Iron Play

Seeing Double


Hybrid_Ê Hitting a hybrid is a lot like hitting a middle iron. You want to hit the ball with a descending blow, but not quite as steep as you would with a short-iron shot.	Iron This photo looks just like the hybrid photo to the left, doesn’t it? The goal with hybrids and middle irons is to make the same swing for both. This includes tempo and rhythm as well.

With a quick glance, you can hardly tell the difference between the photos, right? True, both shots look close to identical, but in actuality, they’re anything but. The photo on the left is at impact with a 6-iron, and the photo on the far left is the same impact position, only this time with my hybrid.

How is it that these two impact positions can look so similar? The answer has to do with how hybrids are designed to perform. Hybrids, unlike their fairway wood counterparts, are designed to strike the ball with a downward blow. The relatively shallow sole, higher loft and deep perimeter weighting ensure the ball will spin and rise with plenty of pop, making it unnecessary to try to sweep or scoop the ball upward. I see this a lot with amateurs, who feel they ought to try to lift the ball into the air with a hybrid, or at the very least, sweep the grass as they do with a long iron or fairway wood. The correct way to hit a hybrid is to attack with a descending blow like you would with a middle iron, where the clubhead makes contact with the ball first, then the grass. The ball position is roughly the same—stance, swing length and rhythm—they’re all virtually the same as your middle irons! The divot should be shallower than that of a short iron, but with a hybrid, there ought to be a slim divot reminiscent of a 5- or 6-iron.

So, if you find yourself making all sorts of swing adjustments in order to hit a hybrid, forget them and start hitting your hybrid like a 6-iron. Better yet, the next time you’re on the range, alternate between hitting a 6-iron and a hybrid for each shot until you ingrain a similar motion for both. And by the way, get the shaft on your hybrid checked so that it, too, flexes and performs uniformly with your iron set. If you follow these simple guidelines, you’ll see why hybrids are the friendliest clubs in your golf bag.

Jay Larscheid, PGA, is the Director of Golf at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona. For more information, visit longbowgolf.com.

Paths To Perfection

In a perfect world, every shot in golf would be the same distance, and we’d only have to use one club the whole round. Instead, we have 14 clubs to choose from, mostly made up of irons of different lengths and lofts. Some instructors say that you should make the same swing with every iron, play the ball in the same spot and, lastly, expect the same results with each club. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s not necessarily the case. Depending on which iron you use (we’ll simplify things by breaking it down into short, middle and long irons), the golf swing will be a little different each time. This is because no two irons are exactly alike. For instance, the longer the iron, the more you need to stand away from the ball and the flatter your swing will be.

Conversely, the shorter irons have the opposite effect and produce a more upright swing. This phenomenon is why some golfers can hit their short irons well and struggle with their longer irons. They most likely don’t know that they have to swing the long irons a little flatter! The key is to understand how different irons affect your swing, and then make the proper adjustments. The following tips will help clear up any confusion and get you on the right path, right away.

Ball Positions

	Short Iron Here, you can see three lines. The bottom one indicates my swing arc; the arrow pointing down indicates the bottom (apex) of my arc; and, lastly, the red line marks the center of my stance. Note that the right ball position with a short iron is dead-smack in the middle of my stance. The apex of my swing is a couple balls forward, meaning I’m going to hit the ball on a steep angle and produce a big divot. You can’t tell here, but my feet are closer to the ball than they are with longer iron.
	Mid- Iron Unlike the short iron, where the ball is in the middle of the stance and the club is slightly behind it, now the club is in the middle of my stance and the ball is slightly forward. Remember that the longer the iron, the more the ball should move forward. It’s not a huge jump, but rather an incremental increase. As is the case, I’m still hitting the ball with a descending blow, but it won’t be as steep as my swing with the short irons. My divot will be shallower as well._Ê
	Long Iron With long irons, I encourage people to sweep the ball as opposed to hit down on it, meaning I’d like to see golfers hit the ball right at the apex of the swing arc. Here, you see my ball is played right on the apex, which allows me to catch it crisp with little or no divot after the ball. From here, I don’t need to force the ball upwards by attempting to hit the ball on the upswing. Instead, the ball becomes airborne automatically, due to the relatively level angle of attack into the shot._Ê_Ê_Ê

Top Positions
Here’s a little physics lesson: Longer irons have a bigger arc, hence more centripetal force and more speed at impact than do short irons. With the same swing, a long iron produces a faster clubhead speed. So, stop swinging that long iron harder in order to hit longer shots. Rather, keep your swing lengths the same and let physics do the majority of the work.

