Many golfers complain the can’t hit their irons very far. This summer I played with a friend of mine who asked me for help. I quickly discovered he made good contact with his driver but very weak contact with his irons often coming up short and to the right. Clearly he is in the beginning stages of learning the game but I could see he had potential from being a baseball player.
Every golfer wants to hit the crisp solid looking irons. And I can’t think of too many things that are more irritating than a weak shot to the right that comes up short.
I worked with him on the basic fundamentals such as grip, posture and aim but he still hit weak shots with his irons. It baffled me at first but then I realized what he was doing.
Hitting right shots often are a result from trying to help the ball up in the air which is exactly what many beginning golfers think they need to do. Nothing could be further from the truth with your irons. What ends up happening is they will hang back on their right side trying to scoop the ball in the air and as a result hit the high weak shot to the right.
Since my buddy was a baseball player this is exactly what he was doing. Baseball swings do not transfer the weight to the left side like the golf swing does. And shifting and transferring weight to the left side in golf to be able to cover the ball is crucial to solid golf shots.
To be a good iron player you need to hit down and through the ball not thinking about helping it up in the air. The loft on your irons naturally take care of this for you. To fix this problem here are a couple swing thoughts.
Here are a couple tips to help you from hitting weak right shots that come up way short of your intended target:
1. your weight moving forward thought your shot all the way over to your left side through the downswing and finish. Your hands and arms follow your torso.
2. Try and make the back of your left hand is hitting the back of the ball. Your left hand should be facing the target. This helps keep the true loft of the iron you’re hitting rather than increasing loft due to you trying to help it in the air. Do this and you should hit more greens.