Why are long irons so hard to hit well?

[SiberianDVM]

My new clubs are great. I'm hitting longer and straighter than ever. Except for the friggin 3 & 4 iron. I'm hitting low, screaming hooks with them.

I know it's my swing. Probably my hands are getting ahead and closing the clubface. How the heck do I fix that? Why is it just these 2 clubs?

Or should I just say screw it and buy a 3 & 4 hybrid?

 

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I'm no pro but try this:

1) Keep your upper body over the ball don’t move backwards away from the target (sway)
2) Try to take a SHORTER SLOWER backswing
3) Move the ball a little further back in your stance
4) Hit down like 7I
5) Follow through towards the target with a high finish (swing down the target line)
6) On the takeaway, take the club straight back from the ball.


I was hitting my long irons poorly the other day so I went to the range. 30 minutes later I was hitting them well them. ^^those are some things I focused on. Might do you some good but..maybe not.

Good luck

P.S- Don’t buy a hybird

-ThatCanadianGuy

 

[ezra76]

Dude, those things are blades, right? There are only a few guys not named Tiger who can hit those things consistantly in a long iron. Take a look at the "What's in my bag" in Golf Digest. Just about any long iron blade you'll see has so much lead tape on it you can't even tell the manufacturer. I'd say get some kind of a hybrid for the 3 and 4iron. The only way I'd try to hit them was if there were a par 3 that was dead on one of their yardages.

 

[SiberianDVM]

There are 2 par 3s that are dead on: 185 and 195 yards, and I didn't hit either one of them.

I'm gonna keep trying to learn to hit them, but I'm also gonna get Dana to build me 2 hybrids.

And take a lesson.

 

[Davebud]

Doc look at it this way, if you can hit your 5,6 and 7 consistently, you're in better shape than me.

 

[SiberianDVM]

Doc look at it this way, if you can hit your 5,6 and 7 consistently, you're in better shape than me.

I'm counting my blessings.

Shit, Dana just emailed me back and I don't think he wants to build me hybrids. Noi biggie, I can get some built locally if I have to. He did give me a swing tip, and said I could have the lofts and lies adjusted on those two clubs to make them easier to get in the air.

I'm also gonna try CanadianGuy's tips. Thanks for those.

 

[golfman2760]

you think you're having trouble?
stop playing golf for a while and then come back and try striking the way you did before you had a break

on the 2nd hole with my 4 iron I finally got my swing back, watched it soar in the air thinking oh yeah its back and then when its on track to landing on the green all of a sudden at the last second it decides to take a sharp left turn into the bush (or as an american would call it the forest)

 

[ualtim]

Doc, get the hybrids. Why struggle with the 3 and 4 irons when hybrids are so easy to hit? The hole doesn't care whether you hit a 3-iron or a hybrid to get the ball close, and you don't get any more points (or less points) for using an iron instead of a hybrid. Its a simple game. Get the ball in the hole in the fewest amount of strokes. The club is going to help you do that with the least amount of effort is the one that should be in your bag.

 

[Eracer]

Hybrid, hybrid, hybrid.

My steel-shafted Cobra Baffler 3 and 4 hybrid are absolute money in the bank. The days of the 3 and 4 irons are history.

I'm seriously considering getting the Baffler 5H this week. I don't hit my 5-iron badly. But I hit the 4-hybrid so well (I just can't emphasize how easy that club is to hit well...) that it just doesn't make sense to put up with even a few marginal 5-iron shots.

If you want to call using hybrids cheating, or masking swing problems, fine. The fact is that you will score better, and gain confidence by using them.

 

[SiberianDVM]

I'm gonna order 3 & 4 hybrids today (and keep practising with my 3 & 4 irons). With the Pro-Am coming up in a month, I can't have long irons I can't hit.

Looking for hybrids with steel shafts is not easy, unless I have them custom built. The only ones I have found online are the Nickent 3DX Ironwoods at Goldsmith for $79.99 each with a Uniflex shaft. Anyone ever hit these?

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

Or should I just say screw it and buy a 3 & 4 hybrid?

Golf and life became a lot more enjoyable when I chose this approach.

 

[Pa Jayhawk]

I'm gonna order 3 & 4 hybrids today (and keep practising with my 3 & 4 irons). With the Pro-Am coming up in a month, I can't have long irons I can't hit.

Looking for hybrids with steel shafts is not easy, unless I have them custom built. The only ones I have found online are the Nickent 3DX Ironwoods at Goldsmith for $79.99 each with a Uniflex shaft. Anyone ever hit these?

The Nippon steel shaft on the Cobra is fantastic, and I think is usually more common and easier to find than the graphite version. Actually I believe it cost as much as the Aldila they stock in Graphite, yet they sell it for cheaper. They had a ton of them in stock at our local Golfsmith, and was one of the few they stocked with variety in steel.

 

[SiberianDVM]

No Golfsmith here.

I mean, we have the friggin Masters every year, and about 20 gazillion golfers come to town, but the best we can do is Augusta Custom Golf or Bonaventure Golf, both of which look like they belong in the 3rd world. I mean, c'mon people, if I had the money, I'd buy a franchise and plunk it down on Washington Road right across from Magnolia Lane.

 

[Eracer]

I'm gonna order 3 & 4 hybrids today (and keep practising with my 3 & 4 irons). With the Pro-Am coming up in a month, I can't have long irons I can't hit.

Looking for hybrids with steel shafts is not easy, unless I have them custom built. The only ones I have found online are the Nickent 3DX Ironwoods at Goldsmith for $79.99 each with a Uniflex shaft. Anyone ever hit these?

Cobra Baffler with Nippon NS950 shafts. I hit regular shafts in all my other irons and stiffs in the hybrids (Nippon shafts are one flex softer than Dynamic Golds). Edwin Watts stocks these clubs.

 

[SiberianDVM]

Hmmmm.........

www.myostrichgolf.com

anyone ever dealt with them? They sell components, but also custom build, and have an option for Rifle Precision shafts. I may go that route. They have Ashton, Infiniti, SMT, Avocet hybrid heads.