How to Improve Your Iron Play


Photo courtesy of TaylorMade
Every player knows the rush of hitting an awesome drive off the tee. It’s a great feeling to then be standing in the middle of the fairway, eyeing down the green. That is, until you swing and your iron shot misses the green by 20 yards and falls into a water hazard. If only your approach game could live up to your amazing tee placement!
Luckily, there are some steps that can be taken to help you hit more accurate approach shots. Here, we will go over my tips for improving your iron game: mainly ensuring you have the proper equipment, recording your swing, and practicing specific drills. Plus, having a growth mindset is always important.
Playing the Right Equipment
The first thing to check is that your irons are the right fit for you. Irons can come in a variety of builds, so take a look at your current clubs and ask yourself the following questions:
Is My Club Head Right for Me?
Photo courtesy of Callaway
Wider irons are more forgiving for mishits, but are also more difficult to control and dial in. They offer less feel off the face of the club compared to clubs with a thinner top line—or, the view of the club that you see when standing over the ball.
Finding the correct iron size can be a very feel-oriented process. Typically, demoing various designs can help narrow down what category you see better results with. Thinner irons typically are better for a player who is more feel-oriented and wants to be able to work the ball on approach shots. Thicker irons are more recommended for a player who wants forgiveness in order that their mishits still travel as far and straight as possible. Club head sizes come in a full spectrum of options, and finding the one that’s right for you can be a time-intensive process, but a Curated Expert would be happy to help.
How About the Club Shaft?
Club shafts come in various flex options; ladies, senior, uniflex, regular, stiff, and extra stiff are generally the most common distinctions. Your recommended iron flex will depend on the clubhead speed and ball speed you generate with your swing. Each flex has a range of speeds that work best with that type of club shaft to maximize the amount of lag and power in the swing. An Expert fitting will help you better understand what club shaft is right for you and your swing speed.
What Grips Am I Using?
While grip type mostly comes down to personal preference, it’s important to make sure to find one that is comfortable. Players who swing fast typically prefer a coarser grip so the club doesn’t slip out of their hands. Players who have arthritis, or another condition that makes gripping the club difficult, should opt for comfort. Budget-driven golfers will want something affordable that does not start to peel after six months. And if your grips are worn down, be sure to replace them!
Having the Right Essentials
No matter your skill level, having a good handle on the basics can help turn a catastrophic miss into a findable and playable shot. Just keeping the ball in play and away from trouble can sometimes be enough to make a big difference in score for an amateur.
Record Yourself
First, set up a camera stand or have someone take a video of your swing. It is incredibly difficult to self-diagnose your swing—as anyone who needs to make an adjustment mid-round will tell you—but seeing yourself on video can help. Take note of your setup, golf ball position, swing plane, downswing angle of attack, follow through, finish, posture, and divot direction. And when it comes to determining where you’re going wrong, working with a professional can be a big help. Your Curated Expert can also lend a helping hand.
Your Swing
Long irons should be played at the mid-front of your stance (behind a driver but forward of center). Mid irons should be played center of your stance, if not slightly back. Shorter irons—like an 8-iron, 9-iron, and wedges—should be played closer to your back foot, in the back of your stance. Because longer irons can be hard to hit, some players use hybrids instead. If that’s the case, play the hybrid in a similar position to where you’d play the iron.
As long as your swing isn’t in need of drastic alteration, these basics (being in line and proper positioning) should lead to decent outcomes. The place where amateurs struggle the most—this author included—is in consistent delivery of the clubface to the ball. That’s why many golfers opt out of thinner irons in favor of something more forgiving—unless they’re capable of playing some extremely good golf for an amateur.
Practicing Drills
Golf is a game that requires repetition. The more time you put in, the more consistent the motion in your swing will feel. Though, just going to the range and banging through a bucket of balls with a 8-iron won’t necessarily result in you hitting approaches like Seve Ballasteros. So, it’s important to practice specific drills.
Here are some of my favorite drills to help improve your iron game. Your Curated Expert will also be able to offer you additional suggestions.
Swing Sticks
Alignment aids, or swing sticks, are rods that can be stuck in or laid on the ground to demonstrate a straight line to a player. They help to create direction for players who want help with alignment, and a physical barrier in the backswing or follow through for players working on the route of their swing path. They can also be purchased for cheap and are a huge help when practicing on the range.
When I really want to focus on my approach shots, I start by putting one swing stick on the ground, and another behind me. This helps me to guarantee my swing is on the right plane. Specifically, I’ll put the stick on the outside of where my backswing is headed. This makes sure I’m sweeping the club back and around my body instead of pushing it away from me and creating a natural cutting motion on the downswing. This drill can be helpful and can be reversed for players who take the club too far inside and around their body instead of getting their hands up and away from their torso on their backswing.
Half Swing
Another drill I really enjoy is to start by hitting every iron on a half swing. Imagine there is a clock around you. The ball sits at six o’clock. Taking a full swing puts your hands at 12 o’clock. Midway between the two sits nine o'clock—or, the “half swing”. Focusing on making good contact and hitting a consistent golf shot at nine o’clock helps me feel what the second half of my swing and delivery of the club face into the ball should feel like. I then extend my swing arc back to 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock, and finally take a full swing.
This drill is also repeatable the opposite way. And you don’t even have to be at the range. Start at the top of your swing, and only bring the club to nine o’clock. This gives more feel to the top half of the swing. Repeating these proportionate swings can help perfect the feel and arc in specific areas of your motion into the ball on approach shots.
Bring the Right Mindset
The game of golf is fickle; to shoot lower scores, you often have to think outside the box. Sometimes, your takeaway looks good, you slot the top of the backswing, and your impact feels purer than ever, but the result doesn’t match. Maybe you needed an extra club. Maybe you got a bad bounce. Truth is, no matter what the reason, things aren’t always going to go perfectly out on the course.
If you have the right gear, the right basics, and the right practice routine, the only thing left is the right mindset. It is important to take the game as it comes to you. Keep practicing and working; results could be just around the corner with a new outside-the-box idea or a career-best day after a randomly awesome night’s sleep.
As always, please reach out to myself or my fellow Golf Experts here at Curated for free, customized advice and gear recommendations. We are more than happy to help you work on your iron game and brainstorm how to maximize those greens in regulation out on the course!