Iron Game Suffers when Driver Going Well

[stealthhwk]

Hope this is in the right place but I need a good rant and maybe some insight. Been playing mainly just hybrids and irons. Decided this year to put a driver back in the bag and splurged on the callaway xr. Hitting it pretty well but as always happens when I play woods, now my iron game seems to be sufferring. Normally hit a straight shot or some variance of draw. Now everything is leaking right. Not really slicing just like a small push but its making me miss greens. I also seem to be tentative on some swings and im coming up 10-20 yards short. My ball striking is better than ever before but everything just seems off a bit. My scores and handicap are rising as is my frustration. It just seems like no matter what, im shooting 93 or higher. Doesnt matter what clubs or what strategy and im just not enjoying the game the way i used too!!! Can anybody offer me some insight or inspiration? 

PLS EXCUSE THE RANT, but i had to let it out!

[dak4n6]

Sorry, but there's just not enough information here. However, using my intuition and noting your index, I would guess your are 'slapping' the ball. It's a move I see all the time from high cappers. A bit of a combination of OTT and coming up out of position. Commit, stay down, stay in the swing, don't pull up, and finish your swing after contact.

[stealthhwk]

12 minutes ago, dak4n6 said:

Sorry, but there's just not enough information here. However, using my intuition and noting your index, I would guess your are 'slapping' the ball. It's a move I see all the time from high cappers. A bit of a combination of OTT and coming up out of position. Commit, stay down, stay in the swing, don't pull up, and finish your swing after contact.

Lol! Thanks for trying, like I said, more of a rant because I live in a non golfing household and my wife doesnt quite understand and well...my three year old just looks at me funny. But theres actually a good chance u hit part of it on the head. As my swing gets faster, impact with the ground scares me more and more as Im starting to generate some real good clubhead speed esp with my irons and Ive injured the wrist in years past by striking the ground. Fear makes me pull out of the shot from time to time and I suspect it has crept back into my game without me noticing. THANKS FOR THE GREAT REPLY!!!

[dak4n6]

My wife has a tendency to pull up and look up before impact, so I do the Sean Foley place the grip of a club by her left temple while she hits. It helps to keep you 'in the swing' all the way until after impact. The only difference is Tiger pays Sean (or used to) thousands of dollars per hour to do this, while all I get is complaining.

 

[The Boss]

3 hours ago, stealthhwk said:

Hope this is in the right place but I need a good rant and maybe some insight. Been playing mainly just hybrids and irons. Decided this year to put a driver back in the bag and splurged on the callaway xr. Hitting it pretty well but as always happens when I play woods, now my iron game seems to be sufferring. Normally hit a straight shot or some variance of draw. Now everything is leaking right. Not really slicing just like a small push but its making me miss greens. I also seem to be tentative on some swings and im coming up 10-20 yards short. My ball striking is better than ever before but everything just seems off a bit. My scores and handicap are rising as is my frustration. It just seems like no matter what, im shooting 93 or higher. Doesnt matter what clubs or what strategy and im just not enjoying the game the way i used too!!! Can anybody offer me some insight or inspiration? 

PLS EXCUSE THE RANT, but i had to let it out!

Hey Stealth,

Newbee to TST but not to the game of golf. Understand your frustration as this game can be very trying at times. Seeing that you have a 22 index and you come across as a golfer who cares to improve your game I would like to make this suggestion to you. You need to get your swing on video. I would strong suggest you take a series of lessons with a certified PGA class A teaching pro. I truly believe that with proper instruction and perfect practice you could break 80 with some regularity within a year if this is your goal. This is the only way you can improve. Many golfers get in a rut where they go out to the driving range week after week and practice there driver mostly and then spend some time with their irons practicing their ingrained bad swings. Practicing at the range alone will not improve your score! Perfect practice, practicing the proper swing technique and mechanics, as well as spending at least half your time on the short game will supercharge your game. Commit to a plan of improvement this year and it will pay off for you. Most PGA teaching pros can help you. This is what they do.

