How to break the cycle of good driver bad iron and bad driver good iron?

I've been playing golf for last 3 years and my handicap never improve despite playing twice a week. I realize part of my problem (other than my putting) is that when my driver is hot, my iron is not, and when my iron is on fire, my driver fails. It is always a cycle like this that last about 1-2 months each.

So when my driver is hot and i hit a perfect drive, my second shot end up in the bunker or top the ball. After a few months, when my iron is dead straight and sharp, my driver lands the ball in the rough or hazard and i don't even have chance to use my iron. This back and forth is so frustrating.

What can i do to be good in both driver and iron at the same time?

I have seen the same issue in 2010 but being a returning golfer I attribute it to not having practiced enough of each type of shot. My method for fighting the problem is multi faceted. First I no longer practice iron shots off any kind of mat. Second I have tried to develop my iron swing into a simple repeatable exercise. Third I tried to develop a repeatable Driver swing that I can don't need to remember a bunch of steps for. Fourth, aim, aim, aim. I found myself not reliably aiming each shot so some really good swings were wasted by going the wrong direction. Finally at the range I will first pick a target area then try to hit all shots in that direction. I alternate clubs for each shot and step away from the lane and walk back to it for each shot. That is the closest I can get to practicing my course game. It has helped me do a better job on the course, more GIR, more par & birdie opportunities. And my HCI is a lot lower now than in January 2010.

How does your standard practice session go?
When your driver is hot, do you only practice irons? and vice versa? When your driver is not working, do you try to compensate and put that little extra "omph" of strength (consciously or subconsciously)? Sounds like you do two different swings, one for woods one for irons.
It will sound obvious but if you can't figure out what you're doing differently for each type of club, then have a single handicapper look at your swing, or better yet, take a lesson with a pro.

I think that it is a mental and a confidence issue with the club(s) that you are not hitting well. What I mean by mental is that when you hit a good drive you get to your second shot and you're thinking "well I am not going to hit a good iron shot, because I hit a good drive." And that translates into not being confident with your irons in this scenario. It also works the other way around. I went through a phase sort of like this, and I found out that the way you think plays a huge roll in how you play.

IMHO, the driver and iron swings and two completely different animals....the iron is a descending blow where you trap the ball, while the driver is more hitting the ball at the bottom or just a bit on the upswing....sounds to me like you have a tendency to groove one swing and stick with it.....on the range, practice Driver, 8iron, driver 3iron, driver, wedge and so on, just like you would on the course.....during your practice swing, get your mind right and remember which swing you need to produce.....

Also, someone just made a good point about the mental part.....remember to keep positive - don't focus on where you don't want the ball to go or what can go wrong......when you hit a great drive, get birdie in your mind right away.....when you are planning your approach shot, think about exactly where you want to line up, what the ball is going to look like in the air, and how you want it to land.....focus on the process, be specific, and then pull the trigger....

Usually bad driver, bad iron, and even worse putting...it's at least consistent.

Some years ago I got tired of my 9-iron being money, my 5-iron being possible, and my driver being this "thing" in my hands. I had a lesson, told the pro this was the situation, and he fixed me right up in a half hour. That's what you do.

I had that same problem for years, but I recently went Stack and Tilt and it disappeared.  I think it was about weight distribution.  When I hung back, my driver was killer with really good extension, but I was hitting the irons fat, when I kept my weight ahead of the ball, my irons were crisper but the driver was all over the place.  Stack and Tilt keeps my weight in front of all the balls now, and I can hit them both consistently.

personally I think it has more to do with how we spend our practice time hitting balls. Spend your practice sessions hitting a driver then the next shot an iron, then wedge, etc just like on the course. I mean if you spend your practice session hitting 40 drivers and then 10 iron shots of course you are going to be a little off on the irons, same way if you practice iron shots more than drivers.

I did that with my irons over the summer. I would practice irons for most of my range sessions and a few drivers. On the course my iron play was great but my driving wouldnt be up to my standards simply because I was use to hitting 60 iron shots in a row.

When your at the range, try simulating a round of golf. I know it's been stated millions of times on here but I believe it works. That's what I do.

Throw your driver away ,1 iron off the tee,

Go back to a driver when your in single figures ,Simples!

I am always a little hesitant to give advice since I am not a particularly good golfer myself.  But over the last year I have taken about 6 strokes off my handicap by mostly improving my driver performance (my apologies to the short game folks but if you don't keep the ball in bounds and seldom hit a fairway your short game doesn't count for much).  But in the process of fixing my play off the tee I found I was not striking the ball with my irons nearly as well.  To make a long story short I had modified my swing in a way that, for me, didn't work as well with short clubs.  This was because I had the (mistaken?) idea that there was one swing feel for all the clubs (I am not a mechanical player although I tried for several years to do that but it just didn't work for me).  So in the last few months I have been working on improving my iron play by accepting that there is more than one swing "feel" required for good driver performance and good iron play.   As suggested above I modified my practice to never hit more than a couple of shots in a row with a single club, developed a different swing thought for short irons Vs the longer clubs that need to be swept.  I also changed my setup for the shorter clubs and suggest you look at this.  This seems to be working as the last few rounds my GIR percentage has been improving and so far no damage to the driver performance.  Good luck.

