Hitting the ball first with our iron has many benefits. The goal to hit consistent iron shots is one technique most amateurs struggle to achieve. We may have some success with the shorter irons, but venturing into the mid and long irons usually poses fits for most golfers. All of this is because we have the wrong view on where the divot should be made and where our swing bottoms out. Following this path of understanding a bit farther, knowing about the angle of attack is where all of the above discussion leads. Knowing about the angle of attack with our irons will definitely improve our overall game and lower our golf scores.
Attack Angle – The vertical direction of the club head’s geometric center movement at maximum compression of the golf ball. (Trackman) When hitting irons a negative angle of attack (AoA) is optimum. It allows for the ball to drive through the ball with more spin and accuracy. A great explanation of the proper AoA watch this short video:
This year I decided to continue to work on my AoA with my irons. It is one of the reasons I purchased my Mizuno MP20s. When being fitted, I found that these clubs provided the best AoA for my swing. AoA is very important on approach shots because the ball travels a consistent distance and spins to a stop better if I am hitting the ball properly with my irons. Although this particular topic might seem a bit technical, it is important because because the results work in our favour.
The key to improving your AoA is to pay attention to where your divot is made after contact with the ball. Where does my divot start is a good article to read if your are interested in finding the low point of your golf swing. If you do not want to read the article, then here is the video associated with my thoughts:
Taking a divot after the ball is directly associated with AoA. The work hand in hand for producing better golf shots. Knowing about both will improve your iron contact and lower your golf scores. It will take a bit of time to figure things out, but when you do great things will happen to your golf game.
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
I can’t argue that the more we know and understand the better. That’s certainly a given. And the reason I’m back. To correct the record. Your words in the last paragraph of your article were “Taking a divot after the ball is directly associated with AoA” and that’s misleading. Basically untrue. A more accurate statement would be the depth of divot you take with your irons (before or after the ball) is directly associated with your AoA.
Here’s the thing. Without the right tech, we can’t measure AoA except anecdotally. If we are hitting the ball too high or too low we can try and work on a change to our AoA that will help deliver the desired shot profile we need. But it’s simply not possible to determine if your delivering the perfect -5.8 degrees AoA with your lob wedge. That’s the reality we have to deal with.
And what change to AoA is best is going to be dependent on your swing as well. A PGA pro and and LPGA pro will have different specs they’re shooting for. The PGA pro swings faster and will want less AoA than an LPGA pro with a driver in their hands for instance just because the PGA pro swings much faster.
About the only thing us amateurs need to know about AoA is that we swing slower than a pro and should therefore want to try and hit up on the ball with our driver. And maybe use a higher loft setting to boot. That and try not to take too deep a divot with our irons should get us by just fine for the most part.
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Kevin,
Your last statement directly correlates to AoA. This is a challenging topic for sure, but I think most of us can equate the angle of attack with the ball flight. It is just a matter of thinking it through. Now, to be fair, understanding AoA is an advanced skill and beginners or occasional golfers probably do not give a hoot about AoA. It is a good topic of conversation though.
Cheers Jim
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AoA is not the ticket to ball first contact. Making a proper turn and ending the sway is where consistent ball first contact is found.
AoA is important, but it’s more about getting consistent spin and flight characteristics than contact per se. Basically you have to get the consistent contact before you worry too much about tightening up the angle of attack between your clubs.
The pro’s will have a variation between clubs in AoA of about 5 degrees. Us amateurs will see as much as 15 degree variation or even more in the AoA we produce with each club in our bag. They are all different lengths so some variation is impossible to stop, but we can control it to some degree with our swing as the pro’s prove well enough for me. lol
AoA for a driver we want to be in the positive range to reduce spin and get the ball in the air. That brings max distance and forgiveness. But with our irons we want a negative angle of attack to increase spin to control the ball better. Also, because it’s on the ground. There really is no way to hit up on it.
Now, to get consistent ball first contact we need to stop swaying when we swing. Stick an alignment stick or old club shaft in the ground so that it’s about an inch off your trailside hip and take some swings. If you touch that stick, you’re swaying. You need to find a way to end that or you simply aren’t going to get a consistent ball first contact. That’s not to say you’ll hit terrible shots, or that just because you did get ball first contact it’s a great shot. Oh no. This is simply about getting that ball first contact we all want. Getting the most out of our swing.
I’ve been on that exact journey for 5 years or so now. I remember many a night in my back yard under the spot lights swinging my club trying to make sure I made contact after a line I’d drawn in a sandy patch I used for my practice area. No ball needed. Anything, even a couple of tees to mark a gate will do. Just swing and practice making contact after the gate, the line, whatever you use. And making sure you don’t hit the stick with your hip.
You can let a pro help you and get it faster. Or you can go in search of like I did. Either way will work, but I’m betting you can do it faster with a pro than I did on my own. lol
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Kevin,
You advanced explanation is correct for sure. However, I do think they are all connected and understand AoA will help with contact. There is very little in any golf swing that is executed in isolation. All is connected.
Cheers Jim
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