Plane Positions
The iron you choose dictates your swing plane. Short irons are swung on steeper planes because they’re shorter and upright, forcing you to stand closer to the ball. Long irons are swung on a flatter plane because they’re longer and flatter, forcing you to stand farther from the ball. Remember to adjust your swing plane for the different lengths of clubs in your bag and focus on keeping your swing rhythm, balance and tempo the same for every shot. If you struggle with either long- or short-iron shots, it might be because you aren’t allowing for the natural changes in plane that occur with different irons. Let yourself adjust and you’ll quickly improve.

Finish Positions
Finally, just as the setup, plane and top positions are different for different-length irons, so, too, is the finish. As you can see, the longer the club, the flatter the finish, and the shorter the club, the more upright the finish. The key is to remember that these subtle differences aren’t the result of manipulation; rather they’re a product of the different lengths of the clubs. This doesn’t mean swing harder with your long irons and softer with your short ones. Simply maintain the same tempo and rhythm with each iron and allow the subtle differences in setup, plane and top positions to occur naturally. If you stick with these guidelines, you’ll find yourself a lot more consistent with every iron in the bag.

•Derek Nannen, PGA, is the Director of Instruction at the Eagle Mountain Golf Academy in Scottsdale, Ariz. To book a golf lesson, check him out on www.golftipsmag.com/instructors._Ê

Heads Up!

If you’ve been told the key to better ballstriking is to keep your head down, odds are you’re a golfer who puts a slice on the ball. Also, you’re a victim of bad advice, since keeping your head down can cause a variety of swing (and back) problems. Keeping your head down on your backswing actually will cause your head to get in the way and restrict your body turn. This means your arms and upper body will lift upward instead of around, and you’ll swing with an upright, outside-in swing path.

The right way to manage your noggin is to keep it out of the way. This starts with maintaining a straight spine, from your tailbone to the top of your head. By standing tall, your body can rotate under your head more effectively and keep your swing on a flatter plane. This not only leads to better swings, it also helps keep your back and neck from getting injured, a common occurrence among golfers with bad posture or who have been told to keep their head down. Keep that head up for better shots!

Notice how when my head is down, the shaft angle is more upright. This position usually leads to a slice. Keep the head and neck straight to flatten your swing.

Paul Ito, PGA, is the director of golf at the beautiful Puakea GC on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. To learn more, check out puakeagolf.com.

Sweetspot: Luke Donald

Since his early days playing_Ê for England on two Walker Cup teams and making noise as an NCAA star at Northwestern, Luke Donald has had PGA Tour success in his sights. Having already cracked the top-60 in career earnings with more than $12 million to his credit, you’d have to say he’s right on track. In 2008, Donald has continued his consistent play, and as of April 1st, he managed to notch four top-25 finishes, including a second-place finish at the_Ê Honda Classic. What’s the key to his success? The simple answer is sound fundamentals, a solid, rhythmic swing and a fantastic putting touch. Here, you’ll notice he’s using a weight on the clubshaft—this helps him further ingrain_Ê his smooth rhythm.

Arms Close
Donald’s left arm hangs nearly perpendicular to the ground. This is the product of quiet hips and serves to minimize the amount of hand action required during impact. If the left arm is allowed to push out away from the body, the clubface opens more and needs manipulation to get back to square.

Hips On Hold
The key to Donald’s control is in his hips. While they begin to open before impact like all great ballstrikers, they do so with a subdued and delayed action that serves two specific purposes. First, the lack of early hip rotation allows the arms to remain close to the body. Second, any excessive upper-body tilt created from overly active hips is eliminated._Ê

Right At It
Donald’s great body position keeps his arms close and allows his right arm to point directly at the ball. This is on plane! As a result, his hands will be lower at impact than most Tour players, helping him to better control the trajectory of his iron shots.

Changing Hands
Approaching impact, Donald’s hands are in their proper position, with the left wrist flat and the right wrist bent back. This is different from their alignment at address, with the left wrist bent and the right wrist flat, and is a change all great ballstrikers achieve, further proof that impact and address aren’t the same.

Right Heel Down
That his right heel remains grounded late in the downswing is another benefit of Donald’s quiet hips. It allows his feet, knees and hips to remain directly under his torso, creating a truly stacked impact position that maximizes compression and consistency._Ê

Facing The Ball
With the club tracking precisely on plane approaching impact, there’s no need to make adjustments to the clubface. The toe of the club will overtake the heel and need no extra manipulation from the hands to become square. This is a critical element to creating crisp iron shots.

