Skulling irons....

[xnavyct]

I was wondering if anyone knows of some really good drills or advice to help with not skulling your iron shots - I am wanting to 'raise up' during my downswing, and am catching the ball thin. I hit quite a few thin shots yesterday with my irons because of doing this - seems to be a major problem after my long layoff. Thanks all!

[JPsuff]

Originally Posted by xnavyct

I was wondering if anyone knows of some really good drills or advice to help with not skulling your iron shots - I am wanting to 'raise up' during my downswing, and am catching the ball thin. I hit quite a few thin shots yesterday with my irons because of doing this - seems to be a major problem after my long layoff. Thanks all!

I'll bet that most of your problem stems from the layoff and being a bit over-excited to be out playing again and as a result you're just rushing things a bit.

But here's a drill I use for such things. This is basically the same drill I use for putting but it works for any club.

Take a mid iron and set up to a good lie (this works on grass or on a mat) and set up as you normally would and sole your club behind the ball. Next, WITHOUT MOVING THE CLUB BACK AT ALL, drive your hands forward as if you were trying to push the ball as hard as you can and make sure you keep watching the ball and subsequently the spot on which it sat until the ball is airborne and gone. Get your legs into it, release your hands, and try to move the ball as far forward as you can. Do this five or ten times.

Once you get the feel for driving through the ball, try swinging the club back about a quarter of the way you normally would and drive through the ball with the same motion you were using from the standing start. Then go to a half swing and eventually a full swing.

The purpose of this is to ingrain the motion needed to make full contact with the ball and continue "chasing" it until your hands begin to naturally rise as they would on a normal follow through. By starting with no backswing at all, you're telling your muscles what they need to do and how they need to move to properly contact the ball and chase it through the impact zone. With no backswing, your muscles have to act instinctively in order to lift the ball off of the ground and propel it forward. By acting instinctively, they have no choice but to "do the right thing" and there's no influence from a swing to throw them off.
Once you get a feel for what those muscles feel like and how they move, THEN you can begin to add a bit of backswing to create more power. But when you add backswing, start first by simply bringing the club back to, say, a quarter swing then STOP and THEN drive forward and through the ball. Not only will you be teaching yourself to hit through, but you'll also be teaching yourself to accelerate as well.

Proceed in increments of one-quarter swings until you're making that motion from any backswing point. Once you're comfortable with everything, take a normal swing but make sure the backswing is nice and smooth and don't rush to get to the top. Then, when you're ready to downswing, you should be able to do so with good acceleration and focusing on creating that "through and chase" feeling you've been teaching your muscles to do.

That should help get you back on track and it's also a simple rehearsal drill to work with even while you're waiting on a tee or for a green to clear.


Hope this helps!


-JP

[xnavyct]

Thanks for the tip, JP! I've not heard of that drill before, but sounds like it would really work - very logical. I'll be trying this, for sure...

[larryrsf]

Take a piece of chalk to the range. Draw a line toward your 7i target-- and a cross line where you will place balls. Then work to hit the ball while removing NO chalk behind the ball (fat shots) and a few inches of chalk on the target line in front of the ball. This is very very good practice.

BTW, do what Harvey Penick had his golf teams do-- hit 90% 8 or 7i. Only occasionally hit driver or 3w, etc. The idea is to bring your medium iron swing to all your clubs--NOT visa versa.

After several dozen 8i shots in a row you should be able to hit them 10 in a row crisp and drop the ball on or near a target 10 out of 10 balls. This is the "skills" distance. If you can't hit greens from 140 out, you have no chance of scoring below 85 or so.

Larry

[larryrsf]

"a quarter swing then STOP and THEN drive forward and through the ball. "

Good stuff! Also a reminder that it is very important to move your weight forward EARLY in the swing, before you finish the backswing. OK to step over after impact (Gary Player). Whatever it takes to avoid lagging back--and decelerating, hitting fat, etc.

Larry