Some observations after watching this weekends British open. The players all hit iron shots very solidly. The crispness of contact, and the divot. I really didn't look at their swings I just watching the impact zone. Modern technology is amazing, high definition, super slo-motion, really show what takes place when a tour player hits an iron shot.
They all hit the golf ball with a descending blow, they all contact the golf ball and then hit the turf on the target side of the golf ball and their divots are pretty shallow but noticeable. Also the sound, you hear that "whoosh" and then "click."
There is no reason that a recreational player can not produce the same type of iron play. The first thing you need to understand is what actually happens when a tour player hits the golf ball with an iron.
Each player is unique in physical stature, and each player has a unique golf swing. But the one measurable fundamental that all great players have is they contact the golf ball then the ground when hitting an iron or even a hybrid club from the turf. This is a measurement of good ball striking.
It is pretty easy to start training yourself to accomplish this task in golf. You may have to change your thought process a little. One thing you will notice if you watch a good ball striker is they attack the golf ball at a steeper angle than a recreational golfer. They are hitting down on the golf ball, then their golf club bottoms out immediately after hitting the turf and then continues on the swing arc inside the target line to the follow through. Recreational and mid to high handicap golfers struggle with this concept. Intuition tells us we need to slide the club under the ball in order to get the ball airborne. Seems logical, but is not what the good ball strikers do. So let's reverse engineer what the top players do when they hit an iron.
#1 they take a divot on the target side of the golf ball this ensures hitting the golf ball first, the ground never gets in the way of the club face contacting the golf ball
#2 they attack the ball with a descending blow, think of driving the nail into the ground with the club face, that will create a forward shaft lean and solid contact
#3 the club travels on an inside the target line path on the take away and the downswing, only square to the target line at the moment of impact
These are absolute truths in a well struck iron shot, doesn't matter what the person looks like or if his swing is perfect, in the impact zone (12 inches before the ball and 6 inches after the ball) all great ball strikers accomplish these three things consistently.
The white training aid you see in the pictures above is called the IronSolid. Set up and used properly the IronSolid will aid you in accomplishing these 3 objectives of a well struck iron shot. The task is to hit the practice ball without contacting the IronSolid on the take away or the downswing. If you contact the IronSolid you are taking the club back too low or not inside the ball, if you contact the IronSolid on the downswing you are coming into the ball at too flat an angle of descent. You can also adjust ball position to work on hitting high and low shots, the IronSolid also is a great visual training aid to learn how to work the ball, hitting draws and fades. Shot shape is a result of clubface angle and downswing path, learning to work the ball is an advanced skill and the IronSolid is a great aid in honing this skill.
The the bottom line is this training aid works. It is available for $19.95 Buy the IronSolid Here the training aid works very quickly, in a very short time you will start to make solid contact and feel the crispness of a solid iron shot . Start slowly with quarter and half swings, build up to a full iron shot.
Hit it Solid! with more consistent iron play you will write lower numbers on your score card.
