Long clubs relatively accurate, irons all over the place

I've got to the point where my driver and hybrids are going well. Fairly long, straight and plenty accurate enough. I'll even trust them to approach the green from over 150 yards. I sometimes fade them a bit but they are at least consistent.

But now my irons are all over the place. They fly well enough but I'm missing left and right seemingly at random. Presumably I have a problem squaring the club face with these. But I'm a bit puzzled about why this should be a problem with my irons when the longer clubs are basically fine.

I've booked a lesson with our pro in a couple of weeks but does anyone here have any thoughts or drills I could try in the meantime?

If you are like me, irons require better positions at impact (compression, etc). The driver is teed up, so no need to “compress” it so to speak. Or better said, there is no ground for you to worry about so potentially poor impact positions are mitigated somewhat. And for hybrids, again they require more of a sweeping action at impact and don’t “dig” like irons. So you can get away with poor impact positions with them too.

But irons don’t allow for these two points of forgiveness. Thus, I would suspect you aren’t getting into the best position to compress your iron shots. You are very likely doing the same things with driver and hybrid, but the forgiveness of those clubs is allowing you to still hit it ok despite the impact flaws.

Not sure this applies but most people use their woods way more than irons because they are trusted favorites and the longest. Those people know they don't have mid-long iron games. Though they don't have great short games, they have a better chance with a wedge than 6i or... A friend hits a great driver and 3/5 wood but often doesn't have the needed next shot so he remains a mid-cap golfer. Before we tee off he always hits driver way more than anything else on the range.

I rarely practice. My solution is playing 5700-6000 yard courses using irons only (NO woods). It's not only my version of iron practice but puts added pressure on me to hit good shots to keep strokes to a minimum.

> @Pepperturbo said:

> Not sure this applies but most people use their woods way more than irons because they are trusted favorites and the longest. Those people know they don't have mid-long iron games. Though they don't have great short games, they have a better chance with a wedge than 6i or... A friend hits a great driver and 3/5 wood but often doesn't have the needed next shot so he remains a mid-cap golfer. Before we tee off he always hits driver way more than anything else on the range.

>

> I rarely practice. My solution is playing 5700-6000 yard courses using irons only (NO woods). It's not only my version of iron practice but puts added pressure on me to hit good shots to keep strokes to a minimum.

Love the irons only practice round; I've got to get back to doing a few of those. I used to do it from the forward tees...

> @LeftDaddy said:

> If you are like me, irons require better positions at impact (compression, etc). The driver is teed up, so no need to “compress” it so to speak. Or better said, there is no ground for you to worry about so potentially poor impact positions are mitigated somewhat. And for hybrids, again they require more of a sweeping action at impact and don’t “dig” like irons. So you can get away with poor impact positions with them too.

>

> But irons don’t allow for these two points of forgiveness. Thus, I would suspect you aren’t getting into the best position to compress your iron shots. You are very likely doing the same things with driver and hybrid, but the forgiveness of those clubs is allowing you to still hit it ok despite the impact flaws.

You nailed it! I did some work yesterday to and realised that I had stopped doing my hip bump at the start of the down swing so was often hitting the ground first. As soon as I went back to that my ball strike improved and my accuracy as well. I'm still no pro but now I can be fairly sure that from 150 yards or less I'm going to end up somewhere on the green or at least close to it. Before I read your advice I'd have no idea where the ball might end up.

The only issue I now have is that the hip bump doesn't work with the driver (it causes me to hit off the crown) and doesn't seem to make much difference with the hybrids. I think the answer really is that the hip bump is fine but I need to have my upper body hanging back a bit more at impact with the driver.

As [this video](

Carry more hybrids

Johnny Miller has said most players are either good drivers of the ball or good with their irons. Two different swings ... rare to find players solid on both

> @Pepperturbo said:

> Not sure this applies but most people use their woods way more than irons because they are trusted favorites and the longest. Those people know they don't have mid-long iron games. Though they don't have great short games, they have a better chance with a wedge than 6i or... A friend hits a great driver and 3/5 wood but often doesn't have the needed next shot so he remains a mid-cap golfer. Before we tee off he always hits driver way more than anything else on the range.

>

> I rarely practice. My solution is playing 5700-6000 yard courses using irons only (NO woods). It's not only my version of iron practice but puts added pressure on me to hit good shots to keep strokes to a minimum.

That's a great idea. I could leave the other clubs in the car, and play the ladies tees, tee off w my 4i.

I've seriously been wanting to try a few rounds from closer tees to give me more scoring chances, kinda like dunking on an 8' goal.

> @cardoustie said:

> Carry more hybrids

> Johnny Miller has said most players are either good drivers of the ball or good with their irons. Two different swings ... rare to find players solid on both

Driver is a different swing/setup, other woods not so much. I think most ams are either overly steep or overly shallow, which makes being good at both more difficult.

Maybe single length irons isn't such a bad idea and could help with this. I suffer the same thing, everything but the d... irons. Brand doesn't matter at all, I own most. Ping, Titleist, Mizuno, lots of callaway.

Do you take a divot after ball consistently

> @"Santiago Golf" said:

> Do you take a divot after ball consistently

I wasn't doing so but now that I'm back to doing the bump (and also thinking 'go toward the target before the ball does') I am with all but my hybrids. It definitely helps with accuracy so I must have been suffering from the affect of catching the ground first. Just got to sort out the minor difference between an iron strike and driver strike.

Great thread for state of my game as well.....At the range, I always can hit powerful and fully satisfactory shots in all three club slots from D-H-I. Taking those same three slots to the course is my difference maker as I **rarely** hit a decent iron shot on the course.

I could go all irons play as some here have suggested since I know I have the ability to hit strong iron draws (preferred and exclusive shape) from range time.

I'm a normally thin divot player, so obviously that reflects in how well I hit hybrids from 17 up to 25 degrees, and can drive the ball pretty well in both draw/fades.

I even made a major shaft & head change this season from players designs to GI, dropping shaft wts from 127g and 122g down to 110g and 107g - still irons suck on the course, but pretty nice at the range for predictable flight and nice contact.

My contact with irons on the course is just horrific - nowhere close to range time but not so in those other slots.

I'm definitely noticing a big improvement with the hip bump restored. There's still more variability with the irons though (or so it seems). My hybrids (5, 4, 3) and driver either go pretty straight or push fade a bit (sometimes a lot with the driver if I get careless). So I could just aim a bit left and not worry about it if I wanted.

But I continue to miss the irons both left and right, just not as bad as before. When I forgot the hip bump it was a case of 'where the bleep did that go?'. With the hip bump it's just a case of 'oh, that went a bit left (or right) of target'.

I'm no teacher, but what you said about your hybrid and driver miss being a push/fade and that you "could just aim left and not worry about it" points to a possible culprit.

Aiming to compensate for inconsistency is a recipe for getting very lost and confused. My recommendation is to stick to "dead aim" and trust your release more. Don't let magical moves, "hip bumps" and whatever, take your focus away. Best to you.