subject: Hitting Long Irons: 7 Keys To A Professional Stroke [print this page] Hitting Long Irons: 7 Keys To A Professional Stroke
The Key Elements:
With Golf being such a technical game there are a flood of tips available for improving your swing but in the end it all comes down to the following 4 key elements: balance, smooth tempo, club head acceleration, and aim. These elements are critical in all golf strokes but even more so with hitting long irons.
The Primary Goal:
Clearly, what you are trying to achieve is consistently meeting the ball with the sweet spot of your club. Easier said then done! These tips should help though. Hitting long irons can be especially rewarding when done correctly.
1. Your stance should be solid with a slight bend in the knees. Make sure you feel strong and balanced.
2. Make sure your take back and follow through are both done with a smooth swing. This will increase your distance through better club acceleration and club face control.
3. Harness the power of your core. Swinging from the arms with a ridged body is a very common problem. Your swings power comes from the hips. Harness that power.
4. Keeping your head down is extremely important. Hitting long irons is a high difficulty shot and requires complete focus.
5. Don't let your forward arm bend. This will almost certainly result in a miss hit or a needlessly more complicated stroke. Bending the arm changes the contact point between the club face and the ball which is small enough on its own.
6. Make contact with the ball before the ground. Some instances may require you may making contact with the ground during your stroke. In these cases always make contact with the ground after the ball. There is no need to add loft to this shot. Leave the loft up to the club.
7. Swing though completely without stopping the club early. Putting the brakes on your follow through will effect the velocity, acceleration, and smoothness of your stroke.
Hitting long irons can be extremely rewarding, but practice is definitely required to nail this aspect of the game. Keep in mind the above tips during practice and it should give you a good place to start in diagnosing you swing.
