What iron do you stop your “stock” swing at? Trajectory control

[VanTheMan0519]

I’m your typical high ball high spin hack. As I try and get into low single digits I am diligently working on flighting my scoring irons. Normally I would swing my 8-SW like I would a 5 or 6 iron. High ballooning shots that were inconsistent and lost distance. From 150 yards and in I have tried 3/4 type swings to flight the ball down. I have become pretty accustomed to flighting my wedges from 110 and in. Struggling with finding the swing for my 8 and 9 irons for that 135-150 distance. Are you swinging your 8 and 9 irons just as would your 6 and 7 iron or flighting them? Struggling with that window currently of 125-150 yards. 

[HitSomeMissSome]

Great post and congrats for taking on the challenge of managing delivered loft, swing speed and thus ball speed. This is a huge step in your development as a player. I had success developing this skill by using something between my arms for connection and rotation blending. I was a flipper.

 

Also it helps if you can play with scratch or better players. You'll see how they change their speed on iron shots. The only time a good player rips an iron is if they need to hit it high with max spin. That might be less than half the time. A Tour Player plays harder greens than the rest of us and they need the high launch, high spin shots to front/middle pins in firm conditions.  

[LBB]

I'm a similar index as you and I hit all my full shots with the same general full swing down to GW.  I also can play the ball slightly back in my stance to flight the ball lower if needed, but that's usually due to wind, not because I'm trying to be more accurate. For 105 and in, I'm using some form of controlled shot with my PW-LW.  Not necessarily trying to flight them down, but narrower stance and more control and finesse through the strike as compared to a stock full swing.

[ShortGolfer]

My stock swing is a high fade.  I can hit  draw in practice but I rarely remember to use it on the course, even when it is windy. 

Yes, my 9 iron goes really high. 

[Habitual Flipper]

Conditions will dictate the swing. I'll knock down any iron. It was blowing 30 gusting to 50 km/h last weekend and I hit a couple of knock down 5 irons into par 3s. 

[Glock917]

I personally do not swing my 5i like my 9i. Long irons are longer so swing feels longer and rounder so don't feel as steep and more a sweep. 

 

Looks like you need to hone in on your stock shots with your short irons. If it is high ballooning and inconsistent then just ditch that and start experimenting using a flighted cut off feel type shot ala Tommy Fleetwood. 

 

Once you established that as your stock then you can flight it even more from your stock when condition warrant that shot. To do that are all out there like choking up, narrowing stance, swinging smoother, etc.

 

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Other than driver 3w off the tee, I flight everything if accuracy is the concern.

[ferrispgm]

The longer the club the longer the swing, if your 8 iron swing length is the same as the 5 iron that's an issue and you're overswinging.  If you're swinging too long your arms are probably trailing even more and you are adding loft at impact hence the high floaters.  Try feeling a 3/4 backswing or even a half backswing with a 6 iron and film it.....

 

You may not hit the long irons high enough to be useful...that's ok...that's why they have hybrids, no shame in that. 

[Rbsiedsc]

1 minute ago, ferrispgm said:

The longer the club the longer the swing, if your 8 iron swing length is the same as the 5 iron that's an issue and you're overswinging.  If you're swinging too long your arms are probably trailing even more and you are adding loft at impact hence the high floaters.  Try feeling a 3/4 backswing or even a half backswing with a 6 iron and film it.....

 

You may not hit the long irons high enough to be useful...that's ok...that's why they have hybrids, no shame in that. 

this is so true. I am noticing this with my oncourse data from Dewiz. No way should my 8i have the same backswing length as my driver. I can also see it in video because overswinging is leading me to cause the shaft to steepen in the downswing and then I have all sorts of compensation.

[Dabetic]

When my trajectory control was better...7i was about where it stopped. Even 6i sometimes. These days, hell, I'll rip a LW if the number is right. Should probably reconsider...

 

The shot was essentially take the extra club and smooth it w ~85-90% of full backswing

Edited June 18 by Dabetic

[ferrispgm]

2 minutes ago, Rbsiedsc said:

this is so true. I am noticing this with my oncourse data from Dewiz. No way should my 8i have the same backswing length as my driver. I can also see it in video because overswinging is leading me to cause the shaft to steepen in the downswing and then I have all sorts of compensation.

It's tough to get used to feeling a shorter swing, it was the very first thing I started working on when I decided to abandon all previous "knowledge" and start from scratch some years ago.  It's not so bad on the range but it took a while to feel normal on the course.  

[Dabetic]

6 minutes ago, ferrispgm said:

It's tough to get used to feeling a shorter swing, it was the very first thing I started working on when I decided to abandon all previous "knowledge" and start from scratch some years ago.  It's not so bad on the range but it took a while to feel normal on the course.  

No kidding. Tempo, low point, everything feels weird. Tough to build confidence and easy to revert to the old

[ferrispgm]

15 minutes ago, Dabetic said:

No kidding. Tempo, low point, everything feels weird. Tough to build confidence and easy to revert to the old

Believe me I understand.  I took me about a year to get comfortable but I'm glad I stuck with it. 

[b.mattay]

I have a full swing and flighted swings for every club in the bag, with the exception of driver (and putter, obviously). In general, I tend to use more full swings above 9 iron, and more flighted swings with the wedges. 

[Chunkitgood]

Do you think you balls were ballooning be use you were swinging  too fast, or were you possibly adding loft?

[JAMH03]

Quote

Are you swinging your 8 and 9 irons just as would your 6 and 7 iron or flighting them? Struggling with that window currently of 125-150 yards. 

I try and flight the ball as much as possible. 

Not sure what you've got going on. So #1 you've got to measure. w/o objective data we don't know how far away we are from where we want to be. Say your hitting 80% of your greens with your current technique and the pros are at 85% then we'd be pretty sure you're doing things really well. 

Though it's perfectly OK to say not happy with how it's going and that's a fine place to start. 

My instinct @VanTheMan0519 is that you're still not taking enough club. There comes a point of diminishing returns for sure. I think we've got to get to that point first. 

I absolutely think you're on the right path. Shallowing taking spin off come in lower all things that players do. 

I just think adding your 7 iron to the 8-9-pw matrix would be useful to have more options to flight the ball. 


TJ Tomaski had a brilliant article about how to play in the wind. I wish I would've kept but some of the things in it can apply to what you're trying to do. 

Grip down for less power, take a full turn but what feels like 1/2 or 3/4's arm swing try both and execute it at 3/4 or 1/2 tempo. 

Those are really good wind cheaters and will also serve to help you develop your "feel" for partial shots into greens. 

Also work on the ladder drill. 

Freddy Couples said he liked to take a full swing and try and hit the club 1/2 distance that way he was sure everything in his swing was in phase. 

So try hitting your 9 iron 75-80 yards with a full swing and also try the ladder drills from 150-140-130 seeing which shots are easiest for you to reproduce. 

Good luck!