Angle of Attack?

[Arizonian]

I find it much easier with the shorter irons, PW-6, to attack the ball with a much steeper angle of attack and club head lag achieving maximum compression. Lately working with my longer irons (3-4) I noticed by divot and compression that it seemed that I had more of a sweeping action and a lack of compression seemed to be present.

Question is: Should I be seeking to pound down on the ball with the long irons as well as the short?

The confusing thing is that the ball flight and distance was satisfactory, it just didn't feel</u> or sound</u> like the ball's I smash into the ground with an 8 iron.

 

[wallywonga]

Some things that you need to know about your clubs.

When you view a short Iron from the front at address you will notice how the shaft leans forward (toward the target) more than long irons and woods whose shafts progressivly get closer to the vertical.

From a down the line position the shaft angles once again differ. The short irons sit closer to the vertical and the long irons get progressivle flatter due to the increased length in shaft.

Both angles from front and side allow the butt end of the club to sit in the same spot, just inside the left thigh.

With the shorter clubs the shaft angles will encourage a more up and down swing as opposed to a slightly longer more rounded swing with the longer clubs. The shorter clubs will see less of a weight shift compared to the longer clubs.

All these things combined with the correct ball positions will determin the angle of approach into the ball.

With a longer swing, slightly more weight transfer, forward ball position you can expect to see a wider arc at the base of the swing resulting in a slightly shallower angle of approach. This does not mean that you are no longer hitting down on the ball. On the contrary most players are too steep with their longer irons. This fact is masked by the shorter irons which lend themseleves better to steeper descending blows.

Hope this helps

Wally.