Luke Donald plays Mizuno forged irons for what many would agree is the ultimate in feel and control. The MP-57 is the latest in the line. www.mizunousa.com

Pro Contact

There’s nothing in golf quite like making pure contact. If you’ve never felt an absolutely pure golf shot, then you must keep reading, because I’ve got a method that will allow you to achieve this magical feeling! If you have experienced this sensation, then chances are it’s the main reason that you’re hooked on this great game. And if you love golf, I’m sure you’d like to learn to make that pure contact more consistently.

What do I mean when I say pure contact? I mean contact that’s free from any defects or faults. It’s a solid strike that compresses the ball against the ground and takes a divot after the ball is in the air, not before. Achieving this type of contact tends to be difficult for a lot of recreational golfers, but it’s exactly this perfect, pure contact that the pros make time and time again that allows them to play at such a high level. In other words, pure contact is pro contact. Read carefully, examine the accompanying photos and drills, and get to work, and eventually you too can learn to hit it pure, just like the pros.

Ingredients Of Pro Contact

1. Forward Shaft Lean
Forward shaft lean (at impact, the shaft is leaning with the grip end of the club closer to the target than the head of the club) is an absolutely mandatory ingredient for making solid, pro contact. This is a must if you hope to compress the ball (squeeze it between the clubface and the ground) and make your divot after the ball, not before. This is the true secret to pro-style power and control and the element you absolutely must have if you want to hit real golf shots.

So how do you achieve forward shaft lean? There are several movements that are key, and when they happen in the correct sequence, the result is magic. Through contact, your weight must shift onto your lead leg and your trailing shoulder (right shoulder for right handers) has to move toward the ball. A lot of recreational players do the exact opposite by shifting their weight to the back leg and falling away from the ball and the target. This move sabotages any chance of making pro-style contact immediately and promotes weak, glancing blows that often travel on a left-to-right path. Instead, you must make a proper weight shift and create a balanced, leveraged position on your way toward impact. The club must move down first, then outward and forward in the direction of the ball. Your right arm and wrists must maintain their angles and save their power deep into the swing. Think of it in these simple terms: Good players reach maximum swing speed through and beyond impact, while less accomplished players reach maximum swing speed early in the swing, before they come close to impact.

Good Impact. Notice how the shaft is still trailing my left arm just after impact (if you draw a straight line up the shaft it is ahead of my left arm). My weight is on my left leg (right heel is in the air), my right shoulder is lowered, my right wrist is bent, my left wrist is flat and the divot occurred after contact with the ball. The shaft is now vertical, as it should be after a sound, ball-first impact.

Bad Impact. Notice how the shaft has passed my left arm (if you draw a straight line up the shaft, it’s behind my left arm). My weight is still on my right leg (my right heel is on the ground), my right wrist is flat, my left wrist is bent, and the divot has occurred prior to making contact with the ball. The shaft is leaning backward, a sure sign of a scooped-impact position.

2. On Plane
The second key ingredient in achieving pro contact is approaching the ball on the correct plane. The vast majority of players who struggle with impact swing over the plane from outside to in and make a very steep approach into the ball. This type of plane leads to a multitude of problems, including fat and thin shots, as well as a lot of slices and a lack of power. Another big mistake players make is swinging under the plane on too flat a trajectory. This type of approach into the ball produces smother hooks and pushes (depending on

the angle of the clubface at impact) and also promotes a chicken wing in the finish. To create pro-style impact, you absolutely must develop an on-plane motion and combine it with the proper sequence of body movements.

3. Clubface Control
You’re not going to make pro contact if you can’t control the clubface through impact. In other words, to make the ball fly in the intended direction, the face must be square at contact. Most amateurs make the mistake of having the face of the club too open at impact, which once again leads to a glancing blow and a loss of contact and distance. It also creates slices and pushes. In the correct swing, the clubface should rotate from slightly open prior to impact to square at impact to slightly closed after impact. It’s the timing of this face rotation that separates the straight hitter from the not-so-straight hitter. Some pros rotate the clubface more quickly than others, but they all do it to some degree.

Drills

Headcover Drill
By placing a headcover behind the ball about a foot and slightly inside the target line, you can learn to strike the ball with a proper descending blow and achieve forward shaft lean. Start with practice swings without the ball, each time concentrating on hitting the turf on the target side of the headcover without making contact with the actual headcover. Once you feel comfortable with this move, place a ball in front of the headcover and try to hit some shots. You should quickly get the proper feel of a descending blow. If you swing with a scooping motion (hitting the ground before you make contact with the ball), you won’t be able to hit the ball without first hitting the headcover.

