Best Tip you got for hitting LONG IRONS

Folks, share your tips on hitting the long irons, 1-5 Iron.

Some tips to ease the long iron woes...

Put ball a little more forward in your stance. Don't try to hit it hard, instead hit it as you do the middle irons. Unless you have a fairly high SS, you will see no real difference in distance for the lower irons (4 and below).

I imagine that my long irons have the loft of a 9 iron so that when I swing the club, I'm not tempted into trying to force the ball into the air but rely on the loft of the club.

Buy hybrids and/or 5-7 woods

A common problem is a shallow attack (like what Bloodredsun is saying in the "imagine the 9i swing"). But you know you have the 3i in your hand and you are 200 yds away. Hard to think about making a vertical attack in that situation.

What happens to a swing when it is faced with more then it thinks it can handle is to swing harder (like what Peter said). This "harder" swing starts at the takaway, and it increases your tempo. This causes a hitch somewhere, where one element will go out of sequence...usually the hands...very seldom the hips or shoulders. So the first part is swing "normal tempo" in your head, during your setup routine, everything you want to do before this shot is to be thinking about the fact that this club you just selected will do the job.

The next part is the takaway. Low and long back. Rotate the shoulders and arms together. Make sure the toe is UP from directly behind you...early wrist cock is not recommended, but having the arms rolling open keeps this toe up early.

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I'm a golfaholic, no question about that. Counseling wouldn't help me. They'd have to put me in prison, and then I'd talk the warden into building a hole or two and teach him how to play. ~Lee Trevino

Looks like 1 of the main faults we (mid - high HC folks) have is that we swing the Long irons too damm hard/fast, I for 1 am guilty, let me try sooooth and easy, maybe do the eeeernie eeeels tempo swing that I used to do some time back

I move the ball just forward from the middle of my stance. I also make sure that I swing the shot the same as I would any short iron, just making sure it is a flatter plane. but the shoulder turn is the same.

I think about shortening my backswing by a couple of inches- makes no difference really except for the fact i feel like im controlling the club better

for me i found that i didnt hit my 3 or 4 very much farther than my 5 iron which i usually hit 180-185. what i did was take my 3 and 4 out of my bag and replaced them with a taylormade hybrid 3. the hybrid has 19 degrees of loft and i can hit it 210-215. even from the fairway i can get the ball up and land it soft. this one club has probably taken 4-5 strokes off my score per round. best money i have ever spent imo.

Just a point to add to Gregs Perfect answer:

The mind plays a big part in hitting long irons or woods, think about this: Par 5 second shot 220 yds, you only think you can hit a 3 wood this far so you pull it out and swing way to hard in an attempt to get there, the resut is a duffer of some sort.

Now if you get there a few times easily with you over the top swing, your confidence will build, you say "yeh I can get on easy in two" so you swing softer with more confidence and continue to get there, your h/capp drops and move on to the next problem.

The simple answer is convince yourself that you have the right club with a steady swing, just put a good swing on it and see how it goes, you may be suprised.


Ian.

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Once you learn the swing, your next step is mastering golf psychology................