Iron Striking

You are walking down the 18th having come off the back of another Bogey and thinking to yourself ‘why do I even bother with this game?’. You’re considering taking up a new sport and selling your clubs because surely there is better things to be doing on a Saturday morning. But, then… 150 yards to the flag, you flush an iron to a foot, make birdie in front of the clubhouse and you can’t wait to do it all again next week. Those pure iron shots are the ones that keep us coming back to this stupid game, but how do we get them more consistently? Give these tips a try to become a solid ball striker:

Divot check – first up always replace your divots, look after the course and it will look after you. Divots can tell you a lot about how you are striking the ball. Which direction is the divot pointing? If its left then you are swinging ‘over the top’, right and you are coming from the inside. Do you even take a divot? If no, then you are probably catching a lot thin. An easy practice drill is to place a tee directly in front of your ball, and practice breaking the tee. 

Half swing – if you are really struggling with iron striking and have no consistently bad shot, then its best to take it back to basics. There is a lot that can go wrong when you are full swinging at it, which can lead to a variety of thins, fats, tops and shanks. So, if that sounds like you get yourself to the range and practice swinging it halfway back and through so you can find the middle of the club face. From there you can start building up the pace and length of swing. 

Pick a shot – everybody talks about being able to work the ball in various directions, but to become more consistent you need to have a stock shot you can rely on every time. If you fade the ball, hit the fade. There’s no need to try and make the game harder by working the ball in the opposite way to what you do 90% of the time. 

Get yourself down to the range and give these tips a go. Because we all love a flush iron that rolls up next to the flag.