Release Drill
Controlling the clubface, aka, releasing the clubhead properly, is something that all good players do and most amateur players don’t. To learn to rotate the clubface properly through impact, concentrate on freeing your hand action in both the backswing and downswing. An image I find helpful is to think of hiding your left hand with your right hand as the clubhead passes through impact. With practice, you’ll soon ingrain the proper feel._Ê

Tee Drill
Place a tee in the ground on an angle similar to what you see in the accompanying picture. Practice driving the tee down into the ground on the same angle at which it rests at setup, and I guarantee you’ll develop forward shaft lean. If you try to accomplish this with the shaft of the club leaning backward in a scooping motion, the club will slide under the tee and flip it up in the air. Start with very small swings and slowly work your way up to a full motion. Practice this drill until you can do it consistently, and your technique will improve dramatically.

GT Senior Instruction Editor Chuck Winstead teaches at the University Club in Baton Rouge, La._Ê

Rotate Efficiently

If you want to increase your ballstriking ability, you need to understand how to rotate your hips properly in the golf swing. Most amateur golfers rotate their hips too far during the backswing, which makes it difficult for them to get their hips to open up to the target at impact, a key component of a successful swing.

At GolfTEC, we’ve measured the swings of more than 100 Tour professionals. Therefore, we know exactly how the hips need to rotate in order to maximize power and efficiency in the swing. With a 5-iron, the average Tour player has a hip rotation of 48 degrees closed to the target at the top of the backswing, and at impact, they rotate their hips to an average of 42 degrees open (facing the target). If you’re like most players, you rotate your hips 55 to 65 degrees closed at the top of the swing, while only getting to 15 to 25 degrees open at impact. Most golfers can achieve enough hip turn to hit the ball a long way, but it’s more important to be open at impact than closed at the top.

There are several common swing faults that cause the hips to rotate too far during the backswing. It’s difficult to know which of these movements is causing problems in your swing without seeing it on video or measuring it with motion analysis. Nevertheless, the following swing thoughts may help you make more efficient and powerful use of your hips.

For one, try to keep your right knee flexed throughout the swing. This somewhat limits the free rotation of your hips. Also, focus on the width of your knees at address, and strive to maintain that width all the way to the top of the swing. Another useful tip is to keep your belt buckle pointing at the ball during the entire backswing. On the downswing, try to point the buckle at the target by the time you reach impact.
_Ê
1. Keep the right knee flexed throughout the swing.
2. Try to maintain the width that you have between your knees at address all the way to the top.
3. Try to keep your belt buckle facing toward the ball at the top of the swing (as it is at address).
4. Try to point your belt buckle at the target by the time you reach impact.

Steve Atherton is the V.P. of instruction at GolfTEC. To find a GolfTEC learning center near you, visit www.golftec.com.

Stay In Your K

Even good golfers with sound, grooved swings come untracked now and then, especially if they lose the flex in the back leg trying for distance. If you stiffen your back leg during the backswing, your body will likely tilt out of balance, making it tough to re-flex the knee just the right amount in time for impact. If you can play some great golf, but consistency is your problem, it might be that you need a dose of Special K. Here’s how it works.

K Pasa?
At address, the Special K is the angle formed in your back leg by the upper and lower leg. The manner in which you stand to the ball determines in large part how well you maintain your Special K during your swing.

The best advice is to establish an athletic, ready-to-move setup. Create this posture by bending forward from the hip sockets and back from the knees. When your back leg is flexed correctly, it creates room for your arms to swing and aligns the joints one on top of the other. You should be able to draw a line from the top of the spine through the tip of the elbow and then from the tip of your knee down through the ball joint of your foot.

Keeping The K
To keep your swing level, this angle should be maintained from address to just after impact. A good way to experience what it feels like to keep the Special K while you swing is to look in a mirror while you take practice swings. Start with the setup position shown in the photo at right. Hold it steady, then look in the mirror to connect the sight and feel of the correct back-leg flex for that position. Next, swing to the top. Again, hold that position and use the mirror to see if you maintained the angle in your back leg.

Another good learning method is to practice swinging with a shaft placed in the ground and angled to match the slant of your upper leg. You won’t be able to see the shaft while you swing, but you’ll sense that it’s there, and that will help you maintain your Special K.

Once you establish the Special K at address, your goal is to maintain it all the way through your swing until after the ball has been launched. In order to do so, you’ll have to start your swing by shifting your weight into your trailing hip so you can make a level lower body turn. If you fail to make this crucial weight transfer, your trailing hip will likely float upward and destroy your Special K.

