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Looking for tips: partial swing shots with shorter irons

GoldenBuff

GoldenBuff

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I need to improve partial swing shots with short irons for in-between distances. My lessons and swing work from last season are paying off, and I am comfortable with my full swing shots across all clubs. I have lifetimes of refinement, but happy enough with the core swing. Partial swing shots, particularly with shorter irons, are flying long.

Example: I am in-between distances and need to hit a rocket 9 iron or a 3/4 wedge. Taking a 100%+ swing with a shorter club is too hard to consistently control. What happens is that even with what I think is a 3/4 swing I still accelerate through the ball and hit it full strike distance, over shooting my target. If I try to decelerate, my tempo is blown and bad things happen. I expect that my internal body image of rotating 3/4 swing is more like a full swing. If that's the case I need different reference points, but I'm not able to visualize those for some reason.

Step two in this skill progression is getting better at hitting different trajectories on these shots. But first, I have to get these in-between swings stabilized.

Thanks for any thoughts and tips.
 
How about option 3: full swing with the longer club but choke down a bit? If partial swings are hard for you just don't do them.
 
I just had a lesson with my pro and we went over this exact thing.

His advice to me was to take a 60-75% back swing without hinging your wrists. This worked wonders for me.
 
tequila4kapp said:
How about option 3: full swing with the longer club but choke down a bit? If partial swings are hard for you just don't do them.
Click to expand...

This is what I try to do. Longer club, same swing with gripping further down
 
mtcowdog said:
I need to improve partial swing shots with short irons for in-between distances. My lessons and swing work from last season are paying off, and I am comfortable with my full swing shots across all clubs. I have lifetimes of refinement, but happy enough with the core swing. Partial swing shots, particularly with shorter irons, are flying long.

Example: I am in-between distances and need to hit a rocket 9 iron or a 3/4 wedge. Taking a 100%+ swing with a shorter club is too hard to consistently control. What happens is that even with what I think is a 3/4 swing I still accelerate through the ball and hit it full strike distance, over shooting my target. If I try to decelerate, my tempo is blown and bad things happen. I expect that my internal body image of rotating 3/4 swing is more like a full swing. If that's the case I need different reference points, but I'm not able to visualize those for some reason.

Step two in this skill progression is getting better at hitting different trajectories on these shots. But first, I have to get these in-between swings stabilized.

Thanks for any thoughts and tips.
Click to expand...

I'm not following you. A rocket 9 iron or 3/4 wedge. One of these requires all out effort and one not so much. Are you comparing the two or say you have an issue with both. I'm confused because you said you have issues hitting a 3/4 shot.
 
Sorry, I was setting up the situation and referenced those backwards; the perils of typing golf ideas in a spare moment while at work. In that example, I might have 140 yards. I can either hammer a Pitching Wedge or back off on a 9 iron. So I pull out the 9 iron and try to hit somewhere around a 3/4 shot. In stead I get full distance, 150+ yards. My 3/4 shot turns out to be a full shot. These distances are increasingly important to me as I am taking the data about amateur golfers to heart. I don't want to leave the ball short.

BTW, the comment above about choking up is something I somehow never consider. Duh. I have no idea why that doesn't cross my mind.
 
Choking up and using the clock system inside 100 yards. I also practice just wedge swings at home with a swing speed radar to really dial in what a 1/2 wedge to 3/4 wedge is in terms of mph. Still requires hitting the center of the face to get the correct distance on course but that is golf.
 
Choking down is the ticket. I usually choke down about an inch and use a smooth swing. The smooth swing is important because i find that my sequencing gets thrown off with a hard cut and my dispersion goes haywire.

It takes a lot of range work to make it useable on the course though. I like to practice by hitting 2 different clubs to the same number. If the target green is 160yds, ill hit a full 9 iron and a choke down 8 iron. Often, the 9 iron comes up a touch short and the 8 iron goes a touch long, but now i know what shot i can play based on pin position, wind, trouble, etc.
 
Choking down is a good way to go. Try varying the width of your stance also. It is pretty difficult to hit a full yardage 9 iron with you feet only 4-6 inches apart. Experiment with both of them and don't be afraid to mix and match...full 9 iron from a normal stance, then choke down an inch on a 7 seven iron and play from a real narrow stance. It's fun to mess around with these kind of shots, you'll be surprised how many more shots you can ad to your 'repertoire'.
 
