HELP: Long vs Short iron

[MikeL]

I always struggle with my long irons, and I just can't figure out why. I've read articles online, tried different techniques/stance, spent hours at the range, nothing seems to be working consistently. I seem to be getting the right trajectory, but it lacks distance. For example, I'll hit my 7 iron further than my 5 iron (with no heavy wind). So far, I tried shortening my swing, use wider stance, put the ball more forward/away, and backward/closer and nothing seems to be a solution.

Do you change anything in your swing when hitting long irons that differs from the way you would shoot your short irons?

I've bought a 3 hybrid which helps me, but I don't intend on buying a 4, 5, and 6 hybrid, I want to fix this problem.

Thanks.

[jvincent]

Longer irons are simply harder to hit.

You don't say what your skill level is, but it may simply be that you have reached the limits of your skill. If that is the case, practice is probably your best option.

It is also possible that your longer irons are a bad fit (too long, too stiff) and that's why you are struggling.

[MikeL]

Thanks for your reply. I certainly understand that practice is my best option, I was just looking for tips on how to strike the ball better using long irons. The fact that the club might be too long/stiff is a possibility. I'm 5'7" using standard lenght, with uniflex shafts (I do choke down on the club by 1-2 inch). As for skill level, I started playing 3 years ago (just 10-15 rounds per year), and so far this year, I've averaged a once per week visit at the range, and played roughly 8 rounds this year.

Even if my skill level is not that great, it's frustrating when you can't use your 4,5, and 6 irons when playing a round. hehe

I'll consider taking lessons later this year, but in the mean time, I would like some techniques that I can try at the range and see how that goes.

Longer irons are simply harder to hit.

You don't say what your skill level is, but it may simply be that you have reached the limits of your skill. If that is the case, practice is probably your best option.

It is also possible that your longer irons are a bad fit (too long, too stiff) and that's why you are struggling.

[jvincent]

One that that most beginners try to do is help the ball in the air. This is a big cause of problems, especially with long irons. To get the ball to go up, you have to hit down on it. It seems counter-intuitive, but thats the way it works.

[nokids]

i go through these up and downs where one week i can hit my long irons perfectly, and the next week i'm chunking or slicing shots my long irons. so when i'm hitting them good, i take note of all the things i'm doing so that i can refer to those notes when the bad times come.

i found that setting up with the ball further away from me at setup helped me hit my long irons more cleanly without taking much of a divot, whereas 5, 6,7,8,9 irons will take a divot out of the ground. make sure your shoulders, feet, forearms are all aligned to the target and your grip makes the clubhead aim at the target. you dont have to kill the ball, just take a nice easy swing. tempo is really important.

[MikeL]

I like the feedback that I'm getting so far. Thanks guys!

[habsfan]

i see the fundamentals of my swing as exactly the same for every club except my putter, the last few years I struggled with consistency with my ball stricking, I would go from great ball stricker to poor over night. This year I decided to go back to the basics, no matter what kind of swing you have the fundamentals of the swing relatively speaking remain the same good stance/posture/grip/balance, head behind the ball throughout the swing, and completing the swing releasing your hips, thats my thinking with an iron/wood in my hands and just let my natural ability take over. The days of great Pat, bad Pat are fewer and fewer and hitting some consistent shots/scores, I feel confident regardless which club I have in my hand except my putter.

[habsfan]

i see the fundamentals of my swing as exactly the same for every club except my putter, the last few years I struggled with consistency with my ball stricking, I would go from great ball stricker to poor over night. This year I decided to go back to the basics, no matter what kind of swing you have the fundamentals of the swing relatively speaking remain the same good stance/posture/grip/balance, head behind the ball throughout the swing, and completing the swing releasing your hips, thats my thinking with an iron/wood in my hands and just let my natural ability take over. The days of great Pat, bad Pat are fewer and fewer and hitting some consistent shots/scores, I feel confident regardless which club I have in my hand except my putter.

[mberube]

Try the tee divot drill. Put a tee in the ground 2 inches in front of the ball and then hit the ball while taking the tee out of the ground with the divot. Note that your divot should always be very shallow and straight or slightly right of your.

Most take too large of a divot. You should see the top root of the grass on the ground after your divot. Anything deeper tells you that your swing is too steep.

This drill will help you hit down and through the ball giving you more distance.

