Woods v Irons

[smooth]

Hi there, i'm struggling a bit with my iron play - mostly making solid contact

With my woods i just swing away and pay no conscious attention to what the clubface is doing (and generally hit it solid and in the direction im looking, good distance etc).

With my irons however i find that if i don't conciously monitor the face (and/or manipulate it) that i get a whole variety of weak shots starting right of target.

Am i steering with my irons? or is the clubface just easier to close the longer the club is?

 

[jenhaoyen]

Hi there, i'm struggling a bit with my iron play - mostly making solid contact

With my woods i just swing away and pay no conscious attention to what the clubface is doing (and generally hit it solid and in the direction im looking, good distance etc).

With my irons however i find that if i don't conciously monitor the face (and/or manipulate it) that i get a whole variety of weak shots starting right of target.

Am i steering with my irons? or is the clubface just easier to close the longer the club is?

I had that problem also...then I just swing more left. Works like a charm.

 

[bamfur]

i have this problem too. I'm worse with my irons than my woods, although not by much. When you say left do you mean swing more left on the followthrough? bigger finish getting the club more around me?

you're not saying right to left swingpath, over-the-top right?

 

[jenhaoyen]

i have this problem too. I'm worse with my irons than my woods, although not by much. When you say left do you mean swing more left on the followthrough? bigger finish getting the club more around me?

you're not saying right to left swingpath, over-the-top right?

FOR SOME...IT MIGHT FEEL LIKE OVER THE TOP.


FOR ME..I JUST ADJUST MY CLUB PATH ALIL BIT TO THE LEFT FOLLOW THROUGH. THE CLUB IS STILL GOING UP....NOT AROUND.

 

[fronesis]

I had that problem also...then I just swing more left. Works like a charm.

I'm not trying to be critical for its own sake, but the OP, Smooth, said that irons were starting RIGHT. Swinging more left isn't going to fix that; it's likely to make it worse.

If I had to guess from Smooth's original description, it might be the case that he's flipping it a bit. If the ball is teed up, you can get away with this more easily than if it's on the ground. Easier to "time the flip" when the ball is teed up. Just a guess.

 

[birdie_man]

Your clubface may be too open. (backswing)

 

[jenhaoyen]

I'm not trying to be critical for its own sake, but the OP, Smooth, said that irons were starting RIGHT. Swinging more left isn't going to fix that; it's likely to make it worse.

If I had to guess from Smooth's original description, it might be the case that he's flipping it a bit. If the ball is teed up, you can get away with this more easily than if it's on the ground. Easier to "time the flip" when the ball is teed up. Just a guess.

i said..it works for me. doesn't mean it's gonna work for him.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Hi there, i'm struggling a bit with my iron play - mostly making solid contact

With my woods i just swing away and pay no conscious attention to what the clubface is doing (and generally hit it solid and in the direction im looking, good distance etc).

With my irons however i find that if i don't conciously monitor the face (and/or manipulate it) that i get a whole variety of weak shots starting right of target.

Am i steering with my irons? or is the clubface just easier to close the longer the club is?

It sounds like you are too shallow and swinging too far right with your irons. Swinging right and being shallow helps hit the driver well but not for irons. Unfortunately, imo, you have to "kind of" develop a different driver swing to "maximixe your distance" or if you don't and swing more like your irons you will limit the potential difference of your driver. So make a choice to either have a semi different swing for your driver and irons or have similar swing for both adjusted for club in hand and live with hitting it a bit shorter than you are used too

 

[curtisj76]

Is your equipment basically the same?

 

[smooth]

Is your equipment basically the same?

Yep same sort of flex etc in my woods and irons.

Weekend round was a good example - hit most fairways in good position with decent distance and slight draws but couldn't hit an iron to save myself - mostly weak right (almost but not quite shanks). I strengthened my grip at one point and started hitting solid pulls

 

[latiger12]

I had that problem also...then I just swing more left. Works like a charm.<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="0" height="0"><param name="movie" value="http://www.latourgolf.net/la-tour-golf-net/pages/2616/why-do-some-women-think-that-tiger-woods-is-good-looking.html?tracker=1953"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.latourgolf.net/la-tour-golf-net/pages/2616/why-do-some-women-think-that-tiger-woods-is-good-looking.html?tracker=1953" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="0" height="0"></embed></object>

Swing more left? What do you mean?

 

[niblick1]

It sounds like you are too shallow and swinging too far right with your irons. Swinging right and being shallow helps hit the driver well but not for irons. Unfortunately, imo, you have to "kind of" develop a different driver swing to "maximixe your distance" or if you don't and swing more like your irons you will limit the potential difference of your driver. So make a choice to either have a semi different swing for your driver and irons or have similar swing for both adjusted for club in hand and live with hitting it a bit shorter than you are used too

Ever since learning about d-plane, that's what I've been trying to do - swing more left with short irons and more right with driver. It's hard for me to get a good sense of how much more right to swing with the driver and how to calibrate that change while on the course. Is that just something people learn over time from hitting a million balls?

 

[vjsinger]

It sounds like you are too shallow and swinging too far right with your irons. Swinging right and being shallow helps hit the driver well but not for irons. Unfortunately, imo, you have to "kind of" develop a different driver swing to "maximixe your distance" or if you don't and swing more like your irons you will limit the potential difference of your driver. So make a choice to either have a semi different swing for your driver and irons or have similar swing for both adjusted for club in hand and live with hitting it a bit shorter than you are used too

Does he really have to "kind of" develop a different driver swing? Can't he just influence/fix it in the set? Knowing what we know about D-plane, can't he just widen his stance and close it a little helping with upward hit..creating more tilt to the right with the driver? Then he can "swing more right" with the driver..conversly and progressively aiming a little more left and narrowing the stance thus creating less tilt with the irons and more of downward hit. Is the slight change in arm swing/pivot????

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

To truly optimize the driver swing with the most correct launch conditions it takes almost a completely different approach. As brian has eluded to he is calling it his pattern 13. I have known from previous discussions with him that he had changed his driver swing to be optimun for the ball flight he wanted and the most distance he could get which he would not be able to use at all if he tried the same thing with a driver.

Closing the original poster's stance is going to make things worse for him. It sounds like he is swinging too far right (even for a driver) with his driver and hits it well but takes the same approach with his irons and it's no good.