It is likely that most amateur golfers are met with varying degrees of success when hitting irons. The longer the iron, the more the challenge. I can honestly say that I switch to a 3 and 4 hybrid because of how poorly I struck my long irons. Having said that, I do work diligently on making solid contact with my 5 iron through lob wedge. I feel that with these clubs I have a better than not chance of being successful. As a follow up to yesterday’s post about my second shot, most of the time it is with an iron and as such I think it is important to dedicate some time to hitting them well.
Years ago, I found that my striking technique was incorrect. I originally tried to neutralize my arms and wrists on contact thinking this would help with distance and aim. What the result of my poor mechanics was loss of distance and inconsistency when making contact. It was frustrating until I local professional talked to me about my swing and basically reset my efforts to make solid contact with my irons.
The primary error in my game was not allowing my wrists to be ahead of the ball on impact. I was not hitting he ball first; actually, I was hitting slightly behind the ball. My poor iron technique caused several problems that were fixable. After the advice from my local professional, I have consciously worked on my iron play and feel it is coming along fine (been about 20 years in the making). However, there is always room for improvement.
I found two videos that espouse the same thing about the wrist angle. Out of the videos are three drills that might help you establish the proper wrist position on contact. Take a look:
The most obvious indicator that I am making solid contact is my divot. If it starts at or just past the ball, then I know all my swing mechanics are working. The other tool I use is my phone to take a video. This allows me to slow my swing down and analyze the various positions of my body during my golf swing. I plan on doing more videoing this year because my new golf course has a range where I can practice.
Making solid contact with our irons is important to lower golf scores and to develop strong course management skills. Having the confidence of consistently hitting solid iron shots goes a long way to playing great golf. I know that over the years, developing this skill has greatly improved my game and it all started with adopting the proper hand/wrist position on contact.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
Pingback: Making Solid Iron Contact | The Grateful Golfer
Video is a great tool, being able to take a screen shot at impact is a revelation most amateurs are shocked at seeing. What we think we are doing is often not reality.
BMc
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BMc,
Absolutely. I have notice many flaws over the years. It is a great tool and I will be using it this year for sure.
Cheers Jim
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My first thought is this is not the first step to get to consistent solid contact. It’s how you get the most out of a solid contact. Also, that forward press can also be overdone. Ask me how I know. lol
Really. With any club in the bag, when you go hands forward at impact you bring into play the leading edge of the club more. So you better make ball first contact.
One more point. You can hit ball first and you also hit hands forward at the same time and you can still hit it farther still if you also use the ground right in the turn because you’ll generate more clubhead speed and thus more compression still. All of this is part of a good turn.
I think this video from Danny Maude might suit some readers better. It leaves out talk of compression. But I wouldn’t worry about adding that in until I could do what Mr. Maude is showing us well.
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Kevin,
You are right that there are many aspects of making solid contact that must be addressed. I obviously cannot cover them all, but the point of our hands being slightly head of the ball during contact is a metric that many amateurs can use. Your Danny Maude video is a good example of the many other things amateurs need to understand to make a good golf swing.
Cheers Jim
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That is the proper impact position for optimal ball flights and maximum distances from your clubs. I’m not trying to argue that. I just that I should spread a word of caution having been there that if you aren’t already hitting ball first then hitting hands forward is going to be less forgiving. You’ll be longer when you get it right, but you’ll chunk more. Irons have bounce too and hands forward takes that away and presents the leading edge. A real shallow swing might manage some glide, but that’s your only hope if you miss the ball and come in early with a hands forward impact position.
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Kevin,
Always a great conversation. I agree that there are many moving parts and adjust one aspect of our swing is not always the answer. We have to look at the whole picture for sure.
Cheers Jim
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