more distance

I THINK i have reached my mechanical peek. I was having a great golf day at the range today, i was hitting laser strait and contact sounded so solid and felt so easy and effortless..... but my 3 iron only went 170 carry. (185 if i moved the ball and inch past my left foot and made a lateral lunge foward toward the ball pushing off my right foot onto my left but so hard that i would have fallen if i didn't bring up my right leg to help me after impact, to increase my swing arc just that much more) giving it absulutley using everything i got!

but something has to be wrong.... my 9 goes 135ish and my 3 170ish, i think my 3i should be closer to 205ish with that 9i distance.

i was told my lie is a bit flat, would that be bad for someone 6'1" 165lbs, is the steeper lie of the 9i why i am getting better distance?

i think the only way to increase distance is to increase tempo, and they best way to speed up tempo is to strengthen my large golf mucsles, is that correct?

any suggestions would be appreciated
sorry about the length, thanks for reading the whole thing.

Hi There,

Seems like everything is fine to me, you said you were at the range...........!!

The balls are rubbish compared to your regular balls, especially with the long irons, you get a better compression with the short irons but the longer shots are always short, happens to me too.

I like the idea of lifting the right heel you mention into impact, I also worked on this, along with the right hand drill you should really start to move the ball out there, notice all the pros lift the right heel into impact, my son's video in the gallery have a look he does too and he hits over 200yds with a driver.

I sometimes play shots at the range with the right heel raised 3 inches off the mat, it helps with creating torque in the lower body, stops overswinging and helps get right through the ball with the right hand drill working at it maximum.


Hope this helps

Ian.

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

thanks for the input..... but the range i go to happens to use Official Dunlop Golf Balls so you can throw that factor out.

hi

Certainly sounds better than my range, however i'd guess the Dunlops will only be two piece cheaper versions with a low compression due to having more hits than this website.

Do you suffer with this at the course? if so then you maybe changing your swing fundimentals for the longer irons or simply trying to hit to hard with them........(reaching for the green).


Ian.

As your club get longer, your tempo should never change. So a feeling of timing from start of the backswing to impact should be the same.

What I can guess is that your swing is probably changing slightly to try to get more out of the club then it's normal design. Clubhead speed is essential to maintaining good spin rotation on the ball. That keeps it up in the air longer so long irons can carry their distance. If there is a glancing blow on the ball, or a loss of actual speed, or even worse deceleration into impact, the ball will not pop up the face like you are probably doing to your 9i.

So what are the keys to maintaining this clubhead speed?

* Long irons are going to be harder to create a steep angle and they setup slightly flatter, so this promotes a little more of a "sweep around" move. To counter this, make sure you are not rotating your shoulders on such a flat plane. Keep them in more of your spine's tilt where your leading shoulder goes down toward the ball and at impact your trailing shoulder is more down to the ball.

* The release to the ball has to still be slightly agressive, and not the easy sweeping attack.

* Longer irons can easily get away from you at the top. You can get casting them if your not careful. So work on only getting the arms up to about 3/4. Let the hands fully set and release into impact, and keep the hips, torso and shoulders rotating, just let the arms take a slight back seat in this drill to help the hands be last to make their move at the bottom.

* Lastly, make sure you stay behind the ball. Moving the ball forward it one thing, but sliding to get it is another. Keep the ball position inside the leading heal and work on staying behind it.

__________________
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

it is a nice range, and the mats are long and shaggy so they are not as forginving either, they don't have that bounce (still not as good as grass, but less forgiving than most mats. but i can carry the ball 280 with my driver so i know it is not the balls.

i think you may be right greg, i have to be casting.... i always get the same power from the 9:00 backswing as i do with the 12:00 position. i think i have always been casting.... but the reason i get so much accuracy and distance versus the avg golfer is i use my full body rotaion and have the hand cupped at impact. swating is a huge power killer which i no longer do, but i think i still might be casting it???

that is the only reason i can think of that my 3/4 swing goes as far as my full swing.

sorry Ian, you are right... i looked at a ball today and it said low compression, but i still think it might be a bit bette than most ranges. that is the only way i can explain my 280+ drives. here in the attachment is a ball i found cut in two at the range so i took a picture of it. it is made up of a wierd pasty plastic substance. you can see it in the pic i attched. (the black thing in the middle is a CPU chip)

thanks greg, that is the key that fixed it for me.

If you tried them all, one was bound to work...good job!

thought i would put this swing thought out there because it helped me.

i loved the results i got from having the right hand cupped at impact and how much power and accuacy that that gave me but in focusing so much on the cupping i would accidently lift my left shoulder on the downswing causing me to cast and loose power.

now that i have practiced the impact drill so many times it come natural and now i thing about lowering the left shoulder (kind of driving it into the ground feel) and it reinforces my cock and lets is release last minute only.

just a thought, hope it helps others out there