A second key occurs as you start back down to the ball. Here, establish your front hip as the rotational center of your swing. By focusing on the right hip, you’ll better prepare it to receive your forward weight shift and also allow you to maintain your back leg flex through the impact area and beyond.

_ÊSetup
In the Special-K setup, the body has that athletic look common to many sports–a posture ready for action. At address, flex your back knee to discourage any up-and-down body motion while you swing. If you prepare yourself correctly, you won’t have to make any adjustments once your swing begins–all you have to do is rotate. Check your lower leg to make sure that it’s straight up and down (note that the crease in my pant leg is vertical). When the crease points toward the shaft, you know your lower leg is slanted at a bad angle. The reason the Special-K position is so important is that it unlocks the hips so they’re free to rotate. When the back leg locks and straightens at the knee, the back hip freezes, causing the body to tilt rather than turn._Ê

Backswing
When you keep the Special-K position during your backswing, it allows your elbows to stay level near the top of your swing. This, in turn, keeps the clubface from twisting out of position. Staying in your K makes your backswing more rounded and, instead of elevating the clubhead suddenly and tearing it off of its swing arc, the clubshaft travels on the correct swing path with a gradual, power-gathering ascent of the club.

Downswing
Notice how just before impact, the lead hand is below the waist, yet the trailing elbow is still folded at a near-90-degree angle. This retains the power until the last moment and is possible only from the Special-K position.

Impact
Through impact, the trailing arm snaps straight, releasing power into the ball as the back knee kicks toward the target, still in its Special-K flex. Just after impact, both arms are straight, with the clubhead below the hands and the butt of the club pointing toward the middle of the body.

PGA teaching professional Dr. T.J. Tomasi is regarded as one of the top 100 instructors in America. He is the director of instruction at Lyman Orchards GC in Middlefield, Conn.

Hinge For Power

Hinge For Power
Amateurs have problems hitting crisp iron shots due to two fatal flaws. First, the takeaway tends to be too low to the ground, which delays the proper hinging of the wrists until too late in the backswing. Second, in a misguided effort to create power, the arms tend to swing too far in the backswing.This causes a breakdown in posture and usually leads to a reverse pivot. These flaws cause mis-hits and a lack of distance and control.

Several simple steps can be taken to gain control over the length of the swing in order to create more solid contact. At setup, a 45-degree angle should be present between the left arm and clubshaft. This starts the swing with the wrists already hinged halfway to the necessary 90 degrees. During the takeaway, the hands should stay close to the ground while the clubhead moves up quickly. The goal is to get the left thumb pointing at the right shoulder as soon as possible. You’ll know you’ve achieved the proper wrist hinge when your left arm is parallel to the ground and the clubshaft is perpendicular to it. This sets the wrists much earlier in the backswing, eliminating the need to swing the arms too far at the top. The tendency to lose posture and reverse pivot will be removed with this more compact golf swing.

Creating the proper wrist hinge in the backswing will lead to noticeably better ballstriking and, as a result, more consistent distance and direction on all iron shots.

PGA professional Brady Riggs teaches at Woodley Lakes Golf Course in Van Nuys, Calif. For more information, visit www.bradyriggs.com.

Five Fundamentals Of Iron Play

Editor’s Note: This story was updated April 3, 2018 — We admit, blasting a huge drive is a ton of fun. Just ask PGA Tour long-knockers like Dustin Johnson, John Rahm and Rory McIlroy. They are blowing by doglegs and leaving wedges into greens, and we love them for it. After all, nothing beats splitting the fairway with every ounce of swing speed you have, watching the ball soar for what seems like miles in the air and basking in the success of the result. But what’s a 300-yard drive if you can’t hit the green on your second shot? Worthless! That’s why our five fundamentals of iron play are so vital to learn, practice and master.

No matter how sexy driving the golf ball can be, your mammoth drives don’t mean squat unless you have the skills to follow them up with solid iron play. The same goes for putting—you can’t score if you can’t putt well, and part of making more putts has to do with how close you can hit your approaches to the hole. Put it this way: Scoring well requires a series of chain reactions. Great drives stage easier approach shots, and better approach shots lead to shorter putts, which likely lead to lower scores. Invariably and frequently, these links are going to weaken most often with the big stick and flatstick, making it all the more critical that you keep your iron game in top form.

Setup

Bend from the waist, not from your back, for better posture.

Take the club back with the arms, not wrists, during the takeaway.

Frankly, a poor setup is downright inexcusable—you don’t even have to hit a golf ball to get it right.

