Golf is a game of precision. Pulling the ball straight off the tee with the iron often makes the difference between a birdie and a bogey. That’s why your shooting and swinging techniques have to be developed for better precision and control.
Putt, chip, pitch, punch, draw, fade, and straight are just some of the types of swings that an ambitious player can or should know how to do.
Straight shots are perhaps the most important here to shorten the course. In this article, we’ll see how to hit irons straight. With proper technique and lots of practice, your game can only get better using these techniques.
Irons are usually needed when you’re around 200 yards away from the green. The nearer you are to the green, the longer the iron you’ll need.
These golf clubs offer medium distances, depending on the angle, greater or lesser distances, but medium distances in the end. They also have effects on the ball.
These two factors allow us to have greater control over the ball. Its precision is greater than woods, hybrids, and drivers, whose function is to achieve distance.
The iron you will need will depend a lot on the preferences of each player. If you choose to include hybrid clubs in your bag, you will only need the 6, 7, 8, and 9 irons.
But if you prefer to have more precision in your shots, you can choose to use the long irons. The important thing is not to leave spaces greater than 10 meters between the distances that can be achieved between each pole. Therefore, you must analyze this aspect for each club and not just the irons.
Long irons are difficult to master, so it’s more common to see 3-, 5-, and 7-woods in players’ bags, paired with a 5-PW iron setup. This allows them to cover these distances with clubs such as the Cleveland Launcher HB Turbo Iron that have more forgiveness and control when you need them.
Also, if you’re not turning your shoulders, you may find it challenging to hit irons straight.
To hit the irons straight, you have to learn to shift your weight, keep the ball in the proper position, and hold the iron appropriately.
These are what we will be talking about.
Yes, with practice, you will be able to hit short and long irons straight. Know that this can be difficult for many golfers, even the experienced. But it’s not impossible.
Some styles for hitting irons include hitting it pure, which is about connecting the iron and the ball solidly to get the right distance from your shot. Then, there’s the straight hitting technique that we will explain. However, some popularly used methods Trusted Source Five Shots You Need To Master Links Golf | Instruction | Golf Digest Playing on a links golf course? Here are five shots that will make you a master of links-style golf. www.golfdigest.com include:
This is, logically, the shot with which the game begins and, as its name suggests, it is made from the tee. Depending on the length and design of the hole, it is usual to use wood for the longest holes (pars 4 and 5), leaving the irons for the par 3s; or for a hole that, even though it is longer, requires strategy.
An approach shot is usually short and is usually executed with two types of clubs: the SW (sand wedge) or the PW (pitching wedge). A good example of a pitching wedge iron is the DC Iron Set from PXG. As you progress in your golf, you will see that other clubs can be used.
In this stroke, the ball is made to roll and should not rise from the ground (if it does, it is not hit well). It is done with a special stick called a putter and executed on or around the green when the grass is bare. It is the shot that requires greater precision. It is essential to control the speed and the line so that the ball ends up finding the hole.
On this shot, the ball comes out high but with little spin Trusted Source How to hit a bump and run like World No. 1 Rory McIlroy There may be no more useful shot in the bag to have than the bump and run. World No. 1 Rory McIlroy breaks down his keys to the shot. golf.com . Thus, it will roll more than usual when it falls onto the green. It is widely used on links-type courses.
With this stroke, the ball will spend more time rolling than in the air. The result is a rolling hit. To achieve this, an intermediate club is usually used, with a relatively closed face.
With this hit, you’ll get the ball to jump a little and then roll. For this, we use the edge of an iron, usually the SW. It is similar to the putt, but the center of the ball is hit with the edge of the stick. It is used a lot, for example, when the ball is just off the green and lies next to tall grass.
This is a short shot, played with the clubface wide open. It is designed to travel high in the air, land softly on the green, and come to rest soon.
It is one of the most spectacular shots but, at the same time, the most complicated to achieve in golf. It is also an excellent resource to overcome obstacles since the ball hardly rolls.
Here are the steps to follow to hit irons straight for beginners and even advanced players.
Just push the tee slightly into the ground before placing the ball on it. With the tee high, you will be able to hit the ball as the clubhead rises. With the high tee, you will also be able to hit the ball at greater distances.
You have to line up the tee with the big toe of his left foot. Striking from this position will give you more room to complete the swing. Make sure the ball is no further than your left foot.
The further you keep your feet apart, the greater your range of motion will be. This allows you to give the swing more power.
Make sure you distribute your weight equally on both feet and keep your head behind the ball.
