An iron thought needed

jnug · Jul 7, 2011

Hopefully you guys can give me a swing thought that will help me here.

I have been coming back from my tennis elbow injury and finding my swing again. Strangely enough for a guy that was always a better iron player than a driver, I have found my driver more readily than my irons. That said, I am not a big hitter by any stretch of the imagination. Once I start getting drives out there around 230-250 with the occasional 260 bomb (at least for me), I am there with that club.

I just cannot get back with my irons. I have never played my irons off my wood or driver swing but since I have found the driver and fairways first, does anybody have a swing thought off the driver for playing irons? I used to play driver off my irons and I would try to think about a flatter downswing with driver than iron and staying back a little longer and along with the ball position I had what I needed to drive the ball. Could it be as easy as think about a more acute or steeper swing plane for irons as opposed to the driver? So far that is not clicking for me but it might be that I am not committed to it.

Anyway if anybody has anything that would help me play my irons off of my driver success, that would be great.

jnug · Jul 8, 2011

Actually think I got it figured out. I went out there tonight and started with long irons. Sorta counterintuitive but I felt more comfortable with the longer shafts since I had been hitting driver and woods pretty good. I just took the club back the same way every time and just let the difference in the length of the shaft for each club and the ball position for long, mid and scoring irons take care of the rest. Worked through half the irons from long irons into scoring irons and was hitting the ball pretty consistently through the bag. I had been hitting the irons off and on while recovering but was really inconsistent. Think I will be OK now or at least as OK as it gets for me. Just stopped trying to remember what was different between the woods and the irons and let the clubs do most of the work.

thedue · Jul 8, 2011

Hey buddy, I have three that are helping me right now. Head still, knees crouched shortstop like, arms tucked to stay connected all the way through.

All power is coming from the ss crouch and connection keeps my swing plane. Hope that helps.

Tap,Tap,Tap

Sean · Jul 8, 2011

jnug said:
Actually think I got it figured out. I went out there tonight and started with long irons. Sorta counterintuitive but I felt more comfortable with the longer shafts since I had been hitting driver and woods pretty good. I just took the club back the same way every time and just let the difference in the length of the shaft for each club and the ball position for long, mid and scoring irons take care of the rest. Worked through half the irons from long irons into scoring irons and was hitting the ball pretty consistently through the bag. I had been hitting the irons off and on while recovering but was really inconsistent. Think I will be OK now or at least as OK as it gets for me. Just stopped trying to remember what was different between the woods and the irons and let the clubs do most of the work.

Glad to hear that J!

TRyan · Jul 8, 2011

thedue said:
Hey buddy, I have three that are helping me right now. Head still, knees crouched shortstop like, arms tucked to stay connected all the way through.

All power is coming from the ss crouch and connection keeps my swing plane. Hope that helps.

Tap,Tap,Tap

Thanks for that! I need some helps with my irons

Tap tap taparoo

Canes · Jul 8, 2011

It sounds like you might be sweeping with your irons like you would with a driver or fairway woods? I've always been told to hit down on the ball with the irons. Here's a few things that I do when I struggle with my irons:

1. Punch shots. Make sure you get ball first contact and make a divot in front of the ball.
2. Tee it up. It's cleaner contact and easier to get into a rhythm. Again you want to see a divot in front of the tee. After a few good shots, make the same swing with no tee.
3. Stay connected. I'm a righty, so my only swing thought is to keep the left arm connected @ takeaway & downswing. A glove or towel under the left armpit is a great drill.

Hope this helps!

jnug · Jul 9, 2011

Yea as I said in the original post, to some degree I am not as committed as a should be to a steeper attack with the irons as I am still a little worried about sticking that left elbow of mine. It is still a little tender at this point. Ultimately I am going to have to get back to the steeper attack in order to hit the irons consistently again. The elbow feels better than it has in weeks so I just have to screw up the courage and get it done. There have been times in the last few weeks when it felt like everything from the elbow down was going to remain attached to the club after the shot as opposed to remaining attached to my body.

Thanks folks....really appreciate the help!

mdbuschsr · Jul 9, 2011

jnug said:
Yea as I said in the original post, to some degree I am not as committed as a should be to a steeper attack with the irons as I am still a little worried about sticking that left elbow of mine. It is still a little tender at this point. Ultimately I am going to have to get back to the steeper attack in order to hit the irons consistently again. The elbow feels better than it has in weeks so I just have to screw up the courage and get it done. There have been times in the last few weeks when it felt like everything from the elbow down was going to remain attached to the club after the shot as opposed to remaining attached to my body.

Thanks folks....really appreciate the help!

That's the problem right there. That thought in the back of your head will mess up a good swing every time. I know it would for me anyway.

jnug · Jul 9, 2011

Had a very good range session today and while I hate to be a range warrior, I do need to use the range even when I am playing well. I had not been able to use it at all the past few weeks. Was hitting the ball solid and consistent although I am still a hair shy of attacking the ball on as steep an angle as I can or should. So the trajectory was not optimal but it was not bad either.

Used my TSP to get started and actually hit the ball pretty good with that. Again did not get optimal trajectory but was hitting it pretty good none the less. I would love to see more about the shaft spec for the TSP as I think there might be more flex there than the norm. I even wonder if in part that is the reason why the ball just rockets off the face if you hit it right. I was pleasantly surprised as I was prepared for a series of worm burners using the TSP.

Funny how once you get into a groove, when you don't have sidehill lies or other course condition everyday issues to deal with, you can sometimes just hit it dead on one after the other after the other. While that is not a realistic equivalent for what you deal with on the course, I for one sort of need that sort of consistent hitting surface in order to get back on track. My draw was even finally back again. I had not seen that thing for weeks.

No ill effects that I can identify either. So my balky elbow continues to improve.

I know I have been in some threads started by others that have been struggling with their shot making. Here is something I remembered today that has always helped me when I am playing enough to remember it. One of the better drills out there is the one where you put a head cover under your lead armpit and must hold the cover there through your swing while not crushing the life out of the thing. That is a great drill for getting everything working together in your swing. I regularly set up and hit the ball as if I have a head cover under my arm in an effort to take advantage of the drill even while hitting the ball out on the fairways. If nothing else it does a great job of keeping everything connected even when using the "imaginary" head cover. There are three things that the drill forces even when you don't actually have the cover there. You have to keep your left arm pretty close to your chest on the backswing. You have to take the club back predominantly using your shoulders and you have to use your shoulders in the downswing as well.

Try it and see if it does not help. Just make sure you are not trying to kill the ball so you stay on tempo and it may help you start to get your irons back.