Inbetween shots

Hello all, been a regular lurker for awhile gleaning tips off you all, finally made the plunge and joined.

I need to learn how to hit inbetween shots. I've been (un)fortunately enough to put myself in circumstances where the pin is inbetween my iron distances. 145yds to pin, and I hit a full 8 iron to front of green or 7 iron to back of green.

I've tried choking down on a higher iron or doing a 3/4 swing. But somehow my mind starts messing with my swing and I swing differently. When I try 3/4 swings, I find myself accelerating faster thru the ball and using a slower full swing I decelerate etc. When I choke down I force myself to stay low so I don't thin or top the ball and end up chunking. When I swing harder with a lower iron my tempo gets all outta whack and I pull or push.

Also, instead of starting another thread, whats the best way to get accuracy with wedges from 100-50 yds? I can hit the greens, but when I try to hit left or right etc I think I focus too hard of mechanics and makes the resulting shot worse than if I had just tried for the green as a whole? This something that will come with practice? I spend alot of time on chipping and short pitches, but my pitching/chipping range doesn't have room for 50 yd+ pitches, I have to try those on the driving range where I've been working on left/right of flagstick on the landing area's and been successful but confidence/ability at the range doesn't always transfer well to the course

Thanks all.

You answered all your questions. The 6 inches between your ears is the hardest thing to overcome. You need to practice your chokedown swings until you are as convident with them as normal swing. Same with your chipping. It is all in your preshot routine, to block out the negitives. You are on the right path, it will take more range and chipping balls.

Did you hear, Lorena Ochoa spent 3 hours a day in the off season working from 100 yards and in. Practice practice practice

Yes, choke down on your longer club is the solution...convince yourself that if you make the same full swing while choked down, the ball won't go as far as normal. It's true!
For <100 yards, look up the Pelz Wedge system, basically work on shortening your wedge swings to 3 or 4 different checkpoints (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full back).

I usually take the shorter club and hit the ball harder... If i try to swing soft i find my rythem gets out of whack.

Choking down can present problems for some. Because of the taper on your grips, you will tend to hit more of a draw if you choke down...

If it's a matter of maintaining your tempo, here's one way to make a repeatable swings at or around the same tempo, but it's going to sound silly.

Since you already have the voices in your head during your backswing and the moment you start the forward swing, try putting a song in your head.

Try humming or quietly whistling to yourself something that you like and is nice and easy tempo wise.

Keep that song or melody in your head as you take a practice swing and swing with the rhythm. Assuming you picked a song that is the right "speed" for your normal swing, keep the same song going when you take the actual shot.

Also, try practicing with headphones with music. Put a few different songs with different speeds or beats on your playlist, and you will find out very quickly what song helps put the right tempo into your swing.

-catfell