Ball striking is the key to hitting great iron shots.
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Welcome to Play Smarta regular GOLF.com game improvement column that will help you play smarter and better golf.
If you i want to make birds you need to be able to hit quality shots with your irons. Without the ability to hit it hard from the fairway, the path to making birdies becomes extremely thin.
Hitting the ball consistently with an iron is a task that can be quite difficult for many recreational golfers. Without the benefit of a perfect lie, finding the center of the face becomes impossible for the weekend warrior.
This difficulty is usually a byproduct of poor technique. Hitting an iron requires a different technique than hitting a wood, yet many players try to use the same strategy. This almost always results in poor contact and little opportunity to hit it close.
Lee Trevino explains more in the video below.
Trevino’s secret to hitting hard irons
The secret to hitting strong shots with your irons is compacting the ball into the ground. That means you have to hit DOWN on the ball at the stroke.
“The secret to pitching is to drive the ball into the ground,” says Trevino. “What makes a ball go up in the air is the compression of the ball on the ground.”
When you hit the ball, it helps create spin which in turn lifts the ball into the air. Once in the air, it can easily land on the green and stick close to the hole.
Often amateurs will try to help the ball in the air with a sliding motion when they fall into the shot. This is a poor idea as it will rob you of power and limit the amount of spin you can produce, meaning the ball will actually fly lower than if you hit the ball.
“What happens is people put what we call an overspin and the ball never gets in the air,” Trevino says. “Every shot you hit, your first goal is to drive the ball into the ground. That’s why all the pros get big parts.”
