Short irons great, long irons & driver pretty bad

[huestisc]

In recent practice sessions my ball-striking with my short irons has amazed me, and I am hitting it by far the best I ever have. My PW for instance has gone from about 110 yds to 125 yds and the contact is really solid, ball-turf, flight is actually fairly high, slight draw. The swing feels great, with a nice little float loading action in the transition.

The story is similar down to about the 7 iron, where I have gained maybe only 5 yds and the swing feels nearly as good, just not as reliable. However, with the 5 iron I can only hit it half-way decent about 50 pct of the time and the ball only flies about 5 yds further than the 7 iron, but on a much lower trajectory, and then runs a bit more than the 7.

The Driver is just a mess, with lots of snap and duck hooks, and no solid shots and no distance.

On the longer clubs I have trouble getting the float-loading action that has made such a difference in the short irons. I also feel my left wrist bending on the downswing as I try my best to "hold on" and hit leakage hook after leakage hook.

Here's some swings I posted a couple of weeks ago, taken about a month ago. My current swing probably doesn't look too different, although I have a more pronounced float load in the transition (on the short irons).

I'd appreciate any advice on how to transfer my results on the short irons to the rest of the bag. I feel like a tour pro on the short irons and a 25 handicap on the longer clubs!

 

[mgranato]

What do you mean by "float-loading"?

 

[huestisc]

Float loading

Adding left-wrist cock/right elbow bend on the downswing....the idea being the later you add it, the easier it is to store and hold and achieve a later release...a good "posterchild" would be Sergio Garcia.

 

[GolfVn]

Are you flipping it?

 

[Bill Miracle]

I'm probably the last guy here to give good advice but here is what has helped me lately with the longer irons.

I was about 50% successful as well. Noticed in my slo-mo videos that I was releasing too soon. Also, I felt like l needed to swing with a wider arc with longer clubs so I was trying to do that.

Now what I do is keep a nice, compact pivot back and at the top, try to spear the back of the ball with the end of the grip. This thought helps me hold the wrist-cock longer, creating better lag. (at least that's my impression of what's going on). It may/probably is helping with some plane issues as well.

For the first time in my short golf life, I am dealing with slight pushes and aim problems vs. shots that could go anywhere. Accuracy is a direct hit to a playable miss. I don't have a 2 iron but...I pull out the 3 pretty regular now with confidence.

The driver...well, I have been hitting that very well until the last 3 rounds. I started a thread asking Brian for some help there. You might look for that and find some answers there.

 

[huestisc]

Are you flipping it?

I don't think so, at least not on the short irons...on the longer clubs, I think that is part of the problem, as I can tell my left wrist is bending and then I just hold on for dear life.

I guess what I am after is "Why can I get delayed release, float loading, nice power increase on my short irons but have trouble carrying it over to the longer clubs".

When I try to make the same swing on the longer clubs it just starts to unravel quickly....is there anything obvious I can work on or is it something that just needs lots of practice and repition?

That's also why I have re-posted my swings, to see if anyone can point out anything that I might get away with on shorter clubs but causes problems on longer clubs.

 

[Mr Inconsistent]

Probably the main reason why you can't hit the longer clubs as well is because you have an upper body dominated swing. And you are too stiff and tense. Without swinging a club work on getting your lower body action to look like a guy on tour. Then when you swing a club, focus on the shift and turn of the lower body leading the upper body and club and make the sequence a flowing one. Check out Vijay here as a visual to what I'm saying. He's not stifly hitting it with his upper body, he's leading the downswing with his lower body. That's why it looks effortless and flowing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaVHjbcsasc

 

[cmartingolf]

Wallop with the pivot....

Take a look at Brian's "confessions of a former flipper." There is a great bit where he knocks over his plane board with a towel. His pivot thrust takes his impact hands to the plane board and knocks it over with an inert towel.

Another thing that's more inportant with longer clubs, be sure to hit the inside aft quadrant of the ball. If you are a real hooker, that ball had better start out to the right, then hook, or you are simply a pull-hooker with some path issues.

Mr. I has a good point about the VJ video, develope some rythym in your pivot and hit the inside part of the ball with the imperitives intact. At least that will take you farther in your journey.

Good luck.

 

[bts]

Slow it down

The longer the club, the slower the swing.