How to practice with your Long irons and Hybrids?

[bkoguy07]

Alright guys, I've pretty much eliminated all of my really bad misses with my driver and hit a lot more fairways recently, but now I need to work on my long irons and one of my hyrbids... specifically 4I 5I 4Hybrid. I was curious what you guys did at the range to help you practice with them. With my hybrid I'm not getting great contact consistently and my misses are low slices (hit it off the fairway usually sometimes tee it up) sometimes it goes straight though. My 4 and 5 iron are a little bit off with accuracy so I'm curious what you guys do to practice with your 4 5 and hybrids to increase accuracy from about 180-220 yards in? Sometimes I hit slices with my 4 and 5 which are my bad misses with them.. Also, how should the setup be with the hyrbid and how should I attack the ball? Should I sweep it off the ground like a fairway wood or more like an iron and hit down on it?

[Harmonious]

Not quite sure what you mean when you ask how to practice with long irons or hybrids. I guess I practice with them the same as with all other clubs. The only advice I could offer is that the hybrids are designed to be hit like irons; you don't sweep them. You don't play them more forward than you would an equivalent iron club. They have enough loft so that you don't need to "help" them get airborne.

For that matter, fairway woods should also be hit at a slight downward angle. Ball position has more to do with it than anything else, so that even though the feeling is "sweeping", you should still hit down a little.

[tshapiro]

Its all in your transition. With these longer clubd off the ground, your over the top move won't work so well and your ball flight peels off to the right. Slow down, gradual transition where your hips have time to take the lead and your club head falls to the inside. This is nothing more than you becoming a better ball striker in general. t

[mcgriff]

When I first got my hybrids I was topping all of them. I remember thinking to myself "Man, I just blew hundreds on this new iron set!" Once I got over the visuals of a hybrid and started hitting down on them like I would any other iron things fell in to place. I was hitting a more sweep shot like you describe. Thing is, most hybrids are the same length as its corresponding iron (in most cases, not all). So, I was taking my 3 wood swing at the things, thus my tops.

Here's what did it for me. I picked the target flag 100 yards out...pretended I had a wedge in my hand and took a nice easy swing intending to drop the ball on the flag. Results have been solid since then.

[ks8829]

I practice with my wedges thur PW to get my swing down. If you practice hitting solid wedges shots you can apply the same swing mechanics to your mid, long, hybrid, fairway and driver.

The key for me is the backswing and take away:

1) I make sure the shaft is pointing down the target line
2) I make sure that I take the club back on a natural arc without swaying

It works for me when ever I need to fine tune my irons game. I practice on a grassy field with at least 40 - 50 yards of area to practice in.

[bkoguy07]

Its all in your transition. With these longer clubd off the ground, your over the top move won't work so well and your ball flight peels off to the right. Slow down, gradual transition where your hips have time to take the lead and your club head falls to the inside. This is nothing more than you becoming a better ball striker in general. t

Yeah I've been told I don't have an over the top move mostly just swing path issue (out-in) but I wouldn't be surprised if it did creep in once and a while..

When I first got my hybrids I was topping all of them. I remember thinking to myself "Man, I just blew hundreds on this new iron set!" Once I got over the visuals of a hybrid and started hitting down on them like I would any other iron things fell in to place. I was hitting a more sweep shot like you describe. Thing is, most hybrids are the same length as its corresponding iron (in most cases, not all). So, I was taking my 3 wood swing at the things, thus my tops.

That sounds like a good plan, I might have to try that just set up like a iron and let it fly.

I practice with my wedges thur PW to get my swing down. If you practice hitting solid wedges shots you can apply the same swing mechanics to your mid, long, hybrid, fairway and driver.

Yeah usually when I get out on the range I work up from PW to driver so I'll probably check those 2 things as well.

[max power]

Someone somewhere said that you should hit hybrids like a 7 iron, and I think that's good advice. I often make the same mistake as you, especially when I'm warming up at the range-trying to help the ball into the air with a hybrid. Don't realize I'm doing it, and it usually takes about 5 topped shots for me to realize I'm not swinging properly. You may also be swinging a little too hard. Let your body, not your arms, swing the hybrid-and come down and through the ball (like a 7 iron). Should work.

[lumpuckeroo]

A tip I picked up a long time ago, swing your long iron like you would a 9 iron. Probably one of the biggest mistakes we make with long irons is swinging to hard at the ball. I actually try to swing slower with a long iron, my main focus it just hitting the ball square, the rest will take care of it's self.

[David K]

If I'm having trouble with my longer irons, hybrids, or woods I usually need to slow my tempo down. I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie (mostly motorcycle racing) so my tempo gets very fast at times because of my high intensity back round. I can hit my short clubs with a fast tempo but it just doesn't work with the longer clubs for me. The leverage of a longer club makes it want to lag behind longer when you start your down swing and a fast tempo exaggerates that. If I play with a nice smooth tempo almost pausing at the top of my swing it makes my hybrid very easy to hit and I make better contact with all of my clubs. In the end I think you should feel like your swinging every club the same exact way regardless of which ones they are (with full swing anyway).

Something else might be causing it for you but it wont hurt to try a slower tempo to see what effect it has. Confidence has a huge effect on my game all together as well but it especially has an effect on my long game. If I hit some bad shots with a long iron it makes me kind of cautious about using it again but in reality if I want to hit it right, I need to be 100% commited.

[CalBoomer]

Sorry but I don't agree with some of the advice you've been given here. What I do agree with is that these clubs should be hit with a downward strike like all irons. I do not agree that you use the same technique as with a 7 iron. The longer irons are better played with a slightly flatter swing plane. The fact that you hit a lot of slices strongly suggests that your swing plane is too vertical with the longer irons.

[Blades4me]

Alright guys, I've pretty much eliminated all of my really bad misses with my driver and hit a lot more fairways recently, but now I need to work on my long irons and one of my hyrbids... specifically 4I 5I 4Hybrid. I was curious what you guys did at the range to help you practice with them. With my hybrid I'm not getting great contact consistently and my misses are low slices (hit it off the fairway usually sometimes tee it up) sometimes it goes straight though. My 4 and 5 iron are a little bit off with accuracy so I'm curious what you guys do to practice with your 4 5 and hybrids to increase accuracy from about 180-220 yards in? Sometimes I hit slices with my 4 and 5 which are my bad misses with them.. Also, how should the setup be with the hyrbid and how should I attack the ball? Should I sweep it off the ground like a fairway wood or more like an iron and hit down on it?

Hit hybrids like you hit irons, hit down on the ball. Anything lower in loft than a 6i doesn't like a wussy swing, so get used to doing a full, confident swing. You will most likely have success with the hybrids before the long irons.

Long irons like a full, smooth swing to get them to work properly. Start with the lowest iron you are comfortable with and hit it. After you get bored or more confident move to the next lowest iron. Start with a 3/4 swing and just think "smooth" with a full follow thru. As you get comfortable with that start increasing the swing toward a full swing, staying smooth of course. Sometimes starting with your feet together and swinging, (you will probably just be able to do a 1/2 swing, but thats okay cuz this drill is to get you used to feeling the weight transfer). As you get the feel for that start increasing your stance, remembering the wt transfer. I can't emphasize enough how important being smooth is from the 4 or 5i down. In Tom Wishom's book In Search Of the Perfect Club they have the rule of 34 which states that many ppl are just u/a to hit a shaft of 34 inches or longer and a loft of 30* or less--to those who read this, I'm pulling this from memory so my numbers could be wrong so please feel free to correct me. Calboomer brings up very cogent points, it is also a very common malady.