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The elusive Par 4/5 GIR...

justincredible

justincredible

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I am absolutely lost with my irons right now. I can't recall the last time I hit a GIR that wasn't a par 3. I'm almost certain it's been at least 72 holes. Last night in my league I missed a GIR twice with my pitching wedge, twice with a gap wedge, and once with an 8 iron. To be fair, the 8 iron shot was a tricky punch shot through some trees that I just went off the back of the green. Last year my irons were a huge strength, which makes this rut extremely frustrating. On the range, I hit them fine. On the course, *fart noise*. I still ended up shooting a 43 last night, so it wasn't a terrible round overall, I just want to hit another GIR at some point before I die.

Anyway, I just wanted to rant a little bit. Anyone else having any troubles like this? Any tips on how to get out of this rut?
 
I can greatly appreciate your post because its the life I live. What I've found is that for me there's a direct correlation to the quality of shot off the tee. Without question my % of GIR go WAY up when I'm at a distance and angle into the green that allows me to recreate that "on range" feel and confidence.
 
I was there earlier this year. My swing was way too long (I think). I focused on 3/4 swings, but still swinging hard through impact. That’s what got me out of my slump.
 
what’s the miss?
 
justincredible said:
On the range, I hit them fine. On the course, *fart noise*. Anyone else having any troubles like this? Any tips on how to get out of this rut?
Click to expand...

Im in the same boat with all my swings. The reason that it causing it with me....Tension. On the range I don't have any. I swing free and loose. On course I'm letting my anticipation and pressure to perform tighten and rush everything about my swing. learning to let embrace that tension and let go of it when I step to that ball is what i'm working on.
 
justincredible said:
I am absolutely lost with my irons right now. I can't recall the last time I hit a GIR that wasn't a par 3. I'm almost certain it's been at least 72 holes. Last night in my league I missed a GIR twice with my pitching wedge, twice with a gap wedge, and once with an 8 iron. To be fair, the 8 iron shot was a tricky punch shot through some trees that I just went off the back of the green. Last year my irons were a huge strength, which makes this rut extremely frustrating. On the range, I hit them fine. On the course, *fart noise*. I still ended up shooting a 43 last night, so it wasn't a terrible round overall, I just want to hit another GIR at some point before I die.

Anyway, I just wanted to rant a little bit. Anyone else having any troubles like this? Any tips on how to get out of this rut?
Click to expand...
Welcome to my world. I feel your pain. My GIR over the past year is about 15%, and at the distance I play (about 6200 yards), I almost never have more than an 8 iron approach. On the bright side, my chipping right now is probably as good as it's ever been.
 
mtbloco said:
Im in the same boat with all my swings. The reason that it causing it with me....Tension. On the range I don't have any. I swing free and loose. On course I'm letting my anticipation and pressure to perform tighten and rush everything about my swing. learning to let embrace that tension and let go of it when I step to that ball is what i'm working on.
Click to expand...

I'm positive this is my issue as well. It's all in my head. I just can't get out of it.
 
justincredible said:
What isn't the miss, to be honest.

Chunk it short. Fly it long. Shank it right. Shank it left, somehow. It's a real 💩show.
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new clubs? or same gear as last year?

maybe take some videos and post to the forum and tag @TrueMotionMatt
 
McLovin said:
new clubs? or same gear as last year?

maybe take some videos and post to the forum and tag @TrueMotionMatt
Click to expand...

Same clubs, the Hogan PTx Pro's I won from Shaft Up.

Last year my 7 iron was my favorite club in the bag. Now, I can't hit it to save my life.

Posting a video is a good idea, I'll have my partner film me on a shot that's been giving me trouble and see if I can replicate it.
 
How often do you play? If using the same clubs for over a year and getting a lot of use, might be a good idea to check the loft/lie
 
xThor said:
How often do you play? If using the same clubs for over a year and getting a lot of use, might be a good idea to check the loft/lie
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I played a lot last year (36+ a week), but I'm only playing 18-27 holes a week this year. I thought about getting the loft/lie checked, it's probably a good idea.
 
