

At first, swing with 50 % of your swing speed. Coming into impact, try to face the back of your left hand toward the ground. This will help you rotate your clubface through impact. Your goal with this drill is to hit the draw that starts right of the target and come back to the target.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-to-hit-solid-shot.htm

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Tips and Drills to Hit it with a Descending Blow

Lots of teachers will tell you to hit our irons with a descending blow. But what is a descending blow? To hit it with a descending blow, you need to hit the ball before the clubhead reaches its lowest point of the swing arc. You hit the ball first and then take a shallow divot. You don't want to hit down on the ball with a steep angle of approach into the ball. You want to take a shallow divot with a slight descending blow with all irons except for long irons. With long irons and hybrid club, you want to sweep the ball off the turf unless the ball is sitting down on the grass.

 

Why do you want to hit it with a descending blow?

There are feew reasons why you want to hit it on a descending blow.

 

1. Hitting the ball with a descending blow will create backspin on the ball

When you strike a ball with a descending blow, you will push the ball against the turf just before the clubhead takes the divot. This creates backspin on the ball. Shots with more backspin will go straighter and stops quickly on the ground.

 

2. It allows solid contact with the ball

Even if yur ball is on the fairway, it's not the same as the teed up ball. The ball may be sitting down a bit on the grass. When you try to sweep the ball which is sitting down a bit, you will catch the grass between the clubface and the ball. This will make it harder to hit it solid. To catch the ball clean, you  need to avoid the grass behind the ball. That's why you want to hit it with a descending blow to make sure you catch the ball first.

 

Ball Position

to hit your middle irons and short irons, you want to pay attention to your ball position. Most amateurs put the ball too far forward in the stance.With short iorns, place the ball in the middle of the stance.With middle irons, put it little left of center. This will make it easier to hit it on the downswing blow.

 

Hands Position

At impact, your hands should beat the clubhead. In other words, you want your shaft to be leaning a bit toward the target.

 

Here is the drill to help you do just that.

1. Put the pen 4 inches behind the ball

2. Start hitting the ball. Make sure you avoid the pencil.

 

If you hit the open, you may be sweeping the ball or hitting well behind the ball. So make sure your hands are ahead of the ball at impact. Another good drill is to hit balls with a golf ball under your back foot. With this drill, don't swing hard at all. Swing with 50% of your swing speed. Make sure you hit the ball first and then the turf.

 

Check the Divot

After hitting the iron shot, check the divot because the divot will tell you lots of things about your swing. If it's pointing right of the target, you are swinging inside out. If it's pointing left of the target, you are coming over the top or cutting across the ball. Also, if the divot is deep, you are hitting down too much on the ball. When you hit down with a steep angle of approach, you lose consistency and also hit lots of slice and pull shots. To take a shallow divot, you need to swing from inside the target line. If you see deep divot after the shot, that's the sign that you are cutting across the ball. If you do this, you will hit it far with short irons but lose distance with middle irons or long irons.

 

Limit Your Follow Through

Here is the good drill taht will teach you how to hit it with a descending blow.

 

1. Using a 7-iron, swing back to the top and start down.

2. Hit the ball but try to limit your follow through

 

Try not to swing beyond your waist after impact. This is especially a good drill for players who are scooping the ball off the turf. If you try to scoop the ball, you probably won't be able to stop at your waist height. Another good drill is to stop at impact. You don't have to hit balls with this drill. Just swing back to the top, start down and stop at impact.

 

It's very hard to stop your clubhead at impact. You nedd a lot of power to do this. But it will help you hit your irons with a descending blow and gain more distance.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/hit-it-with-descending-blow.htm

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The Secrets to Increasing Distance of Your 7-Iron

Most amateurs lack distance with their 7-iron. Especially if you are slicer, you have lots of potential to increase your distance with your 7-iron and other iron as well. There are few keys to check.

 

Why You are Losing Distance

Why do most players lack distance with their 7-iron?

The most important factor is the loft of their 7-iron at impact. Most players try to scoop the ball in an effort to hit the ball high in the air like pros. But in fact, that's just the opposite of what pros do to hit their irons. Pros hit the ball with a slight descending blow and add backspin to get the ball airborne. None of them try to scope the ball except for special type of shots.

 

The Loft and Shaft Angle at Impact

The lowest poimt of the swing arc comes after the impact for pros. That's why they take divots. When you check the shaft angle at impact, the pros' shaft is tilted slightly toward the target. On the other hand, amateurs' shaft is more vertical at impact. So pros are decreasing the loft of their 7-iron at impact, but amateurs are adding loft at impact. Of course, the clubhead is different for pros and amateurs. But if you add loft at impact, you will hit the ball higher, but you will lose distance. So you want to make sure that your shaft is tilted slightly toward the target at impact when you hit your 7-iron.

 

The Position of Your Hands and the Ball

To hit crisp iron shots, you must check your address position before changing your golf swing. The ball should be little left of center. You don't want to play the ball too far forward because you will add loft if you do so. Also, you want your shaft to lean forward at address. To do this, you want to set your hands ahead of your ball. Set your hands toward the inside of your left thigh at address. This will set your shaft leaning forward. By setting up like this, it makes it much easier to catch the ball with the slight descending blow for crisp contact with the ball. Some players especially slicers want to check their hands position at address from time to time because their hands might want to creep away from the target. In golf, it's much harder to get rid of the old habit than to learn something new.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/7-iron-distance.htm

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