Best Wishes,

The Boss

[stealthhwk]

6 hours ago, The Boss said:

Hey Stealth,

Newbee to TST but not to the game of golf. Understand your frustration as this game can be very trying at times. Seeing that you have a 22 index and you come across as a golfer who cares to improve your game I would like to make this suggestion to you. You need to get your swing on video. I would strong suggest you take a series of lessons with a certified PGA class A teaching pro. I truly believe that with proper instruction and perfect practice you could break 80 with some regularity within a year if this is your goal. This is the only way you can improve. Many golfers get in a rut where they go out to the driving range week after week and practice there driver mostly and then spend some time with their irons practicing their ingrained bad swings. Practicing at the range alone will not improve your score! Perfect practice, practicing the proper swing technique and mechanics, as well as spending at least half your time on the short game will supercharge your game. Commit to a plan of improvement this year and it will pay off for you. Most PGA teaching pros can help you. This is what they do.

Best Wishes,

The Boss

Thats rock solid advice! Unfortunately working 50 hours a week and having a wonderful wife and three year old son at home make lessons and practice tough. I hope to get to that point someday but as for now I have to try to improve just little by little. Nice to know Im not alone and tst guys and gals usually offer up pearls of wisdom that help me eek out a little more in my game. I know Im not gonna break 80 anytime soon, fortunately my goals for golf are just to play well enough to have fun and for me that means high 80s. Hoping I can get there without neglecting the fam. Im usually low to mid 90s so that seems like a reasonable goal as long as i dont get any worse. 

Cheers

[boogielicious]

11 hours ago, stealthhwk said:

Lol! Thanks for trying, like I said, more of a rant because I live in a non golfing household and my wife doesnt quite understand and well...my three year old just looks at me funny. But theres actually a good chance u hit part of it on the head. As my swing gets faster, impact with the ground scares me more and more as Im starting to generate some real good clubhead speed esp with my irons and Ive injured the wrist in years past by striking the ground. Fear makes me pull out of the shot from time to time and I suspect it has crept back into my game without me noticing. THANKS FOR THE GREAT REPLY!!!

You mentioned you're a bit worried about ground impact. One drill you can do if you have a field near you is practice ground contact. Scrape or draw a line in the grass and stand as if the line were a ball. Then swing normally and try a take a divot that begins at the line. Of course you need to have a field where no one minds ?.

This drill takes the fear away of ground contact and shows you were your divot should be with relation to the ball. You will also see that a shallow divot is achievable.

Lastly, minimize range time on mats if you have had wrist issues.

[stealthhwk]

2 minutes ago, boogielicious said:

You mentioned you're a bit worried about ground impact. One drill you can do if you have a field near you is practice ground contact. Scrape or draw a line in the grass and stand as if the line were a ball. Then swing normally and try a take a divit that begins at the line. Of course you need to have a field where no one minds ?.

This drill takes the fear away of ground contact and shows you were your divot should be with relation to the ball. You will also see that a shallow divot is achievable.

Lastly, minimize range time on mats if you have had wrist issues.

Thats is a great drill idea!! Never heard that before, but man, that sounds like it could be very beneficial in several ways! Ill def give that one a shot! Thanks! :)

[boogielicious]

2 minutes ago, stealthhwk said:

Thats is a great drill idea!! Never heard that before, but man, that sounds like it could be very beneficial in several ways! Ill def give that one a shot! Thanks! :)

You're welcome. Let us know how it goes. 

[Club Rat]

11 hours ago, stealthhwk said:

more of a rant because I live in a non golfing household

Get a dog. They listen to everything, give you a sad look when needed and, and they will always be your best friend........

I sometimes like to walk over to edge of the fairway and take a practice swing in light ruff and force myself to make a nice divot. Then I'll play my shot and usually make a good strike.

[9wood]

On 1/30/2016 at 7:51 PM, stealthhwk said:

  Normally hit a straight shot or some variance of draw. Now everything is leaking right. Not really slicing just like a small push but its making me miss greens.

One alternative is to set up with your goal to hit left of the green. If it continues to go right you might hit the green

[DrvFrShow]

On 1/30/2016 at 4:51 PM, stealthhwk said:

Hope this is in the right place but I need a good rant and maybe some insight. Been playing mainly just hybrids and irons. Decided this year to put a driver back in the bag and splurged on the callaway xr. Hitting it pretty well but as always happens when I play woods, now my iron game seems to be sufferring. Normally hit a straight shot or some variance of draw. Now everything is leaking right. Not really slicing just like a small push but its making me miss greens. I also seem to be tentative on some swings and im coming up 10-20 yards short. My ball striking is better than ever before but everything just seems off a bit. My scores and handicap are rising as is my frustration. It just seems like no matter what, im shooting 93 or higher. Doesnt matter what clubs or what strategy and im just not enjoying the game the way i used too!!! Can anybody offer me some insight or inspiration? 

