Long Irons, Amateurs, and AoA??

[finncox]

I know that the refrain often goes "Amateurs can't hit long irons because of their slower swing speed."

However, I worked with Brian this weekend and had a really choppy, steep AoA coming into the ball. When we got that sorted a little, I started hitting the ball much higher, with a shallower angle, even though I was swinging from the inside, and trying to hit a draw.

So, in all of the teachers' experience, is it really the fact that most of us swing slowly that makes long irons difficult to hit? Or, is it mainly our choppy, steep AoA that makes it difficult for us to make effective use of a long iron's loft?

I know that it is probably a combination of both factors. But, which one do y'all think is the bigger culprit?

 

[Frans@France]

Clubspeed combined with loft is what makes the long irons hard to hit, because if there is not enough clubspeed the ball will not have enough speed and spin to get really airborn.

And because the loft is getting less and less with every new serie those long irons are getting harder to hit every year.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Mostly has to do with loft, even if you don't have the swing speed to generate enough spin to launch a long iron it doesn't mean you can't hit it and it still goes where you want; just probably shorter than it is supposed too (which is why people use hybrids).

I also find it's a mental issue sometimes too, if you are a good enough ball striker with a 5-6 iron there's no reason why you can't hit a 3 or a 4. Some people just freak out about the loft or their mechanics and forget to swing. Had a lesson like that years ago with a student who said he couldn't hit a 3 iron but was a good ball striker.

So i gave him the "Tee" lesson:

Tee up a ball about 1/2" above the ground
grab a 3 or 4 iron and hit it

Do it again but lower the tee to maybe 1/4" above the ground
repeat

Eventually get it to where the ball is barely above the ground and then lastly to where there is no tee at all. However when doing this with a friend or teacher they can trick you (the student) as to when the ball is on a tee or when it wasn't once it gets really low and helps with the mental part of it.

 

[finncox]

Mostly has to do with loft, even if you don't have the swing speed to generate enough spin to launch a long iron it doesn't mean you can't hit it and it still goes where you want; just probably shorter than it is supposed too (which is why people use hybrids).

I also find it's a mental issue sometimes too, if you are a good enough ball striker with a 5-6 iron there's no reason why you can't hit a 3 or a 4. Some people just freak out about the loft or their mechanics and forget to swing. Had a lesson like that years ago with a student who said he couldn't hit a 3 iron but was a good ball striker.

So i gave him the "Tee" lesson:

Tee up a ball about 1/2" above the ground
grab a 3 or 4 iron and hit it

Do it again but lower the tee to maybe 1/4" above the ground
repeat

Eventually get it to where the ball is barely above the ground and then lastly to where there is no tee at all. However when doing this with a friend or teacher they can trick you (the student) as to when the ball is on a tee or when it wasn't once it gets really low and helps with the mental part of it.

This makes sense to me. When I'm hitting it well, I have no problem getting a 5-iron airborne ("when" being the key word, these days). Oddly enough, I sometimes feel weird standing over a hybrid, like I've mysteriously got to treat it differently from an iron.