Help with irons

Hey guys i need serious help with my iron game. I have nice distance off the tee and with my woods. I usually drive about 260-270, but when it comes to my approach shots i turn into dr. jekyl. Usually in the thin shots, sometimes fat but not most of the time. When i do make contact it doesn't really go anywhere. I'd say there is a 5 yard diffrence between my 7,6, and 5. My PW-9 have a good amount of distance between them. I've tried to steeping my swing but that leads to god awfull fat shots. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction. I have learned to control off the tee i just need help on those mid irons. thanx

Get your shoulders around. You are probably just slashing at it with the arms.

do you have any drills that can help me with this, i think i saw one on the titelist website, where a guy held an iron across his chest and practiced whipping his shoulder down and back, down and back

Sure, the driver across the shoulders with the arms resting on top. Let the shoulders rotate back and forth. This is the warm up.

My Wall Impact/drill help the feel of staying behind the ball with a full shoulder turn.
Golf Lessons - GregJWillis

Since I tend to do the same thing (hit it thin, poor distance), I can say with certainty that Greg is exactly right: the problem is slashing at it with the arms. Like you, I get reasonable distance on drives.

Just as Greg says, the cure is to rotate the body, and hallelujah I can finally do this now, as long as I stay focused. If I start to get tired or distracted I go right back to slashing.

If you're slashing with the arms, it's inevitable that you are *bending* your arms more than you realize, because the slashing pretty much forces you to. When you bend them, you shorten the swing radius a bit; you "contract" the swing. As a result you hit the ball thin or (if you're me) skull it altogether.

If you keep your arms extended, you pretty much *have to* swing with your body/shoulders.

As I mentioned in another thread, I found (from examining the grass residue on the iron) that I was almost always striking the ball a bit toward the toe of the club, even if I set up with the ball near the heel, stepped in closer, etc. That slight displacement was costing me distance. No need to use past tense; it still happens, but it's no longer the rule. Why was I hitting closer to the toe? I believe it was/is because the "slashing with the arms" contraction of my swing also resulted in pulling the club in closer to my body.

This "Nine o'clock to three o'clock" drill helps me a lot, and I try to do it when warming up before I play: Golf Schools » Ritson-Sole Golf School » February 2007: How to avoid topping » Top 25 golf instruction

Todd

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller

You may also be swatting or flipping your wrists at the ball creating a high weak ball flight and catching it fat or thin with your weight on the back foot. If you think you are then try Greg's Right Hand Drill.

You know, I think swatting is just another part of the "bad shot package deal" with irons. Slashing with the arms, contracting the swing, chicken winging, and swatting....seem to go together.

One way I can tell I've been swatting (in addition to the scorecard) is this: At the end of the round, and even the day after, I can feel the strain in the inside muscle of my right forearm. About 14 months ago I went through a period where it got so bad that my right forearm actually turned black and blue, as a result of *internal* bruising from swatting violently. I thought I'd have to give up golf. But the pain actually forced me to correct my swing, and even though I still sometimes lose focus and backslide into swatting/slashing, I am able to catch and correct it before it gets that bad.

__________________
Todd
Philadelphia, PA
USA

The reason the pro tells you to keep your head down is so you can't see him laughing. ~Phyllis Diller