Developing a dependable golf swing with your irons is one of the most effective ways to lower your handicap, but formidable iron play isn't easy to achieve.
The key principles for iron shots are to ensure we make ground contact in the right place, that our weight is forward (on the target side), and that we can control our length of swing.
In this video and article, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Ged Walters shares four expert tips and drills that will help you master these fundamentals, and in turn strike the ball better with your irons...
1. Understanding The Fundamental Movements
For this drill we don’t need the golf club, as we are going to build towards a full shot. Start with two alignment sticks, feeding one through your belt loops at the front and placing the other across your chest. Often amateur golfers underestimate the role the body plays in dictating how we move.
In your set-up, adopt a 60/40 split in your weight balance, favouring the target side. Maintaining a stable head position, rotate your body allowing your trail hip and shoulders to turn. From there, feel as though your weight moves forwards and then rotate out. This will help you to better understand the key movements needed in the golf swing.
2. Rehearsal
We can then start to advance the drills by introducing the golf club. Set-up as outlined previously and use the same movement of the body, but avoid introducing a ball at this stage.
You can rehearse this movement with the club anywhere, whether in the garden or at the range, and it makes a great warm-up exercise before going out onto the course. The more you commit this movement to your muscle memory, the more consistency you will see with your iron shots.
3. Move Through The Gears
The next stage is something I like to call moving through the gears. First gear would be a slow, smooth swing, with weight moving forwards and the clubface brushing the ground on the way through.
We want to keep the lead arm extended through impact, maintaining the radius of the circle and the structure of the arms. Once we have mastered this we can move into second gear. This increases the speed of swing, until you reach gear four which would be your swing speed on the golf course.
4. Parallel To Parallel
Hit some shots moving from the lead arm parallel to the ground in the backswing, to the same position on the other side (after impact). This resembles a punch shot, and is a great way to concentrate on your technique on the range. Continue to focus on the role of the body, the weight moving forwards and extension of the arm through impact.
It’s then all about practice and hitting shots, using repetition to embed those elements into your normal swing. If you went to the range and practised with a bucket of balls, just hitting parallel to parallel punch shots and moving through the gears, you will notice your iron play feeling more controlled and yielding better results on the course.
