If you look at the heads of most game-improvement and super-game-improvement irons, you’ll probably notice they look like they’ll make it easier to hit the ball higher and straighter. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, but even with those features, you still have to make a swing that capitalizes on their design. Many poorer iron players swing down into the ball too steeply, and that creates a lower, clunkier shot.
Your emphasis with these clubs should be to make a shallower swing into impact, which will promote better contact and get the ball up. You don’t want to feel bunched up; you want a feeling of extension. One way to better understand this approach is to think about something I call the “tree of trust.” If you visualize and then make a swing that gets you in a high finish like I am in the photo at the top of this article—standing tall like a tree— you’ve likely made a swing that allowed the club and arms to extend in the downswing while your body created space for the iron to move naturally through the ball on a shallow path. Why does this work? Every action has a reaction.
When your body drives up, it creates an opposing force through your arms and club. The trust part comes from knowing that getting into this tree-like finish creates the dynamic reaction needed for good contact and a higher ball flight.
Megan Padua Buzza, Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, Buzza Golf Coaching, Frisco, Texas.
HOT LIST INSTRUCTION: Tee It High? | Need More Speed? | Fairway Off the Tee | Hybrid vs. Wood | Irons Too Low? | Missing Greens? | Deaden the Strike | Help in the Sand
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
