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My Stupid Golf Question of the Day

Boone

Boone

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I know this is something I should have a better understanding of... but why is it progressively harder to consistently hit lower irons?

With a wedge or 9 iron in my hands, I'm as good as anyone I play with. I feel relaxed and just step up, take a smooth athletic swing, and watch my ball nearly always arc beautifully downrange, almost always in the direction and the approximate distance I intended.

But put a 7 or 6 iron (or God forbid, something lower) in my hands and it's a scary proposition. That seems illogical to me.

I know the irons get longer as I move down. I have to adjust ball position accordingly. But in my head, it seems like it shouldn't be that much harder to be consistent with irons as I move down? I watched @Canadan hitting PXG 6 irons on today's Range Days episode with a strange mix of man love and jealousy.

If golf consisted only of shots from 120 yds on in, I'd be a God. Sadly... it takes a little more than that.

So what's my problem? It's to the point where if I need anything below an 8 iron, I'll pull out a 5 Hybrid and take my chances. I haven't always been this way. There was a time in my younger days where I could hit any iron confidently. My 3 iron used to be my favorite club. Now I don't carry anything below a 6 iron - because there's no point.

I'm considering starting going to the range with nothing BUT my 7 iron - until we are friends again.
 
The text book answers are lower loft influences the starting line much more than higher lofted clubs, the spin is lower which can affect resistance to axis tilt, the club is longer which can affect your swing, etc.

The practical answer is you have a swing flaw that is masked with the short irons because of one or more of the text book answers above.
 
Boone said:
I know this is something I should have a better understanding of... but why is it progressively harder to consistently hit lower irons?

With a wedge or 9 iron in my hands, I'm as good as anyone I play with. I feel relaxed and just step up, take a smooth athletic swing, and watch my ball nearly always arc beautifully downrange, almost always in the direction and the approximate distance I intended.

But put a 7 or 6 iron (or God forbid, something lower) in my hands and it's a scary proposition. That seems illogical to me.

I know the irons get longer as I move down. I have to adjust ball position accordingly. But in my head, it seems like it shouldn't be that much harder to be consistent with irons as I move down? I watched @Canadan hitting PXG 6 irons on today's Range Days episode with a strange mix of man love and jealousy.

If golf consisted only of shots from 120 yds on in, I'd be a God. Sadly... it takes a little more than that.

So what's my problem? It's to the point where if I need anything below an 8 iron, I'll pull out a 5 Hybrid and take my chances. I haven't always been this way. There was a time in my younger days where I could hit any iron confidently. My 3 iron used to be my favorite club. Now I don't carry anything below a 6 iron - because there's no point.

I'm considering starting going to the range with nothing BUT my 7 iron - until we are friends again.
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I'm not golf pro and certainly no expert but I fond with myself (and others) that the nice tempo'd swing that we use in our short irons disappears when we get a longer iron in our hands, we feel the need to swing harder (it IS supposed to go farther, right?) abandoning that nicely sequenced swing that we enjoy with our short irons.

Or maybe not. 🤷‍♂️
 
You made my day, for what it's worth.

Also... Confidence, and concept. There's a whole lot of trust that goes into a golf swing. If you're mentally expecting something different, mini adjusters start firing and force error.

I love the idea of heading to the range and just bashing it home with the 7. That's so smart.
 
-CRW- said:
The text book answers are lower loft influences the starting line much more than higher lofted clubs, the spin is lower which can affect resistance to axis tilt, the club is longer which can affect your swing, etc.

The practical answer is you have a swing flaw that is masked with the short irons because of one or more of the text book answers above.
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Dammit man - I really wasn't looking for the truth! :ROFLMAO: I suspect you're correct. I have a terrible tendency to push the ball left with lower irons, something I never do with 9 irons on up. It sort of reinforces my need to grind on a lower iron until I figure out what I'm doing that has me struggling so much with them.

@robrandalgz I think that's definitely a factor as well. I may pay more attention to how I'm setting up and swinging on the lower irons to try and be more consistent with what I do with the wedges and see if that gets me going.