Just hit a bucket over lunch and tried choking up on some clubs. That should mostly do what I want. I talked with the owner/head pro as I was leaving and commented about choking up. He gave me an exasperated look and said, "you didn't know that?" Haha. Nope.

Thanks.
 
I find that if I try to take an "easy swing" with a longer club, I tend to hit it fat and if I try to kill the shorter club, I tend to pull it off line.

I take the longer club and choke down the amount I want to take off the full distance.
That allows me to take a normal swing.
 
mtcowdog said:
Sorry, I was setting up the situation and referenced those backwards; the perils of typing golf ideas in a spare moment while at work. In that example, I might have 140 yards. I can either hammer a Pitching Wedge or back off on a 9 iron. So I pull out the 9 iron and try to hit somewhere around a 3/4 shot. In stead I get full distance, 150+ yards. My 3/4 shot turns out to be a full shot. These distances are increasingly important to me as I am taking the data about amateur golfers to heart. I don't want to leave the ball short.

BTW, the comment above about choking up is something I somehow never consider. Duh. I have no idea why that doesn't cross my mind.
Click to expand...

Well you answered your own question. If I need a tweener yardage I either choke down an inch is with the club above the distance required. I.e. 145 for me is a choke down 1.5inches on a 9 iron and make my normal swing. The stance gets wider to get the shoulders lower and closer to offset the amount I choked down on the club

Or I take a 3/4 swing with the ball back in the stance. Like yesterday I had 155 pin into the breeze. I needed a lower trajectory shot. I choked down on an 8, opened my stance, ball back and used a great deal of arms. I set the spine angle and opened the stance to allow the arms to do most of the work. 3/4 swing with nothing but acceleration through the ball.
 
Wanted to say thanks to everyone. I hit 11 GIR yesterday, and with one exception all of my missed approach shots were very close. Choking up improved my distance control and, perhaps most importantly, feel for distance control. My ball striking is typically very good, and this gave me a boost for taking advantage of that. Sometimes the simple things make the biggest difference. I'm still baffled this never occurred to me in the first place.

Now if I can just stop the lack of confidence and panic I get with those 3-6 foot putts. Ugh...
 
ntanygd760 said:
Choking up and using the clock system inside 100 yards. I also practice just wedge swings at home with a swing speed radar to really dial in what a 1/2 wedge to 3/4 wedge is in terms of mph. Still requires hitting the center of the face to get the correct distance on course but that is golf.
Click to expand...

Choking down is the easiest way to take a half club of distance off the shot. The clock system works great if you have the practice time. When I had lots of time to practice I could control distance well just by stopping my backswing at 8, 9, or 10 o'clock and practiced partial wedges a couple hours each week. Now that I more time constraints, I always try to lay up no closer than a full LW distance on par 4's and 5's. I won't have a shot between 35 and 80 yards more than once every 5 rounds.
 
mtcowdog said:
Wanted to say thanks to everyone. I hit 11 GIR yesterday, and with one exception all of my missed approach shots were very close. Choking up improved my distance control and, perhaps most importantly, feel for distance control. My ball striking is typically very good, and this gave me a boost for taking advantage of that. Sometimes the simple things make the biggest difference. I'm still baffled this never occurred to me in the first place.

Now if I can just stop the lack of confidence and panic I get with those 3-6 foot putts. Ugh...
Click to expand...

well done! i hit 11 greens yesterday too, which i think is the most i've ever hit though i'd have to go back to confirm. but hitting that many greens makes golf a helluva lot more fun!
 
Yep, game changer. In my tracking I have typically been about 33% GIR. I have had a couple days where the stars aligned, but yesterday was more of a standard grinder with lots of "what do I hit here" distances and locations. In every case I took more club and choked down. It is also so much easier for me to hit 75% when choked down. My clubs are +.5 or +.75 -- from a fitting last year when I started playing again -- and it just felt easier to control swing speed across the board. it was nice when on the 13th hole I hit the first poor shot of my round, and my playing partners both said, "finally, thank you."
 
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