Losing Distance with Irons, Need Help!

[dweso]

Hey guys, I haven't been on here in awhile but I really need your advice. Recently I have been losing distance on my 7 irons through Pitching Wedge. I have been hiting them way too high and the sometimes fade slightly to the right. My longer clubs don't really seem to be affected. I usually hit my 8 iron around 150 and but recently it has been going closer to 140-135ish and I'm having trouble even hitting my Pitching Wedge 100. So far it hasn't had too much of a drastic affect on my scoring because I have been scrambling a lot, but I have been hitting very few greens in reg and it makes the game no fun. I am not really at a point yet in the summer where I can get a lesson, (money/time/finals) etc... I am 19 years old and 230lbs so I should be able to hit the ball a decent distance I would think. I have been hitting off of driving range mats a lot recently cause its the only range close to my college, and I am a terrible mat hitter, I feel like it hurts my game. Any advice that anyone could give would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

Thanks,
Dan

[RC]

Almost no way to really say much without seeing your swing. However, make sure you are hitting down on these shots with the hands ahead at impact, and make sure you are using your body to turn through the shot. It is easy to become an arm swinger on short shots, but you need an agressive turn through the shot and opening up of the hips leading your arms -- even on less than full shots. It is better to keep your arms glued to your body and turn on the shot than it is to swing just the arms while leaving your hips behind. Think about "two cheeking" the shot -- so that at least a part of your left pants pocket is visible from behind at impact

That you are hitting high and slicing right hints at an early release and picking the ball with too much "hands and arms" in the swing -- releasing too early. My opinion only, have not seen your swing so what do I know.

[dweso]

Thanks for the advice. So you are basically just saying make sure that I am getting my whole body into the shot. I do feel like a might have a tendency to take smaller swings, or arm only swings.

[verse214]

go back to the range and take a look at your distances again. It sounds like there's some inconsistency that a little practice should resolve because if your pw isn't even going 100 and your 8 is going 140 (and used to go 150) you probably aren't swinging the same way for both clubs...

just a thought... good luck!

[RC]

Yes, every swinging shot is a body shot. Even Phil's flop shots are executed with a hip turn through the ball and his hands ahead at impact.