Pushing my irons

[DrivingRangeJunkie]

Hey guys, I've been playing at courses more often like many of you suggested, and I'm loving it. I recently shot 11 (i think) over for 9 holes and did similar today. I would be shooting lower if I did not always push my iron shots. For some reason my shots would go just a few yards right, but enough to miss the green. It reallys annoys me that I don't have an opportunity for birdie, like today I pushed a bunch of my approach shots and thankfully my short game saved me. Why is this happening? I align my body parallel to the target but I just can't get it to stay the course. Any tips? Thanks.

[wedge player]

Hey guys, I've been playing at courses more often like many of you suggested, and I'm loving it. I recently shot 11 (i think) over for 9 holes and did similar today. I would be shooting lower if I did not always push my iron shots. For some reason my shots would go just a few yards right, but enough to miss the green. It reallys annoys me that I don't have an opportunity for birdie, like today I pushed a bunch of my approach shots and thankfully my short game saved me. Why is this happening? I align my body parallel to the target but I just can't get it to stay the course. Any tips? Thanks.

aim right.

[wedge player]

aim right.

i meant left

[Titleist Man]

try to feel like you are coming across the ball.

[JonnyGolf]

Typically a push is caused by your hips outracing your arms in your swing. Your hips rotate forward, but your arms get "stuck" behind you and they can no longer swing around towards the target.

I see this a bunch where people start their hips forward before the club is set at the top. It's especially prevalent on people (like teens) who have a great deal of flexibility.

My recommendation is to slow the backswing and making sure your set at the top before starting your swing. This synchronization will really help.

Have fun,
JG

[squaddie]

I've been having problems with push shots, but just with my longer clubs (hybrids, wood and driver).

Here's an article with a few suggestions, depending on the source of the problem:

http://www.golfswingfeeling.com/push-shot.html

Not addressed in the article is what I think my problem is, which is a tempo problem (my hips turning too far ahead of my arms).

Also, what JonnyGolf mentioned makes sense to review (thanks, great tip, will try that myself over the long weekend!).

[Ferrins]

You might be swaying

[jambalaya]

If you are otherwise hitting the ball pretty well don't try anything too complicated to fix the problem. You could be letting your body slide forward as you come into the ball on the downswing. Alright for the lower body or hips to move laterally slightly at the beginnng of the downswing but not the entire body. You want to be rotating at impact. Just think about your head staying behind the ball or where it was at address.

[ks8829]

watch your hips after you finish your shot do they point to the right where the ball is ending up or at your target?

sometimes you may not take a full turn or it could be something elses.
video tape your swing and share with us.

[PiKapp23]

Another possibility is that your lie angle on clubs is off a little bit. If the lie angle is too flat there is a tendency for the ball to want to go right a little bit. Vice versa for too upright. This is because either the toe (too flat) or heel (too upright) catches the turf on the swing and turns the club face a little bit (I am assuming you're right handed). Most likely this is not the issue, but it's something that people sometimes do not think about.

[JtotheD]

You're not finishing your swing most likely. Chest should face target, maybe slightly left of target, on the follow through.

[Stacey_E]

This doesn't address any swing mechanics. But I would recommend that if you don't already, always, always always use an intermediate target about 3 to 5 feet in front of your ball when you are setting up to your shot. I always do this, but had a tendancy to hit a pull. Obviously I was coming over the top, but what I didn't realize was that I was setting up too closed and subconsciously forcing the ball back to the target.

When I was doing this I would aim even more to the right to compensate. So the advice given about aiming left isn't a bad idea to get you through a round. I wouldn't recommend trying to fix the problem on the course. Do what you must to get the score down on the course. Then take the advice given earlier and try it out on the range. A lot of good swing advice was given earlier.

[steviesouthpaw]

Try strengthening your grip on your glove hand. I guarantee you have too weak a grip making it harder to square the club face. Of course I mean hand angles , not how hard you are squeezing the club. Rotate your glove hand away from the target exposing more of the top of the hand to your eye sight. You want to be able to see at least the two big knuckles of your glove hand at address.