Mike

[Shushu]

Everybody is different... but for me when I was struggling for more consistency I went for lessons and was taught to keep the same stance for all irons. Ball relatively middle of my stance (for all of my irons), you have to stand farther away because of the length of the shaft. Create a hand space differerence from your body to where your hands are gripping the club. Keep the same back swing and follow through with all irons. Go out and beat a few buckets of balls.

Hope this helps in some way. Good luck.

[cobra]

Take lessons. Also, have you been fitted for your clubs? If not, you'd be amazed at the difference getting properly fitted can do for your game.

[nokids]

Everybody is different... but for me when I was struggling for more consistency I went for lessons and was taught to keep the same stance for all irons. Ball relatively middle of my stance (for all of my irons), you have to stand farther away because of the length of the shaft. Create a hand space differerence from your body to where your hands are gripping the club. Keep the same back swing and follow through with all irons. Go out and beat a few buckets of balls.

Hope this helps in some way. Good luck.

i went for a lesson yesterday to stop hitting my irons fat, and my teacher said the same thing Shushu just wrote. so disregard my previous comment about standing further away from the ball on long irons; it's the length of the shaft that determines how far back from the ball you should stand.

also my teacher noticed i had started to grip the club wrong, and i wasn't turning my hips, which led to over-the-top, outside-in, ugly, fat shots.

go see a teaching pro, they will straighten you out!

[Shushu]

I'm not so sure about the custom club route. Even teaching professionals all toute "come and see us for a lesson before buying that new Driver. I had a set of Ping i3 + blades customized to me from Chuck Browns. They ended up being blue dot, and 1/2 inch longer then standard. Just last year I bought Mixuno MP-52's. I had Golftown go through the rigamorol of customizing them...and low and behold now I'm completely standard across the board and shooting better scores than ever. Ping has changed there color codes now too so nothing is the same. Now...I'm not saying it's a waste of time.....but I don't know many people that have the same swing day to day to be able to utilize "the perfect clubs" for them. Although there is another thread (or somewhere in a thread) that talks about clubs being made to improper specs etc that I might want to check out at a club fitters shop as I am interested in the lies and lofts being true.

Take lessons. Also, have you been fitted for your clubs? If not, you'd be amazed at the difference getting properly fitted can do for your game.

[MikeL]

Again, thanks for all the feedback. I've never been fitted, and I agree that would help. I've took a few lessons before, and I agree that more would definately help. The only problem is that it's not cheap to get lessons. I'd rather try and see what I can figure out on my own, and then work with an instructor later this season (not sure if it's the best way to go about it, but financially, that sounds right for the moment).

I went out to the range and tried different techniques to improve my long iron shots with your suggestions. I seem to have found a way to get the distance and trajectory right. I just take a half swing, and on my down swing I just swing as fast as I can. With my short irons, that wouldn't work, so I'm starting to think I just didn't have the swing speed for long irons. So for now I'll continue having different swings for long/short irons, and hopefully this will all develop into one smooth full swing.

But again, what happens on the range, doesn't always happen on the course, so we'll see the course.

[mberube]

I'm not so sure about the custom club route. Even teaching professionals all toute "come and see us for a lesson before buying that new Driver. I had a set of Ping i3 + blades customized to me from Chuck Browns. They ended up being blue dot, and 1/2 inch longer then standard. Just last year I bought Mixuno MP-52's. I had Golftown go through the rigamorol of customizing them...and low and behold now I'm completely standard across the board and shooting better scores than ever. Ping has changed there color codes now too so nothing is the same. Now...I'm not saying it's a waste of time.....but I don't know many people that have the same swing day to day to be able to utilize "the perfect clubs" for them. Although there is another thread (or somewhere in a thread) that talks about clubs being made to improper specs etc that I might want to check out at a club fitters shop as I am interested in the lies and lofts being true.

True but you have a tendency or a “normal” swing pattern that fitted clubs will help you be more consistent. You mentioned that your two fittings were different and that is normal since you surely took lessons and/or worked on improving your swing over the years. That will obviously change your fitting specs. Although I have not done it for a few years, spec readjustment should be done every year or so IMO.

[mberube]

I just take a half swing, and on my down swing I just swing as fast as I can.

That is recipe for disaster. Find your smooth tempo and stick with it. Good contact and rhythm is what makes the ball go far. If you ever player with a low handicap pay attention to there tempo and rhythm. Try to copy that and feed off of it. If you try to hit it far you WILL get out of sync resulting in poor contact and more side spin.