Want the solution to avoid hitting fat and thin shots with your irons: Keep your hands forward of the ball through impact. And now, as Paul Harvey would say: The Rest of the Story.
Jim McLean’s blog this week reminded us to “get forward at impact”. Get your body forward and over your leading foot through impact. Don’t cup your wrists. All pros keep their leading hand forward of the club head to maximize power at impact. [These comments inspired me to find out HOW.]
Thomas Golf provided a great video this week on “How to hit it pure.” The solution is easy: Setup with your hands leading the club. Lineup with your hands forward of the ball so that the shaft of your club lines up with your leading arm. It also sets you up to hit a draw so check it out at the range before you experiment on the course. Your arms will return to the same point at impact if you focus on swinging down to nip the grass or take a divot after the point of impact. Hit the ball first as you are driving your hips through the swing to a balanced finish. CHECK OUT THIS GREAT VIDEO.
I was surprised at the power and release when I tried this. I know that I have done this in the past but could never understand what was causing me to hit it “Pure”.
Keep your hands forward at impact to connect with the ball first and get more distance.
Sergio Garcia’s secrets for hitting pure iron shots:
Golf.com has an amazing sequence and description (seen by clicking the arrow in the upper right corner) showing the 16 images of Sergio Garcia’s swing. The wrist hinge helps Sergio to get the shaft leaning forward at impact. It’s a delofting move that helps add yards to every club. CHECK OUT THIS GREAT SLIDE SEQUENCE ON www.golf.com
A FINAL THOUGHT FROM SERGIO: If you focus more on staying in balance, you’ll hit more good shots than bad. Try to hold your finish after every shot. Hold it until the ball lands on the ground. If you can’t, then you’re swinging too hard. Dial it back until you can hold your finish position and use that speed on every swing — even with your driver off the tee.
Read back over the points which are highlighted. Practice with GOLFSTR+ to keep that leading arm straight and your wrist flat in the back-swing. And in the tradition of Paul Harvey’s sign-off: And now you know the rest of the story.