Hi,

Finally I arrived here too. What a challenge. I am just a starter really, but experience the same issue. Thank you for the advice so far, I think it is a mix of RANGE+MENTAL+BODY+SWING really.

- Do not waste time, run to the PGA. That would certainly be #1 advice

- Mental: Set your mind for a simple start. Aim for something great, but really start with chipping / wedging to the green / flag

- Range: Get off the mat. I actually consider the grass myself as part of what you pay for. However my issue with the grass is, that it is "teeing grass", which is unlikely give you the moderate cut of a fairway or semi-rough. I find that particular challenging with >7 Irons. Again, something mental because hitting the ground is bad and the feedback is very obvious, whereas on the mat you are just fine if you hit the mat. Nobody will notice...

- Range: I am also trying the most "real-time" approach possible. What does it help getting the 7 fine with 50 balls but then comes the grass and frequent club changes? Right, so I do the following sequence: Driver, 4-Hybrid, 7, SW and repeat. However, I am not good with repetitions, so I mix things up.

- Swing: You know your swing. I really cannot confirm one swing for all clubs. I change my body and get amazing shots, however something might go wrong and identifying this bit is tricky.

- Body: Well, actually I started a workout program recently, strengthening back muscles, front and arms. Seriously changes your swing, however remember a swing is a swing not a hack, no pressure from arms.

In more details, this is how my swing differs from D to 4-hybrid to 7 to SW:

D: very solid body figure, almost no flexibility so your centre is at centre with tilt in shoulders and keep head to the left of ball. back pace slow, down pace fast. arms totally flexible never stiff. standing straight up, not much tilting forward

4-hy: also solid at setup, arms not stiff. swing plane must be just nice. more bending forward, keep arms moving close to body at impact. slow back and if all works out, piston-like downswing (can get me as much as 150+ metres easily) - more or less straight (at least not crazy out)

7: standing closer to the ball, remember to keep your head down at impact. head moves forward after your arms. staying flexible with left leg, nice twist in spine and hip movement.

SW: before shot: touch ground, check club face will "slide" through ball, otherwise risk of massive hit and smacking the ball like 50m+. Stance, ball position to the back, you want to lift that one. And rather steep swing through it...

So my conclusion is to get the mix right, between good "close to reality" with training and also playing. Good luck to all and I hope I can fix myself this way in the next weeks.

i didnt really read this fully, but if you can get fairway every single time you drive...and hit the long ball....you should be on tour (even tho they dont get fairway but 40 or 60% of the time). saying someones short game doesnt count for much if you dont achieve this is dumb. if you can play out of the rough or tough lie situations and maintain the accuracy and good club choice you are a much better golfer IMO. this goes for the many players who decide to fix their lies or drop it on the fairway when it is in a tough lie, i think if you overcome these challenges and learn how to approach a shot with confidence and not rely on how well you started/or how unfortunate your drive was...if you stay positive and approach a shot with confidence youll be fine.

Personally, I don't think that the golfing gods allow anyone to have good drivers and irons one the same day, unless you are a scratch golfer.

So, my suggestion is that you spend time working on your short game/putting and try to get up and down more often. This is the best way to lower your scores.

If you want to learn to hit your driver, I recommend you go to the range and just hit your driver. Don't just wail on them. The idea of a lesson is a great idea. At least get a video that shows you the proper mechanics and hit your driver. Hit it at a target. Nice slow controlled swings. Make sure you can hit it at your target every time (within reason). Take a nice smooth takeaway, slight pause at the top and start your downswing. Don't try to over swing, particularly from the top. You don't need club head speed until right before hitting the ball. You'd be surprised how fast the club head can go when you take nice controlled swings with a little umph at the ball. I never swing hard. I swing firm and in balance. Zero in on the ball. And keep your head still throughout the swing. Even if you hit a good drive, but you're off balance after the swing, you were just lucky. Do it again. I didn't have my driver this weekend so I just had my 3 wood. I played the toughest driving course you could imagine. I only missed 2 fairways and both of those were OK.

HItting the hybrids OK?  If so, i suggest start choking down on the driver to shorten the arc of that stick, which gives more control.  More control can lead to quality strikes, more fairways and  improved confidence.

I have found taking an extra few practice swings has helped me. If it doesn't feel right, take some more. I could not hit a wood off the deck for the life of me. I am not afraid to take them out of the bag and take some strokes until I get that "thud" sound. The same goes for using the sand wedge around the green. I keep taking swings until I get that nice sound of swishing through the grass.