Leverage to give your shot more power by holding the iron as high as possible near the end of the handle to make the most of this leverage.
Holding the stick higher allows you to shoot harder, sacrificing accuracy. Make slight adjustments to your body position and change the size of the stick to find the best grip.
Make sure you shift your weight onto the right foot, keeping your eyes on the ball. Don’t overdo the backswing, the part of the movement behind your back. Take your head further away from the ball.
Bring the club down and hit the ball. Grab the ball from underneath as the golf club head rises. Make sure the clubface hits the ball directly in the center.
A short iron is used for hitting the ball over a moderate to short distance of 130 to 150 yards.
According to Golf Week, your goal with short irons is precision and consistency Trusted Source Golf Tips and Instructions: Long Irons and Short Irons | Golfweek Golf Tips and Instructions: Long Irons and Short Irons. Scoring well in golf requires you to progressively narrow your focus as you move from the tee to the green. With a driver, your objective is to get the ball in the fairway, which is usually a fairly wide target. Long irons help you cover significant distance and achieve accuracy–placing the ball on or near the green. Your goal with short irons is precision–consistently getting the ball close to the flagstick. golftips.golfweek.usatoday.com .
You need to get the ball as close to the flagstick as possible. So you’d need more precision and control of your iron and ball. To start, you’d need to get a kind of iron that helps with precision. We advise you to get one of the best blade irons for this.
So, here’s how to hit golf ball straight with irons that are shorter.
Insert the tee a few inches into the ground before placing the ball on it. Thread the tee about half of its length. Know that holding the tee too high or too low alters your drive.
Position yourself so that the ball is about 5 cm behind your left foot so that your swing is shorter and you have more control.
Tips: Putting the ball further back will hit it with less power, and putting it forward will hit it with less precision.
Keep your feet just beyond shoulder distance. Taking a crouched position gives you a smaller range of motion and gives you more control. Don’t squeeze your legs too tight, or you’ll change your swing too much.
Keep your hands slightly lower on the handle, away from the end of the club. This grip allows you to have more control over the movement of the tool during the swing.
The low grip guarantees greater precision at the expense of power. So, keep your hands and wrists as straight as possible.
Distribute the weight evenly, shifting it only slightly on the right foot. Keep your torso and head straight, centered on the ball, and bring the club back at medium speed.
Lowers the iron, moving it towards the ball. Hit it just below center, at the lowest point of the swing. Make sure you hit the ball with the flat face of the club. Hit hard, but don’t overdo it.
There are drills and practices for hitting the irons better Trusted Source golftips.golfweek.usatoday.com . For this, we have selected several tips to hit further with the iron. All of them are related and work together.
The only things you need to put into practice are two alignment sticks and a putter cover.
When we say to place the ball close to the left foot, we mean to align it roughly to the heel. Put the two rods crosswise so that one of them points to the target and the other is used as a reference to align the ball to the desired point.
The only thing you would have to be careful about is not crossing your shoulders in the setting, which is common when placing the ball close to the left foot. Make sure your shoulders are in line with your feet.
You have to notice that from this position, the ball stays ahead (to the left) with respect to your view.
When making the backswing with the iron, the shoulders must be rotated a minimum of ninety degrees. A good intuition might be feeling like you’re bringing your left shoulder up to your right knee. Thus, at this point, you will be feeling quite a bit of weight in your right leg.
In this case, it could happen that, through rotation, the heel of the left foot is lifted. It would be fine as long as it was a consequence of the twist.
When the downswing starts, it is time to transfer weight to the left leg. If you have managed to lift your left foot, you can start by returning to the heel.
So you would then shift your weight onto your left leg by doing a lateral shift and hip rotation.
The three tips above favor a moment of impact when the clubhead rises. Something ideal is to maximize the distance by reducing the ball’s spin.
It is time to use the putter cover. Place it approximately one grip in front of the ball so that it encourages you to hit upwards.
Visualize and try to hit upwards past the putter sleeve. The lowest point of your swing should be a few inches before the ball to give the clubhead time to rise.
Try to put all these tips in line, and you’d be able to hit longer, more precisely, and better.
Check out the video below for some of the best iron hitting tips.
Hitting the iron straighter with more consistency is something that every player needs to pay attention to. We’ve seen how to hit irons straight. Always align your body with the ball. Before hitting your face, shoulders, hips, and feet should face the ball. Your body should be parallel to the hole. Make sure your feet are shoulder-width apart and in line with your shoulders to give you the best balance.
