Slight change in Iron position in set up

[claytonmeister]

Hi guys I'm a relative newbie to this beautiful game and to the Sandtrap. Read a lot but don't post too much. I have been struggling so bad with my irons consistently topping them and also hitting wide right. On my last round after a very poor front 9 I decided to stand with the club a bit closer to my body. It appeared that I was hitting much cleaner AND much straighter clubs with the club closer to me. My question is/my questions are a) is there a possibility I was "over reaching" with my irons? and b) What would you guys suggest is a sensible set up for irons with regard to distance of club grip from the body?

[JaapB]

Well if you are new to golf like me there are so many things that could go wrong.

Topping the ball could be that you stand wrong but could easaly mean your head and body comes a bit up when going forward with your swing.

It is something you need to feel yourself I think. Else ask someone else to look at your swing often somebody else notice things much qucker then you feeling it.

Also if you if your body moves sidesways in your back and forward swing that could also result in topping the ball or hitting the ground first.

As to were you should have your club from the body I believe it should be that you could put a hand between the club and your body.

[Wally]

Hi guys I'm a relative newbie to this beautiful game and to the Sandtrap. Read a lot but don't post too much. I have been struggling so bad with my irons consistently topping them and also hitting wide right. On my last round after a very poor front 9 I decided to stand with the club a bit closer to my body. It appeared that I was hitting much cleaner AND much straighter clubs with the club closer to me. My question is/my questions are a) is there a possibility I was "over reaching" with my irons? and b) What would you guys suggest is a sensible set up for irons with regard to distance of club grip from the body?

It's possible you were as you say "over reaching" to get to the ball. This can cause numerous problems. For irons and woods, the club distance between your hands and pelvis should be about the same. An ideal position would be to have about a fist space between your hands and pelvis. And for the driver, a fist and a thumb would be okay. To check this, simply grip the club and then put one hand in between your belt area and club, with your fist in a way so that your thumb on that hand would point to the club shaft if you extended it. Hope this helps. I learned this useful tip from Mark Crossfield on YouTube. Check out his videos; they're great! Also, feel free to upload a swing video in the My Swing section of the site so people can help you out.

[MS256]

Athletically ready stance. Arms hanging down with left arm vertical from a down the line view.

A little outside of vertical with the left arm is not uncommon with longer clubs and a little inside of vertical is not uncommon with shorter clubs.

In the "means absolutely nothing" category: I don't change how my arms hang for different clubs.

[saevel25]

Originally Posted by claytonmeister

Hi guys I'm a relative newbie to this beautiful game and to the Sandtrap. Read a lot but don't post too much.

I have been struggling so bad with my irons consistently topping them and also hitting wide right. On my last round after a very poor front 9 I decided to stand with the club a bit closer to my body. It appeared that I was hitting much cleaner AND much straighter clubs with the club closer to me.

My question is/my questions are a) is there a possibility I was "over reaching" with my irons? and b) What would you guys suggest is a sensible set up for irons with regard to distance of club grip from the body?

Topping is a combination of not having weight forward at impact, and not having a flat left wrist. You could be over reaching, a lot of amateurs will have straight arms away from there body. You don't want the hands to close, you don't want them to far away, but there is a wide range of stances you can take.

For me, i like to place the club behind the ball first, then take my address, i can use that as a yardage stick to keep my ball position consistant. I like to use my left hand because i line up my left foot first. This makes sure i don't get the ball to far back in my stance. I can hold the club perpendicular to the inside of my left thigh, then adjust from there.

[NuclearMike]

I recently had the same issue of standing too far from the ball when hitting irons.  I was topping the ball on occasion and thought that it was just me standing up too quickly from the more athletic posture that I've been working on but when I found that even when I absolutely knew that I had stayed down on the ball that the ball position in my stance had to be the culprit.  Fixing that problem, or at least fixing it most of the time, has made great differences in my irons.  I haven't had the same negative experience with my woods.  You're definitely on the right track.