Hitting Longer Irons (3-6) opposed to shorter irons (7-W)

[mutadayen]

I'm finding that I have a really easy time hitting my wedges and 7-9 irons. I find that I have alot of control and can easy hit any of this clubs with a strong or weak grip depending on how i want my shot to go. When i got to 3,4,5, and 6 (half of the time), my swing turns into something out of a nightmare...its just never consistent. I'm trying everything from alignment of the ball to my feet, grip, grip pressure, different stances...its just nothings working. If I choke up on the clubs dramatically, then i can hit it but of course its much shorter than the expected results.

Im looking for advice on how to hit theses clubs. Anyone got any techniques I could use at the range to practice with? Golf season in Chicago is about to start, so anything helpful would be great! Thanks...

[Brooklyn]

what the hell is a 3 iron????

ive never hit a 3 iron successfully in all my life... say what you will about hybrids.... but at least i can hit em.

[Dent]

try hitting down on the ball as opposed to sweeping through it. Try and take a divot with the long clubs and see if that works.

[x-forged]

I'm trying everything from alignment of the ball to my feet, grip, grip pressure, different stances...its just nothings working.

i think this is the problem. dont try to complicate things with the longer irons, make things as simple as possible with these clubs. the only difference in these long irons is their length. for long irons, move the ball a little forward in the stance, widen your stance a couple inches. dont think about what club it is, just make a nice smooth, solid swing. hope this helps

[tm22721]

With long irons it is even more critical to keep your hands in front of the clubhead to insure hitting down on the ball and squaring up clubhead. Tour pros' shaft lean can be up to 8 degrees although this de-lofts the club.

Also long irons are more prone to slicing due to less clubhead loft and ball spin. You need a stronger grip and make sure to release, ie turn your hands over starting just before impact. Takes some practice to time this right you might wind up hitting hooks instead of slices.

[cockergod]

This is coming from a newb but shouldn't it techincally be the same for hitting any iron. If you have it down with a shorter iron, it should be the same motion with a long one.

[Mr Eagle]

I had the same problem.I think it was because I was expecting to get good distance with the long irons I was trying to hit them harder than normal.Just relax and let the club do the work. good luck

[rydaddy]

I had the same problem.I think it was because I was expecting to get good distance with the long irons I was trying to hit them harder than normal.Just relax and let the club do the work. good luck

This was exactly my problem. Keep it simple and swing as you normally would a shorter iron. Adjust your stance as was already stated. Your head saying that you are hitting a long iron so you have to hit it harder. Wrong. The loft of the club will provide that extra distance.

[DavidFehertysBike]

try hitting down on the ball as opposed to sweeping through it. Try and take a divot with the long clubs and see if that works.

See its much different for me, I diliberatly flatten my swing with the 3 and 4 and sweep them, I barley take any kind divot with a club longer than a 5 iron. The T-695's i play are rediculously strong anyway, so trying to hit down on that 3i would probalby turn it into a 1iron..lol. I also find I get much more solid contact with a flatter sweep swing with longer irons than a steeper down swing. I do strenthen my grip a little though and aim a little more to the right than I would normally. Those are the only two clubs i hit a draw most of the time with. They are just to hard to hit dead strait.

[NCGolfer]

I've always struggled with getting long irons up into the air. I hit them solidly, just not very high. Recently, I've fixed it by, as others have mentioned, swinging down a bit more at it. Instead of trying to swing down at it I just narrowed my stance (by bringing the right foot in a bit) with my longer irons which made my angle of attack a bit more steep. Once I did this it was almost like night and day - same solid contact, but more backspin and a higher trajectory.

Sometimes we (golfers) think that our stance has to get really wide on the longer irons and woods. I don't find that this is the necessarily the case. Just make sure your ball position relative to the left foot remains the same and bring that right foot in a couple inches.

My only other tip would be to make sure you make a good full shoulder turn. Other than that, keep experimenting and see what works. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[kekoa]

I open my stance and club face a little with 3-5 irons. it helps since i have a tendency to hook these clubs.

[golf_junkie27]

I'm finding that I have a really easy time hitting my wedges and 7-9 irons. I find that I have alot of control and can easy hit any of this clubs with a strong or weak grip depending on how i want my shot to go. When i got to 3,4,5, and 6 (half of the time), my swing turns into something out of a nightmare...its just never consistent. I'm trying everything from alignment of the ball to my feet, grip, grip pressure, different stances...its just nothings working. If I choke up on the clubs dramatically, then i can hit it but of course its much shorter than the expected results.

When I suffered from this it was due to trying to hit my long irons harder and further. My buddy mentioned that he noticed that I never swung hard or tried to crush my shorter irons and got good distance. He said "Swing the same way, stupid." (Hey, we're good friends) A drill he showed me that I practice when I'm at the range. Aim at a target that is 150 yards away. Take your 5I, go through your routine and take your normal swing. Don't try to hit the target but rather concentrate on making clean contact. A nice, easy swing. Chances are you're going to fly the target by 25-30 yards. Keep doing this until you have reached your 3I. Monitor your results. The idea is to have a target that you know that you can reach. This relaxes you. A relaxed mind and body leads to a fluid, easy swing and good distance. Just monitor your results.

[Walther]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned this, but I had a similar problem. Wedge through 7 iron was great, anything else was very inconsistent.

For me the problem was an exaggerated and steep angle of attack. I was standing upright and coming down right on top of the ball. This worked for the higher lofted clubs as they still had enough loft to get the ball up. Anything with less loft lead to erratic results.

Double check your ball position, your distance from the ball, and setup and I'm sure you'll be flushing them before too long.

w

[MrKadash]

When I have problems with the longer irons it's mostly due to not swinging through the ball, i.e., I hang back and try to lift.... BAD.

I concentrate on ball position toward the front foot more and really driving through with my hips and lower body.

[extremeld]

to hit a long iron you really need to coil well and have a full and fairly aggressive hit.

if you are messing about thinking about hitting down with a long iron with your arms only you will never pure it.


if you coil correctly, i.e. using all the levers properly and confidently swing through to a finish you will hit good long irons

if you just try and hit down more etc you will not

k

[mikelz]

With long irons it is even more critical to keep your hands in front of the clubhead to insure hitting down on the ball and squaring up clubhead. Tour pros' shaft lean can be up to 8 degrees although this de-lofts the club.

You may have a point.

Changing you grip around for different clubs doesn't sound like a way to achieve consistent results. (Yes, I move my hands depending upon how I want the ball to move. I don't change them for a club.) Did I get your point?

[iacas]

Sometimes we (golfers) think that our stance has to get

I've never taken a wide stance, even with my driver.

My widest stance is on bunker shots. In other words, I recommend this advice.

[armyman2003]

long irons are not any harder to hot than short, MENTAL comes to play with these babies, move the ball to just inside your left heel(for righties) and use the "one potatoe, two potatoe, three potatoe, HIT! tempo and you will be amazed at the progress you make with the long ones, also consider using hybrids all the way up to the 5 iron, this is the way many of the teaching pros are going in their fitting! Hope this helps!!!