Wood vs. Iron Swing

[SCGolfer]

Background: I always had a very good natural swing and hit the ball well as a young one. So when I decided to take lessons and such, I went through about 15 iron specific lessons to tweak and hone my iron play.

Well I have always fought hitting a Driver off the tee and fairway woods in general. So about two years ago I spent a great deal of time working on that part of my game, and saw vast improvement.

But what I found is a big difference in my iron swing and driver swing. When I am on with my driver, my swing gets "flat" at the bottom and I start to hit a low push to the right with my irons.

Well my iron swing is pretty steep on approach. I hit a high ball with lots of backspin. So you can start to get the picture. When I get my irons back going. I start to hit my driver low and all over the place.

What is the recommended fix?? Practice?? or have a pro make the two swings similar??

[ezra76]

Not sure on an answer here but... I always thought my swing with an iron/driver/wedge were different. I took a few videos of my swing and found this was most definitely not the case. They were the same and what worked improving one sometimes took longer to see results with the other but both are coming along. If you haven't done it yet, get your swing on video and take a look at it. What I thought I was doing and what I was doing were very, very different.

[Augster]

The wood swings and iron swings are the "same" in that they should have the same tempo. Most often it should have the same plane.

After those two are melded, then it becomes a matter of ball position and visualization.

The driver off a tee, you need to hit it on the upswing, just past where your swing would bottom out. But, you say, my swing DOES bottom out with irons, i.e. you hit the ball, then the turf, then take a divot and follow through. This swing DOES NOT work for a teed up ball. Thusly, yes, there are (at least) two different swings. (Not including the putter).

How about a 3 wood or 5 wood from the fairway? Are you ever trying to back those up? Or hit them on the upswing? (Top ) No. You need to "sweep" them. You want to hit the ball first, but don't really need to take a divot. So you could say the "sweep" shot you can use with the woods off the fairway as you never take a divot, then just move the ball a little forward to hit the ball on the tee. Two swings.

The difference is your spine angle letting you get behind the ball. Tilt your spine a little more to the right when hitting teed up drivers and sweep shot fairway woods. Preset the tilt before your shot. Then try to "launch" the ball. i.e. an upward angle of attack. You definitely don't want an upward angle of attack with your irons. And you most likely don't want to preset your spine angle a little more to the right with your short irons either.

Thus, two swings. Technically, I guess, it is the same swing, you just preset your spine angle to accomodate the fact that you are hitting the ball off a tee instead of pinching it into the ground. That way you can work on "one swing", but two setups.

I hope that helps you a bit.

[Sandpiper3]

To me, ive never tried to have more than one swing. The way I practise, ill only fix things that do well for everything. My swing is my swing, whether it's a punch sw, or taking a nice big rip at the big dog on a long par 5.

Just make improvements to both swings and they'll sorta meet in the middle so to speak. I had the same problem early last year too.

[wirehair]

I do the same thing, every once in a while the planets align & things work. When they do it's because I swing a little flatter, play short golf & control my iron tempo.

[solarbear88]

Basically, hitting up with a driver is an illusion. Instead of connecting with the ball before lowpoint in your swing arc, basically you connect at low point. Don't hit up, as this leads to flipping. Just widen your stance a bit over say a 3 iron stance and swing around your arc.

[hypergolf]

All swings are same. That is why you adjust lie angles and stuff. Just confirmed with my pro coach. One swing for all clubs. The only differences are ball placement from center then towards your left foot (right handers) for longer irons and woods. Also, you clip the ball at an up swing for drivers off the tee.