Ok, so I've got two questions...

Lately I've been having trouble getting any solid contact with my irons. I leave a pretty poor divot, if one at all, and the fairway lies that I play on are extremely thin, so if solid contact is not met with an iron, it is more of a blade then anything. I feel like my clubhead is ahead of my hands at impact, but I'm not sure how to correct this.
Also, the area I play in is EXTREMELY windy...I played the other day in 45+ mph winds! I need some tips on hitting those approach shots and par 3's in regulation by hitting a lower, wind-boring shot.

Thanks!

Two solutions to your flipping (clubhead ahead of hands):

One is to wear a watch on your lead wrist, and stick a comb underneath it. Hit half shots without bending the comb. Two is to buy or create a "Greg Normans Secret", I've heard of taping a spatula to the forearm and hand of your trailing arm. Again, hit some half shots this way.

As to your second problem. Solving your first problem will go a long way to helping your second - by having your hands leading at impact, your trajectory will be lower for all clubs, and if you're hitting them more solidly, the wind will have less effect.

The next thing to do is to take more club and use a smaller swing. The longer irons impart less spin on the ball (so there's less for the wind to create drag with) and an easier swing puts less spin on the ball as well.

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For the record, I'm a club doctor, not a swing doctor.

Another potentially quick solution to both of these problems is to move ball further back in your stance.

Tips are a good way to get a short term fix.

To get a long term fix you need to go back to basics and figure out what has changed in your swing. After a good basic technique it's easier to modify shots - low or high - draw or fade - and even a straight one now and then.

Sorry for a dull answer.
Hannu

Go se your local Pro.

It could be you are not transferring your weight or you are not completing your back swing or one of many things. From what you have said it would be very hard to explain to you a remedy to sort out the problem.

Although it does sound like you are trying to strike the ball to early, instead of hitting the ball think of the ball hitting the club face. Try not to be in such a hurry to strike the ball will help you through impact.

But as I said a photo/video of impact would help.

Regards Cliff

My guess is that if you are thinning the ball constantly then you arent turning back in the BS correctly but 'swaying' back. Try and feel as if your hips turn in a barrel and your right hip goes behind you more. This way you stay more on top of the ball at the top and require less of a weight shift to get back down. Pro's call this covering the ball. You should then have less thin hits and more of a descending blow

This will feel very strange if you have been used to that movement to the side - you'll feel theres more weight on your left leg, your head is still only just to the side of the ball rather than way off to the side, and your left shoulder should be pointing at the ball

The most common cause of this IMHO is throwing/moving the club away with your hands. As soon as you move the club to the right with your hands the lower body will follow (i.e. move sideways instead of turning). Try and feel like its the shoulder turn that moves the hands while your lower body stays still and just turns around the spine

wow a blast from the past!
nice to see you on here paul

3skills :d

Balance and posture may be the best things for you to work on if you're having trouble making solid contact. Having little to no divot shouldn't be something you should be overly concerned about. Greg Norman played some of his best golf when he was clipping the ball off the ground with little to no divot. A golfer announcer once walked up to Payne Stewart on the range and tried to get Stewart to take more of a divot to which Stewart replyed "I'm hitting a long iron. I don't want to take a divot with a long iron."

You may feel like your clubhead is ahead of your hands at impact, but your feel may be lying to you. If you want to get your hands ahead of the clubhead at impact the simpliest way would be to strengthen your grip (as Bobby Jones recommended). To strengthen your grip you should rotate your left hand (for a right handed golfer) more on top of the club, and/or rotate your right hand more underneath the club (be careful not to overdo it).

Playing in 45 mph winds sounds pretty extreme and dangerous . You must be more avid than me if you decide to play in those winds and aren't extremely worn out and demoralized, not to mention the risk to your life of debris flying at you . Back to the subject at hand if you want to hit lower shots there are a couple of changes you can make to lower your ball flight, but you should keep in mind that as you lower your flight and reduce backspin you may have a difficult time putting enough spin on the ball to stop it on the greens.

To lower your ball flight try:
*Reducing your grip pressure
*Play the ball slightly back in your stance (a good way to do so is setup with both feet together and the ball positioned in between your shoes, and then step forward with you front/left foot in the direction of the target). (Charles Howell is a good pro to watch to learn this setup technique).
*Reduce the length of your swing to 1/2 or 3/4.

Purchase the 3skills book and become a better ball striker.

thats what I said
3Skills dude it improves your ball striking like nothing else

Before the book arrives or you get to see a Pro, you might try to find out what you are doing in during your swing. It's hard to control a full swing so start from chipping or just hand - arm movement, cock your wrists and check your impact. Are you hitting the ball first and then the ground?

If you are or the sound of impact is crisp, you might try a 1/2 swing. What happens? Are you still hitting the "hotspot" and try to check your hand. Play with the ball position and listen to your impact sound. "Click" and then "shoush" - from the ground.

Ingrease your BS slightly and continue from there...
To be sure I'm not hitting the ground first I put a something behind the ball - it moves if I hit fat. If your hitting thin, maybe you need a target in front of the ball to hit down to?

But back to basics - that's the medicine for a cure - well, not a cure but a releaf. I read about "swing keeper". The idea is that what ever you are doing, your swing will change. You need to do something to keep your swing. So the person was not called a teacher - a Pro - but a "swing keeper". (In this case it was a PGA Pro and should be selected very carefully. I mean once you've learned to swing one way, you don't want an instructor with totally different approach to mess up your swing. You need a person that can fix - keep your native swing aka "swing keeper".)

If you are learning - get a teacher - otherwise what about a swing keeper.
(I'm a beginner, only played 2 full seasons. I could use a teacher, but I'm looking for my "swing keeper".)

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Tks Slats .. been busy .. another baby :rolleyes