Begin by understanding the difference between a good setup and a flawed one. Think of a baseball player or basketball player. They flex at the knees, stand firmly on the balls and heels of their feet and do so with solid posture. Think “rock and roll” to remind you that your feet serve as a rock through your backswing and roll through the downswing. The back retains straightness, but not necessarily rigidity. The spine should tilt toward the ball, and in a correct stance and swing, this tilt remains well through impact. More importantly, the tilt occurs in the hips (solid image at left), not the waist (ghosted image). Your weight should be balanced evenly over both feet. The hands should always be above or in front of the ball and never behind (think of your left arm as an extension of the shaft).

Now, on to ball position, the most overlooked aspect of iron setup. The ball should be played no farther back than your sternum and no farther forward than your left armpit. Most golfers tend to play the ball too far forward, causing a slew of miserable contacts. Try this: Hold a golf ball at your sternum while making a regular stance over a ball. Drop the ball from your sternum and note where it hits the ground. If it lands in front of the addressed ball in relation to the target, then you’re playing the ball too far back.

Takeaway

How you take the club back during the onset of the backswing determines what route the rest of your swing will follow, making it crucial you get this step right. Let’s look at the 2-8-12 rule. During the first two inches of your takeaway, the club should travel straight back. This necessitates that your arms, hands and shoulders move in unison and as a single unit (hence the term “one-piece takeaway”). From the second inch to the eighth inch, the club routes its way up, but the wrists have yet to break. This is simply a natural continuation of the one-piece move. From the eighth inch to the 12th inch is when the wrists break, positioning the clubshaft parallel to the ground and your target line. The full cock of the wrists occurs when the hands are shoulder high. Also, notice how I keep my rear shoulder slightly lower than the one closer to the target. This prevents me from hanging on my front side during the takeaway. If your forward shoulder drops, then your weight isn’t going to shift properly to your back foot during the backswing.

Rough Takeaways

When you find yourself in the rough, invariably you’re going to need a steeper takeaway to get your swing moving on the right arc. As the club begins moving back, the wrists should already begin to hinge and not twist, thus allowing for a steeper and shorter backswing to follow. The wrists should already be fully cocked by the time the hands reach hip high on the backswing. You should retain this wrist cock as long as you can.

Line ‘Em Up

To check and make sure you’re swinging on plane and cocking your wrists at the correct time, lay a club along your feet (as shown). As you execute the first part of the takeaway, your hands should trace the line created by the clubshaft on the ground. Keep in mind that the club in your hands should not reach its parallel-to-the-ground state until the hands reach hip high. If your wrists break early, forcing the shaft to reach parallel before your hands reach your hips, you’ll be in danger of creating a too-steep takeaway. Also, the wrists should break without the clubhead moving in front or behind the clubshaft on the ground. Practice a few takeaways until you reach this position without thinking about it.

Backswing/Downswing

A straight left arm is ideal at the top of THE backswing, Although a slight bend also is acceptable, especially if you tend to cast the club or are unable to turn fully.

If you have a mirror, check your clubhead position and make sure it isn’t above your head or drifting too far away from your body. The proper position with every iron should be directly over your rear shoulder at the top of your backswing.

Weighty Issues

During the backswing, your goal should be to shift your weight to your rear foot, as opposed to hanging over the front (reverse pivot). The key is to remember that a proper weight shift is the result of a full turn, not a slide. So turn, turn, turn until your weight moves to the back foot and keep your hands away from your body.

Once you’ve begun your backswing with the correct takeaway, the next crucial element to be wary of is where you stand at the top of your backswing. It’s all downhill from here, making it all the more important that you’re in the right place to avoid a series of bad chain reactions during the downswing.

As you can see at the top of my backswing, my upper body has turned away from the target and most of my weight has transferred to my rear foot. My head and left shoulder are also both behind the ball relative to the target, further proving that my weight has moved back and I’m ready to release through the downswing transition. Lastly, look at my clubface. See how it’s facing you? That’s where it should be. From this position, I’m ready to start turning toward the target, allowing my hands to drop underneath my head as I begin naturally shifting my weight toward my forward foot. This chain reaction is how I unwind the stored energy I created during the backswing sequence of events.

Move It Over

If you struggle with a wild front knee (left), and many golfers do, consider this simple tip. With either a broom handle-sized stick or a golf shaft, address a ball as you normally do, but with the stick inserted into the ground along the outside of your forward leg. Now, take the club back as usual and pause at the top of your backswing. As you initiate the downswing, do so in slow motion and concentrate on not allowing your forward knee to protrude beyond the stick. Continue making slow downswings until you feel comfortable making a downswing without jutting your knee forward. This will help you get a feel for what it means to turn toward the target as opposed to sliding toward the target on the downswing. In time, this drill will make you a much more consistent player, and maybe help with some added distance as well.