RealPretendPsychic said:
I was there earlier this year. My swing was way too long (I think). I focused on 3/4 swings, but still swinging hard through impact. That’s what got me out of my slump.
Click to expand...

I think it's likely I'm doing a little deceleration with my swing because I have no confidence in it. I might try 3/4 swings the next time out.
 
justincredible said:
Same clubs, the Hogan PTx Pro's I won from Shaft Up.

Last year my 7 iron was my favorite club in the bag. Now, I can't hit it to save my life.

Posting a video is a good idea, I'll have my partner film me on a shot that's been giving me trouble and see if I can replicate it.
Click to expand...
Don't worry about replicating the exact miss...I'll see what you're doing regardless. 🤷‍♂️
 
RealPretendPsychic said:
I was there earlier this year. My swing was way too long (I think). I focused on 3/4 swings, but still swinging hard through impact. That’s what got me out of my slump.
Click to expand...
I'm with this ^. First thing I like to do is shrink down the length of swing and time over the ball. Both limit the amount of things that can go wrong. I make it all smaller, and just focus on contact.
 
justincredible said:
What isn't the miss, to be honest.

Chunk it short. Fly it long. Shank it right. Shank it left, somehow. It's a real 💩show.
Click to expand...
Apologies, but this made me laugh haha.

My iron play is extremely smelly as well. At least I have one specific miss but try as I might I just cannot overcome it.
 
Luckily my iron play especially from 150 in has been very good this year, so far at least (knock on wood). I struggle off tee sometimes and 40 yard shots. And par 3's my GIR is terrible. Why I can hit a nice 150 yard shot from fairway but miss in every direction from tee is frustrating.

Sometimes I know I get too fast on swing and probably too long have to stay in tempo
 
I recently went through this as well, thankfully it was rather short lived.

I went from some of my best ball striking to looking like I’ve never swung a golf club in my life. Come to find out, I had gone back to an old trigger where I would forward press and regrip upon starting my backswing along with standing too close. If I wasn’t hitting massive hooks, it was off the hozel or massively fat....

Check the basics and hopefully this winds up short lived for you as well...
 
I feel your pain! Forget par 5's, unless a fairway is rock hard with a trailing gale force wind, I can't get close in two. Par 4's however are another story. There are more than a few at my course where I find myself 150 yards out (normal 5 iron for me) - I can probably get on in regulation 1 or 2 out of 10 tries. There are others that I can reach with a low iron, and my chances probably improve to 4 or 5 out of 10.
 
If you're only getting GIR's on par threes, wouldn't you have to hit good iron shots on those holes?

Going 0/4 with a full wedge is not that uncommon - especially for a 16 handicap. My iron play while not particularly great is not a huge weakness either (According to myroundpro I'm between a 10-15HDCP on approaches). I hit the green at most half the time with a full lob wedge, and closer to a third of the time with a full pitching wedge. The percentages only get worse the more club you have to hit into the greens.
 
Sounds like just a little mental hangup if the range goes OK.
Trust what your "miss" is and go with it on course and be confident it will turn out OK if you commit to the shot. (y)
 
Another 9 holes today, another 50, another 0/7 GIR (1/2 on par 3s).

I didn't have my brother-in-law record my swing, but on one particularly bad shot (shanked left) he said as I was coming through to the ball with the club I kinda lifted up on on my toes. I was topping a ton of balls off the tee so I'm wondering if I'm not coming up on my toes a lot.

After the bad shot mentioned above, and another that I just chunked, I threw down another ball in anger, set up and swung and hit absolutely perfect shots that landed on the green (one had a ton of back spin and rolled off a sloped green). So the swing is there, I just can't find it until it doesn't actually matter.
 
I've been struggling with irons too and I can tell you one thing for sure: all the magic happens on the target side of the ball.

In other words, you simply HAVE to get your weight to your front foot and have both forward shaft lean and ball first/ground second impact.

Failing to do that results in fat shots, thin shots, pushed shots, pulled shots and even at-the-target shots that feel good but don't carry the distance.

You can get away with driver and fairway shots that way, but for great iron play, I'd definitely consider getting to your left side a high priority.
 
FINALLY got my GIR on the 3rd hole tonight. Missed the birdie putt.

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