Short iron/long iron swing

[birdie_man]

I know there are certain swings that work better for certain clubs. For example, Scott Hoch's upright swing is more suited to short irons than long irons where as Davis Love's will work better for long irons.

Would you guys say it's wise to alter your swing slightly depending on what club your using? Two things I was thinking of was swinging more upright with short irons OR using less forearm rotation with short irons and hitting down on them more. I've been experimenting with this somewhat...has anyone else tried it or heard of any players who do this?

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

You should develop ONE swing and use it for every club. Before i became edumacated i thought as you did. But now i am learned and can explain why you only have one swing for all your clubs (except the putter). Also this is only relating to full swings and no special punch or half shots etc.

You should have the same swing for every club. The only thing that makes a swing LOOK more "upright" or more "flat" are a few things:

1) length of body to the ball
2) length of the club
3) posture

The longer the club the taller you stand and the farther you are from the ball. This creates a "flatter" looking plane because of what i just said. Your swing doesn't change, the plane just "shifts" due to the 3 things above.

Same thing for shorter clubs, you have more bend from the waist the club is shorter and you stand closer. With the same swing this will make your swing look more "upright" when in fact the only thing that changed was your visual perception.

Keep the same thing swing for everything and don't try and change your swing for the club. Just let a CONSTANT SETUP ROUTINE and the club/posture dictate your plane for you. If you do it correctly you'll take a divot with EVERY club, including your fairway woods. They should be very very shallow and barely take any grass but they should be there.

 

[birdie_man]

hmmm interesting...so how do you play punch shots...

You're supposed to play it back in your stance, but are you supposed to still take a normal swing and follow through lower or do you restrict the opening of the clubface (keep the clubface pointing at the ball longer) on the backswing to smack down on it?

 

[TYORKE1]

BIRDIEMAN you should be on plain with whatever you are swinging , I believe what you are talking about being to upright is that you are above plain. The short irons if they are on plain will be steeper due to being closer and swinging a more upright club. It really does not matter about your posture or the lenght of club if someone picks the club up they will be above plain most of the time. I have heard that HOCK'S short irons are 7 up! The only time you should tinker with being off plain is if your trying a specality shot, here is a cheap laser a 2 foot piece of pvc pipe 3/4 inch thick with two mag lights out the ends, it works great, TIM

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

posture and length has a large effect of where the plane is for that club. Grab your 45" driver and choke down 4" and stand much closer to the ball....to hit it effectively you plane would shift to a more upright plane.

 

[birdie_man]

That seems to make sense....imagine swinging a driver that is 10 feet long for example. You would have to swing very flat to hit the ball.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

quote:Originally posted by birdie_man

That seems to make sense....imagine swinging a driver that is 10 feet long for example. You would have to swing very flat to hit the ball.

Exactly....you aren't necessarily swinging flat its just thats the plane the club needs to be swung on effectively to make shots.