Impact

Head behind the ball, hips open and the forward arm, leg and shaft stacked over the golf ball—this is where you want to be at impact.

Alas, the moment of truth. Pending all the right chain reactions, where you are at impact dictates what kind of shot you’re going to hit.

Great golfers know that the key to solid ballstriking is to achieve what’s called the “stacked” position at impact. This position requires a full release of the wrists and a straight line drawn over the forward leg, left arm and the club as if all these elements are stacked over one another. Most of my weight has already transferred to the forward foot at this point, and because of my solid left side and the momentum created by my body and arms, my wrists have no choice but to unhinge directly over the golf ball. A common misconception among amateur players is that the impact position should resemble the setup position at address. After all, everything is lined up perfectly at address, so the impact position should be the same, right? Wrong. As you can see by the correct impact position shown, my hips are open, my weight has transferred to my forward foot, and my rear shoulder is considerably lower than my forward shoulder. This is a very different pose from the static, balanced position at address.

Descending Blows

Unlike the driver, your irons should never approach the ball on an ascending arc. Most irons require a descending blow, which means the lowest part of the swing arc is reached after you make contact with the golf ball. If you tend to catch the ball fat or thin, consider cocking your wrists sooner on the backswing to steepen your arc immediately and help you obtain that crisp contact we all want, especially with the shorter irons. With longer irons, allow for a slower wrist cock. This will widen your swing and provide you with the flatter arc that’s needed for longer iron shots.

Release

Notice the difference in the two photos to the right? Everything is the same except for the release of the hands. The photo to the immediate right shows too much hand release and wrist breakdown, while the one above is evidence of a more stacked position at impact.

Finish

The finish should be the most comfortable position in the entire swing. see it before you swing and hold it until the ball stops moving.

Just because you’ve made contact doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods yet. The finish position is actually an important ingredient to a great iron swing, as it can tell you a lot about what’s going on during your motion. The correct finish ends with the body weight primarily on the front foot, the club behind you, and your head, chest and belt buckle facing the target. You should be balanced and able to hold this position indefinitely. From a solid finish position, you can determine two things: 1) The majority of your body weight has successfully shifted to your forward leg; and 2) your body has fully rotated without excessive sliding through the downswing, which can produce the gamut of poor shots.

Balance 101

Here’s one of our all-time favorite tips: Hit an iron shot and purposely hold your finish. Then, retrace your swing in reverse, all the way through the downswing, to the top position, the takeaway and back to the address position. Even in reverse, the sequence should lead to a steady address position. If there’s a flaw in the process, it’s easy to see if you try this technique. Once you’ve worked these five fundamentals into your iron play arsenal, forget them and concentrate on shooting lower scores! You should have ingrained them into your swing, allowing you the opportunity to concentrate on the shot at hand and not the fundamentals you already know. Mahalo!

The brothers Castillo are longtime golf instructors hailing from the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Ron (in red) is former director of golf Kiahuna Golf Club and is now a member of the Southern California section out of Mission Viejo, California. Michael (in blue) is former director of golf at Princeville at Hanalei Golf Resort (www.princeville.com), and now an instructor at Plantation Golf Club in Indio, California.

Red-Letter Days

Good days and not-so-good days on the course are part of golf, creating the personal challenge avid players crave. For most golfers, good rounds are those defined by solid ballstriking with ideal direction, distance and trajectory. It’s these special red-letter days–the days when golf seems effortless–that every golfer wants more often.

On days when you’re playing your best, it’s likely that you’re successfully achieving some key positions in your setup and swing. These positions create the best opportunity to maximize your potential for distance, direction and proper trajectory with every shot.

An easy way to remember these important setup and swing checkpoints is to visually relate them to the alphabet. What follows is an easy way to assay your setup and swing in a mirror to see that you’re giving yourself the best chance for a red-letter day every time you tee it up.

Address: Why The Letter Y
At address, the letter Y puts you in the best position to produce a powerful golf shot that travels on an ideal trajectory. The Y is created by the left arm and the clubshaft, and your spine, which should be tilted slightly from the target.

The left arm and clubshaft alignment mimic the same in-line condition of impact, which is necessary to produce solid golf shots. Your upper body tilt, complete with your head positioned behind the golf ball, sets up the correct upper body pivot and helps launch the ball on a playable trajectory._Ê

If you set up with your shoulders level and with eyes fixed on top of the ball instead of behind it, you’ll have a difficult time turning your upper body correctly back and through with the proper weight shift.