PLS EXCUSE THE RANT, but i had to let it out!

Without seeing your swing, I can visualize a swing plane problem. You'll need video to see it, but I can almost guarantee this is it.

For example, you abandoned your driver because you tended to slice it. So you take a very strong grip with it. If you're taking too strong of a grip with your driver it can make it more difficult to release the club through impact, so you compensate by bringing the club even more from the inside and this can cause an early extension. The face on view with video will show casting, but this isn't the problem. Now if you've practiced a lot with your driver this motion can carry over to your irons and you start hitting pushes and push fades with your irons. You can still hit the ball but it's not going where you want. And your shots start falling short. Then you start helping the ball up into the air. But if you didn't do these things you wouldn't be able to hit the ball. This is what I had to combat recently. This of course is merely speculation of what could be going on. In any event it's fixable. And it doesn't take that long to fix. I called my coach - Tony, help!

Note: I'm scared of hitting fat shots because I have past shoulder injuries so I can relate.

My advice is to seek the counsel of a competent PGA professional and get some video both face on and down the line. He can diagnose what is going on correctly. Once you know what to do about 1000 balls at the range should start to ingrain the correct habits if you're careful at making your swings. Golf swings take tempo, timing, and a lot of practice.

When you play on the course, just make the same swing you were taught during your lessons. When I start messing up on the course, I'm not doing what I was taught. That's the problem. I'd sign up for a pack of 3 lessons and space them two weeks apart. 

[mchepp]

@DrvFrShow's advice is solid. Making the proper changes to your swing is the best way long term to get better. I just wonder though, if you've no time to practice then the lessons will be a waste. You need to put in the time to fix your swing. I have a long hours job and 5 year old so I can sympathize with the time constraints. To get the time I go to the range at lunch, swing a club in the living room after my daughter has gone to bed, just trying to steal ever spare minute. 

If you don't have the time, it's just too difficult then I recommend trying to save shots around the green. This has benefits in that it's free to practice and you can do it on a time budget. Work on your short putts 3-6 feet, some distance control with putts like 40 feet or so, trying to get them in a 3 foot circle, and do some chipping. You can shave strokes quickly. 

Short game is a way to quickly shave 2-3 strokes, but if you want to really take off the strokes you need to get some professional help, a camera to track your progress, and the time and willingness to practice. 

[stealthhwk]

Thanks guys for all the help. Every one of u hit something on the head. Made some adjustments and tried some of the drills u all suggested and its getting better. Played today in some high winds on a fairly tough course and shot a 94. The pushes have nearly disappeared and im not fearing ground contact as much. Only thing that kept me from breaking 90 today was a brain fart that lasted an entire hole! U guys are the best!

[uitar9]

Can't take lessons or have time for practice at a range-If I can't practice outdoors (its winter here) Swinging a club, short enough to swing indoors, 2 or 3 times a week, purposeful swings, slow, fast, 100 at a time. Concentrate on setup and swing. Doesn't take long. It's really helped me with club head impact placement. I'm starting to feel where I will make the strike point

Started to put indoors, 50 at a time, 2 or 3 times a week.

Played in Palm Springs last week, 5 rounds , first since Oct 31. Really helped me not shit the bed

 

[rkim291968]

On 1/30/2016 at 4:51 PM, stealthhwk said:

Hope this is in the right place but I need a good rant and maybe some insight. Been playing mainly just hybrids and irons. Decided this year to put a driver back in the bag and splurged on the callaway xr. Hitting it pretty well but as always happens when I play woods, now my iron game seems to be sufferring. Normally hit a straight shot or some variance of draw. Now everything is leaking right. Not really slicing just like a small push but its making me miss greens. I also seem to be tentative on some swings and im coming up 10-20 yards short. My ball striking is better than ever before but everything just seems off a bit. My scores and handicap are rising as is my frustration. It just seems like no matter what, im shooting 93 or higher. Doesnt matter what clubs or what strategy and im just not enjoying the game the way i used too!!! Can anybody offer me some insight or inspiration? 

PLS EXCUSE THE RANT, but i had to let it out!

For high handicappers myself included, this is typical.   I think it is b/c we don't have the same swing for irons and longer clubs.  If we get them both right in the same round, it is probably by pure luck or coincidence.  Grin and bear, and enjoy the journey.