I'm a very amateur golfer. I only go out two or three times a year, if that. Actually, before this year it had been two or three years since I picked up a club. So naturally, when I got back into it, I was a little rusty. I was never really all that good to begin with, so regressing just made it embarrassing, even though my golf partner hadn't been out in years either.
Basically, I can hit a tee shot decently and I can putt pretty well, but I'm having troubles with my iron shots. I just can't get any height on them. What kinds of things can I do to avoid this and get more height, and therefore better distance, on my iron shots?
Spheres of Influence2010-07-29T02:46:25Z
Favorite Answer
My suggestion is to make sure you are setting up correctly.
First, make sure you aren't de-lofting your club by tilting it forward too much. You generally want the shaft of your club to be mostly vertical, perhaps with some slight tilt forward (depending on the offset of your club). If you tilt the shaft forward too much, you de-loft the club, meaning you could be making your 6 iron the same as a 3 iron.
Also, make sure your ball is in the proper position in your stance. Try a ball-position where it is more toward your lead-foot (perhaps half-way between center and your lead-foot). It may feel awkward at first, and you may struggle to make contact but keep practicing with these two things in mind. If you do both of these, you should have no problem getting ball height (you may get too much in fact). Once you're getting the ball airborn, you can adjust to get the proper trajectory you're looking for.
Golf is one of those sports that you have to practice often enough to get the feel of what you're doing. Your swing doesn't change from driver to an iron. The length of the club does. The main thing you need to do is maintaining your stance throughout the shot. Stay down and through until after you make contact. If you lift your head, the rest of your body comes up and there goes the height and distance you're looking for. When you hit the shot you want to hit, you have to remember how you did it. Golf is all about repetition and you can only do that by practice and your commitment to doing it.
The easiest way to learn golf like a pro is by following "The Simple Golf Swing" program. It's primarily a 31 page eBook that teaches golfers how to make solid contact with the ball, how to avoid hitting fat, how to avoid slicing, how get more power, accuracy, and consistency in your swing. Consistency being the number 1 golf skill.
You not only get the eBook though, you also receive a ton of extra material including video, lessons on putting, driving, chipping, sand play etc. Here is their official site: http://www.golfswingguru.net
One thing that i would greatly recommend is to go to the driving range and work on this. It is really hard to correct you game while you are playing a round, but at the range it gets much easier because you have time to focus on your shots and you can take as many shots as you like.
Once you are at the range there are a couple of things to focus on, the answer above this hit on the points of ball alignment in your stance and making sure you do not de-loft your club. You also need to make sure that you are bending your knees and allowing the club to get under the ball. Some times people bend their knees when they are setting up for their shot, but when they begin to swing they pop up in their stance which makes it really hard to get any decent height on the ball. Another thing to look at is the finish of your swing. If you are making decent contact on the ball and feel like you are getting somewhat underneath it and it still has a low trajectory you probably are not finishing properly. Try and think about wrapping your club up and over your shoulder, key word being up. If you play right handed you want your right forearm to tough the side of your head when you are through. This will make sure that you are pushing the ball upwards with your swing and giving it the chance to get up. One more thing you can think about when you are swinging is to swing through the ball, not at it. In other words take your swing and let the ball get in the way of the club, dont think about hitting the ball. I find that this thought helps with the finish of the swing and therefore the height of the shot.
It could be a lot of things, and it could be something simple or something very complex. And without having a pro work with you in a live sesson to indentify any swing faults it's impossible for anyone to say for sure other than making wild guesses that could do more harm than good. It's like asking for an online diagnosis from a doctor, and telling them your stomach hurts. Too vague, not enough information, and no physician could adequately diagnose you.
The other thing it might be is your clubs, and again, since you've failed to give enough information about what you are using nobody can give a realistic diagnosis.
If your goal is to improve, get some lessons from a qualified instructor.