And @Canadan - I absolutely get the confidence and trust thing. One thing I've gotten better at as I've played more in recent years is figuring out why I'm struggling with a club (say, with the driver - where if I'm having a problem it's almost always because I'm taking too vertical a backswing). I just haven't figured out what my issue with the lower irons is yet :) But there is hope... at least theoretically :oops:
 
He went Bob Dole on you there :)
 
The reasons why the higher lofted irons are easier to control is that 1) loft overcomes side spin, which isn't a factor with the lower lofted clubs: 2) golf being a perverse game, we can get pretty good results with a high right shoulder through impact, which can be fatal with the middle and lower lofted clubs for the average golfer.
 
Yeah the whole taking one club to the range is a great way to start. And if it doesn’t work today then come back tomorrow and the next day. You gotta grind it out. Nothing in golf is free.
 
TCB2010 said:
Yeah the whole taking one club to the range is a great way to start. And if it doesn’t work today then come back tomorrow and the next day. You gotta grind it out. Nothing in golf is free.
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Unsolicited swing tips are.
 
This sums me up in a nutshell, I've always been terrible with a 6i, and now I have a 5i in the bag as well. I go for a lesson which seems to sort things out but then for some reason when I'm on the range or the course it's chunk city. As people have said, is mostly confidence but then also a bit of grinding it out needs to happen as well.
 
Sounds like you should give some Cobra OL irons a try. New irons cure everything! 😈🤣🤣
 
Usually a 6/7 is a comfortable club. I am highly recommending a swing analysis either by pro or online through swing videos. Focus on club path and angles on takeaway and on the down swing.

If 8 iron works move to 7 or 6 as 6 might correct the issue for higher irons if you can manage the struggle.
 
I have always hit my lower irons as good or even better than my higher irons. My boys used to say stuff like wow, you killed that 3 iron. Lately though, I have had some strange issues with my 5 iron (this Mavrik MAX set only has AW-5 iron) and I have re-focused my attention on what I used to do to hit that club well.

I don't think it has anything to do with confidence because I know how far and how good I can hit that club, but is more something I am doing subconsciously when striking the ball.

One thing you could try is going out and practice hitting by swinging it slow and gradually increasing the swing speed until you can determine where the swing goes wrong. Then back up each time and do that again until you know what is making the swing go off.

I have read that when you get off on your swing go back to my fundamentals and start there you can regain my control again. This has worked for me especially with my wedges because every now and then my wedge swing seems to depart to another galaxy in space land.
 
Turtlerancher said:
Sounds like you should give some Cobra OL irons a try. New irons cure everything! 😈🤣🤣
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I tried the OL for awhile - because new irons cure everything :) They weren't my cup of tea although I love the concept. Funny thing is, this is a fairly recent phenomenon, so obviously I'm doing something (or not doing something) in my swing that I need to get sorted out.
 
I’ve always had the swing thought of “the longer the iron, the more of baseball swing I needed.” We all know as you go down the iron set, each iron gets longer in length so you can’t swing exactly the same way with every club.

Just try to swing around your body more, take less of a divot and maybe that’ll give you some confidence. Good luck!
 
That's good advice. I am thinking that I have just allowed my swing to get far too steep and am going outside in now. I've seen that with my driver. I am going to focus on a more horizontal swing and see if that has a positive effect - thanks for the thought.
 
The next time you hit a long iron, pretend for all the world that you're really hitting a 9-iron - same tempo, same speed and same overall feeling. Many times golfers will swing harder or try to "help" the ball get into the air with their longer irons and that'll lead to poor shots.

Good luck!
 
So this may be a "me" problem but I'm on the shorter end of average height... 5'8 1/2" and with stock iron sets getting longer for those more vertically gifted, it seems I can adjust for everything down to about 7i then 6i & 5i are just too long. I find I hit better shots gripping down and finding the center of the clubface.

I'm in the market for new irons and really committed to a good fitting. Always got the "stock should work for you" from the big box store fitters.

That said and it might not be the op's issue at all... the confidence factor is huge. Hitting a 5i or 6i off the tee as a fairway finder I'm solid. Pressure of hitting a green with one and... well... it's not happening. I'd be better off laying up. Even on a par 3.
 
lack of confidence messing with your tempo and tension
 
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