Halfway Back: L Is For Leverage
Halfway into the backswing, allow your wrists to hinge the club up as you turn your upper torso. In so doing, you’ll create the letter L as your wrists cock and form a 90-degree angle between the club and your left arm. This lever is one of the most important power sources in the golf swing. Combined with a fold of the right elbow, creating the letter L elevates the clubhead to a position higher than your hands. The dynamics of this move produce a club that feels light rather than heavy. Be sure to keep your left arm extended, with your hands in front of your chest to create the proper width for your swing.

Unless you create the proper angles with your arms and the club, you won’t be able to unleash maximum clubhead speed at the golf ball. If you delay the wrist hinge and elbow fold (photo at left), or swing the club too flat or too around your body, the club will feel heavy at the halfway back position. This is a recipe for losing width at the top and hinging at the elbows instead of a hinging at the wrists–a huge power leak.

At The Top: The Power V
At the top of the swing, your spine should be slightly angled away from the target and you should feel loaded on your right side. If your head moves a couple of inches to the right, that’s fine. In fact, this happens with most good golfers. If you’re correct at the top, a vertical line running from the ground through your left hip and one down your back should create the letter V. When you see the V, you know you’ve created the proper coil and weight shift necessary for a powerful downswing. Not only does a good position at the top put you in a powerful striking stance, but it’s also more likely to promote a swing that travels on the correct plane.

If your upper body tilts toward the target with your weight on the left side at the top, you’ve filled the space reserved for the power V. You’ll have a tendency to fall away from the target on the forwardswing–just the reverse of what should happen. This reverse pivot move positions the bottom of the swing arc too much behind the golf ball, causing you to hit the ground behind the ball or the top half of the ball as the clubhead is on its way up. It’s also difficult to swing the club on plane with a reverse pivot, and most often you’ll get a steep angle of attack and a weak, glancing blow that produces either a pull or a slice.

Impact: Kill It With A Capital K
As you start the downswing, allow the lower body to initiate a pivot toward the target as the hands and arms drop the club into position to approach the ball on the correct forwardswing path. When the lower body

initiates a pivot toward the target, you’ll more easily achieve the key components of successful impact: weight on the left leg, right heel off the ground and right knee worked in toward the left with hips slightly open. These arrangements, coupled with hands that are slightly ahead of the ball at the point of contact, form the letter K.

Since the golf swing is a continuous motion, it’s difficult to stop at impact to examine these factors. So, use slow-motion swings to ingrain the correct impact positions. Learning to put your body and club in the correct impact arrangement, even if in slow motion, will help your brain communicate to your muscles just how you want your body and club positioned when you strike the ball.

Followthrough: X Marks The Spot
To generate top speed and deliver a square clubface, your forearms must rotate through the hitting area so that they create the letter X in the early followthrough phase of the swing. In a good golf swing, the right elbow is bent and the left forearm is extended just prior to impact. After impact, however, the left elbow starts to bend and the right arm straightens and extends down the target line. The only way this position change can occur is if you allow your forearms to rotate.

If you block the release of your clubface through the hitting area, your left arm will be above your right just after impact and the clubface will be left open. This look creates a Y, not an X. The results are weak, glancing golf shots with both poor distance and direction.

Notice how close my elbows are in the correct picture. If you’re spread apart, odds are you’re a victim of an early hands release through the ball and a weak left side through impact.

Lastly, when you properly release your hands, you enable the rest of your body to follow and make a full turn through the ball. You can see the difference in my knee position as well.

Finish: The I Has It
At the end of the swing, you should be balanced with most of your weight on your left side and your upper body directly on top of your lower body in a tall posture. Your right foot should be up on its toes, helping to maintain balance on your left leg. Your right knee should move to your left so that they almost touch. Your belt buckle, chest and eyes should be facing the target. Everything lines up in the shape of the letter I.

If you make this balanced finish position your goal, you’ll learn to swing through, not at, the golf ball. Furthermore, finishing in the shape of the letter I will help you find the ideal tempo or speed at which you can swing the club and still maintain good balance.

In years past, a finish position that mimicked a reverse C was en vogue . Today’s more modern, rotary swing dictates the I finish, however. Plus, avoiding the reverse C will extend your playing years by protecting your back. More importantly, the I makes for a more efficient and consistent golf swing.

Lana Ortega is a Class-A LPGA member and director of instruction at the McGetrick Golf Academy in Denver, Colo. For more information about the McGetrick Golf Academy, visit www.mcgetrickgolf.com.