Finally hitting solid iron shots ... here's why

...and I could be preaching to the choir, here.  My mid-range game has been killing me so far this season.  So badly that I couldn't even tee up a mid-iron on a par 3 and make solid contact!  I'd like to blame it on new irons, but we all know it's not the clubs, it's the guy swinging them.

Hit enough balls at the range that things seemed to be getting worse rather than better.  Time to stop, do some soul searching and just think why my ball striking is so pathetic.  This is what has finally worked:

1.  Keep your head still.  If your head and body follow the club during the takeaway, it's really difficult to get BACK into a good position provided your setup was good to begin with.  It shouldn't move up or down, either.

2.  Rotate your body through the shot!  My arms and hands were outracing my body so badly that I couldn't get over on my left side to make solid contact.  Everything was 2" BEHIND the ball resulting in weak, low hooks off the toe of the club.  So embarrassingly ugly!

3.  Finally, just SLOW DOWN!!!  The worse my shots got, the shorter my swing became.  Thinking that 'reigning things in' might help.  It didn't.

Fast forward to last week ending with an 18-hole round Sunday.  Hit some TV-quality shots.  Hit greens with a #5-hybrid, all shorter irons as well.  Rock solid, perfect contact, club handle forward at impact, compressed ball, high ball flight with just a hint of draw, good ball marks on green from shots that hit, bounced once and stopped.

Last shot on #18 yesterday was from middle of fairway, 145 yards to pin into a stiff 25 mph breeze.  Hit a 6-iron, pin high to 8' and finished with a birdie.  Had been hitting the irons like that all day.

Let's hope this continues to work.  Please, I'm begging!

dave

it is always the clubs!!!!