Gaining distance with long irons

[King Cobra II]

pw-140
9-152
8-163
7-175
6-182
5-189
4-195
3-202

I just feel like I don't hit the mid long to long irons as well or as far as I should and I'm not entirely sure why. I do have a theory, and i'm not sure if anyone else might agree or have experience with this. I'm pretty quiet with my lower body, so with the shorter wedges/irons it doesn't come into play as much, but with the longer clubs, maybe I need more of a turn to get the distance up there? Any comments are appreciated!

[unoiron]

If you have your irons dialed in enough to know that you hit your 3 iron 202 yards, you should be at least a 10 handicap. This wasn't a helpful comment.

[bioman]

Yes, you need to have a more pronounced weight shift with the lower body on longer irons. For me, with a 6-iron or up, I definitely concentrate on shifting the weight to the left with a good hip slide/bump. Also, for me, it helps if I flatten my swing a tiny bit the longer the club gets.

[jambalaya]

You need to swing really, really hard with those other clubs. Just kidding.

One thought though is maybe you actually are swinging harder with those clubs and trying to help the ball into the air. Let the club do the work and make sure you are still hitting down on the ball.

[max power]

Yeah-looking at your distances it looks like you're swinging pretty hard with the shorter irons, and by definition the long irons will magnify any flaws in your swing. You're probably aware of this unconsciously, and are taking slightly more controlled swings with your long irons.

[mc0388]

Yes, you need to have a more pronounced weight shift with the lower body on longer irons. For me, with a 6-iron or up, I definitely concentrate on shifting the weight to the left with a good hip slide/bump. Also, for me, it helps if I flatten my swing a tiny bit the longer the club gets.

You need to swing really, really hard with those other clubs. Just kidding.

Yeah-looking at your distances it looks like you're swinging pretty hard with the shorter irons, and by definition the long irons will magnify any flaws in your swing. You're probably aware of this unconsciously, and are taking slightly more controlled swings with your long irons.

All very good advice.

The only thing I would add is to bioman's comment. With the weight shift and a touch of a flatter swing,,, Make sure your arms stay loose, if your tight you'll come up short and lose distance...

[DaSportsGuy]

You hit your 9 Iron farther than I hit my 4 Iron. I hit my 4 Iron 150 tops.

[mc0388]

You hit your 9 Iron farther than I hit my 4 Iron. I hit my 4 Iron 150 tops.

you might have some fundamentals to catch up on...

[WUTiger]

KC II,

A smoother swing on the longer irons is something to consider.

Likewise, you may have trouble with loft differences shrinking in the longer irons. Consider the stronger lofts on clubs since the late 1980s, with bunching up in the longer clubs.

I sent a question to club designer Ralph Maltby about this, and he said that Game Improvement clubs got the ball up better than classic clubs, with a corresponding loss in distance. This is one reason the clubs got stronger in lofts - to make sure no distance loss resulted. (Other reason: to make middle HDCP players think they were hitting the 7-iron longer) Maltby also gave the two reasons why distance increases when you go from a 7 iron to a 6 iron: a half-inch longer shaft, and a stronger loft.

Let's take a look at where your yardstick between clubs starts to "tighten up." I have taken your distances for the irons from your post, and added the loft of each CG Gold iron from the Cleveland site:

Iron..Dist..Loft
pw-140....45º
9-152....41º
8-163....37º
7-175....33.5º
6-182....30º
5-189....27º
4-195....24º
3-202....21º

As you can see, your distance starts to fall off when you go from 4º to 3º difference in loft. Maybe that contributes to the problem.

Also, do you still carry a 3i, or have you dumped it? Your bag contents show a hybrid, but no 3i.

[Leftygolfer]

200 yard 3 iron is fine. If your an 18 and hit the ball those distances go to the putting green. For comparison I hit my 9 iron 140 and my 3 iron right at 195. I think your distance gaps are fine and 200 yards is not a bad 3 iron. My friend hits his irons very long and the thing I noticed is how big a divot he takes, particularly with his short iron. He hits his 3 right at 225 and his PW 150. He is also a 6 and never plays because of medical school.

[pounc007]

I could be wrong, but are the CG Golds "game improvement" irons? In my experience, big cavity back sets tend to have dead long irons. You could also be simply mis hitting them and not realizing it.

When I was in high school I had the same problem and when I switched from some ping shovels to Hogan blades the distance was about right.

The only other thing I can think of is you are just swinging your short irons harder because you saw some PGA guy say his 180 club was a 7 iron or some nonsense like that and you are inadvertently trying to do the same.

Again, when I was younger I was determined to have a PW be my 150 yd club after I saw Sergio Garcia hit his that far, and it got my whole swing out of whack.

[Parker0065]

Don't know if this will help but I have observed many high and mid handicapers(and a few low handicapers) when hitting 7,8,9,PW irons will be more relaxed over the ball and generally swing with good tempo. Take the same players and put a 3,4,5 iron in thier hands and they tense up a little more, grip a little tighter and thier tempo speeds up a little bit, and worst of all swing a little harder to try to help the ball up. All of these things will rob you of distance!

You should strive to have the same tempo with every iron in your bag. Long irons have plenty of loft to get the ball flying in the air when properly struck with a descending blow. A long iron will have a slightly more shallow descending blow only because it is played slightly forward in your stance from where you would play a short iron. By adjusting your ball position to the club you don't have to change your swing to hit a proper iron shot!




Here's a drill I used years ago in developing a solid long iron game. I call it my "9-Iron/3-Iron Drill"

Hit four or five normal 9-Iron shots to a target and really try to feel your tempo with the club.
Now hit one 3-Iron and focus on putting that same tempo and swing speed with the 3-Iron that you just put on your 9-Iron.
Now go back and repeat hitting four or five 9-Irons and one 3-Iron shot over and over until you start to feel like your tempo, grip pressure, and swing speed are identical with both clubs.

Basically your trying to take the smooth tempo you have with your 9-Iron and incorperate it into your 3-Iron swing. The swing for both long and short irons are the same, the only thing different is how you set up to the ball because of the change in club length and lie.


Finally, I'm not saying long irons are just as easy to hit as short irons, they are not! But if your a good short iron player then with some hard work and proper swing tempo, you can develop into a good long iron player with consistant distance.

Good Luck!

[King Cobra II]

All is good advice, and will be considered. I think tempo is a big peice in trying to over hit the long irons, will see i plan to tee off at 3

[sean_miller]

KC II,

Can these irons be adjusted at all? I'd suggest (with my limited knowledge) getting his 6 iron bent 1* stonger and dropping the 3 and 5 irons altogether.

BTW - his PW is 1* stonger than my 9 iron.

[Zeph]

How is your ball striking? Is it as good with the 4i as the 9i?

[verse214]

BTW - his PW is 1* stonger than my 9 iron.

good for you - do you want a cookie?

[anthony]

Great practice tip Parker. I used to hate when I needed to hit my 4 or 5 iron because they were generally bad shots (thin or topped mostly). However, I started not worrying about the distance and focusing on a smooth tempo and it completely changed that part of my game. If you strike your 5 iron solidly it will take off without any extra effort.

[sean_miller]

good for you - do you want a cookie?

Thanks, I do. Stonger short irons eventually leads to stronger long irons. His GI 3 is like a blade 2, which most people struggle with.