Introduction
Setup
The Swing
Repetitive Swing
Accuracy Not Distance
Balance
Introduction
Irons are an important part to good play. They make up
the difference between the greens and the tees. The long
irons aren't used as often as the shorter irons, because
people are beginning to use the fairway woods more often.
They are still important though. So we will discuss them
in detail. The shorter irons are vitally important to the
game because, as I said, they are the final link to
getting the ball onto the green.
Setup
The posture of the swing is very much like what we
discussed in this section
except for a few minor modifications. Firstly, the irons
vary in club length and that changes your posture. For
instance, the 6 iron, should line up about a club head in
front of where the comfortable postion for a 9 iron and a
3 iron should line up about a club head in front of the 6
iron. Also, as discussed earlier, the ball placement for
a 3 iron should be an inch or two behind your left foot
(opposite for left-handed hitters) and the 9 iron ball
should be centered between your legs. And the other balls
should be somewhere in the middle.
The Swing
Like a wood, your shot should be smooth. Everything from
the takeaway to the impact, should floaw and be fluid.
Also like a wood shot, your weight should shift from the
left foot to the right foot and back again without a loss
of balance. (Opposite for a left-handed hitter.) If you
find that there is a loss of balance then I would suggest
that you take another shot, this time only using 75% of
your swing power.
Repetitive Swing
When using irons, having a repetitive swing is vital. You
see, each iron has a few degree angle difference between
the club before and after it. Using the same swing, you
change clubs to change the distance of the shot. The neat
thing about irons is that if you want a longer shot, you
don't swing harder, you just choose a bigger club and
keep the same swing. That way, your iron shots will have
consistency.
Accuracy Not Distance
Normally with an iron, you are trying to put the ball on
the green. This requires a great deal of accuracy. Also,
when using irons your shots (no matter which iron)
require that you use the same stroke that you always use.
Wouldn't it be nice if all your iron were straight? Well,
if you answered yes to that last question, I would like
to call your attention to Ben Hogan.
Ben Hogan is regarded as being one of the straightest shots on the golf course. He rarely forced his swing or forced his shot because he always felt that accuracy and consistency were more important than distance. So what he would do was, use an easy swing and just use a club 1 size bigger that he thought should be used and he could swing easily, keep the ball under control, and hit it the right distance. Pretty neat, huh? So try it sometime.
Balance
Because your iron shot is so important, it is recommended
that when swinging the golf club, you always maintain a
sense of balance. If you are off balance, than your shot
will not go where it was intended to go. I can't
emphasize that enough, so remember that and swing within
yourself.