I can hit my 5 iron fine but my 4 iron is awful!

I am having some troubles with my 4 iron at the moment. Instead of the desirable mid ball flight i have with my 5 iron, the 4 iron is all over the show, even when i feel ive put a good swing to it the ball flight is low and goes no where at all, and a nagging cut. I have considered putting a hybrid in its place but before i go ahead and do that i want to know if anyone has some advice for me.........cheers

I noticed the same thing.  Wasn't making consistent contact with the the #4 iron so I replaced it with a #4 hybrid.

Welcome at TST Forum !

OK if you hit your 5 iron perfect but mess up with your 4 iron (it is hard to believe).

People say so easy to take a Hybrid, but at your level a 4i and 3i or even a 2i must be handled fine.....

Grip down half an inch and hit it with your 5 iron swing and out she goes, how simple golf can be !!!

If you keep having bad results with the 4i (at hc. 9.0 ???) have it checked, lie and loft ...... but if else it can be about only the lie then.....

Or it must be that your 5i isn't that perfect after all......

If you have the money for a hybrid club I would say definitely buy that, it's going to be much easier to hit and you will more than likely get much more distance out of it.

that being said, you can still hit a 4 iron, I would say step back from the ball like half an inch further than with the 5.

It is a strange scenario indeed. For me, there is absolutely no difference in the way I approach the ball with my 4i as I do with my 5i. It's the exact same swing. if anything, I concentrate on slowing things down even more as there's a tendency to really go after shots with long irons cos you think you need to crunch them to get good distance.

my 4i is actually my go-to club. Anything around 220y or if I'm playing a shortish par4 I'll smack it off the tee.

Maybe it's just a lack of confidence in that club. I generally wouldn't say go for hybrid straight away. There's no reason why you can't figure out what the problem is. Swing it like you swing your 7i and she should travel high and handsome :)

have a pro check your clubs for loft and lie, your 4 iron might be off

Even many of the pros don't play long irons anymore.  Why should amateurs?

Depends on your definition of "many."  Most pros still play a 4 iron, and a huge percentage still play a 3 iron.  Nothing wrong with hybrids, but I wouldn't advise the OP to give up on his 4 iron yet.  If he's able to hit the 5 iron then huge changes aren't needed to improve ballstriking with the 4 iron.

I'm glad I started playing golf right before hybrids, so I learned to hit 3 and 4 irons.  On some course on some days I still play the 3 iron, and my 4 iron gets regular use.  I can think of handfuls of shots at local courses right off the top of my head where a 4 iron is my preferred club.  As someone else said, start by choking down slightly and pretending it's a 5 iron.  Don't swing easier or harder, put the exact same swing on the ball.  Good luck.

If you choke down on your 4-iron it'll be like hitting a strong 5-iron which for most amateurs will be shorter then their regular 5-iron.  The 4-hybrid is easier to hit and it will definitely go further (and probably higher) than the 5-iron.

I look at it this way, any long iron I can't hit reasonably high, should be replaced with a hybrid.

I've got a 4 iron. In my garage. A 4 hybrid goes further and higher with the same swing, plus mishits are punished far less severely. It only comes out on really windy days.

To answer your question more thoroughly, there's an old golf truism called the 24/38 rule, which states that most players will never have the ability to consistently hit any iron with a loft of 24 degrees or less and length of 38" or more. And that's now pretty much the break between the 5 and 4 iron in a lot of modern iron sets.

I have a new 2-hybrid in the bag (my wife got it for me for my birthday) and it goes higher and farther than my average 2-iron shot. But I just don't like it yet. I have no idea based on feel where the ball went, That might be due to the stock S Callaway shaft though. I might put a steel shaft in it (next year - my golf budget is used up for 2011).

To be honest, I don't really consider a 4i a long iron. In my mind, a 1 and 2i are long irons. 4i feels same as my 7i really. it's such a great club and I just way prefer the feeling of irons compared to hybrids. I find it hard to believe that most pro's carry a hybrid to replace the 4i cos of being able to hit them easier.

Maybe there's something not quite right with your 4i like lie or loft but my 4i goes pretty high and i use it on shots in the 200-220y range.

I must be bucking the trend because this season I have been hitting my 4 iron better than my comparable hybrid.  I have not even been practicing with it at the range; I use it for shots between 185 - 200 yards, and have been getting pretty good results (it tends to be a lower trajectory and straight-ish flight) versus the hybrid which has been ballooning and moving a bit on me.

4 iron and 5 iron for me have the exact same ball position and swing - no changes.

If you haven't had your irons checked in a while for lie and loft, now may be a good time.

Thanks for all the opinions, next time i see my local pro im definately going to get it checked out, if it turns out it is fine i am definately going to try a more lofted hybrid (i carry an 18 degree hybrid currently).

MB: What kind of irons do you have?

For me I really like the #4 hybrid.  I prefer it to the #4 iron.  It instills confidence because I get good results with it.  Plus I can use it in the rough or out of a fairway bunker.  Who wants to hit a long iron out of those spots?

It would be helpful to know what irons you have. Some of the modern sets have 4 irons that are really 3 irons at 21-22 degrees of loft.

I do.  I'm sure there are more than a few guys and gals on here and in the real world who aren't terrified at the prospect of hitting a 4 iron out of the rough or a fairway bunker.  Not everyone obviously, my dad and brother have become huge fans of the 24* Wilson Staff FYbrid 4H.  I like hitting it too, but I'm still more accurate with a 4 iron.