Do you struggle to get consistent ball strike? Is your ball striking as good as in summer time? As the ground gets wetter and wetter, we must make sure our strike is good with the use of good technique and concept.
If we watch any world class golfer hit an iron from wet conditions, the strike will still be just as good as hitting from a perfect lie and will not lose any distance. How do they do this? ……….
There are 4 ways to get the best strike on your irons just like the best golfers in the world:
Strike Location - no matter what club you are using, hitting the ball out of the centre of the clubface is of the highest priority. Without a consistent strike location in the ‘sweet spot’ of the club, no matter your ability, you will be extremely limited in producing a consistent shot (shot shape, accuracy and distance control).
Practice your strike using a strike tape (shown in picture) or strike spray (athletes foot spray or dry shampoo). See where your strike is and if it in a consistent location.
Practice striking the ball off the heel, middle or toe on demand. This will give you awareness of strike location and help feel where the club face is at impact. (Great to try and move strike location from e.g. heel to centre if miss striking shots)
2. Concept - I see many be afraid of hitting the ground in wet conditions. This causes fat and thin strikes due to the angle of attack becoming more shallow where players are trying to pick the ball off the ground by making no divot. They also see that the golf ball has no roll out when it lands so try and help the ball up to help increase carry distance but strike is compromised.
Understand that it is a non-negotiable to hit down on the ball (negative attack angle) when hitting an iron shot when the ball is on the ground.
The club is designed to hit the ground and the club meets the ball on its downward movement into impact with an iron (don’t be afraid of hitting the ground - it does not need to be a divot).
Changing your intent on where you hit the ground and how you hit the ball and ground can be a huge way to make changes to your impact without thinking about technique.
3. Low point Control - The optimal strike with an iron is when a player hits ball first then the ground. Having control of hitting ball first then turf on demand will improve consistency of strike and distance.
No matter if you are steep or shallow, hitting the ground before the ball will cause inconsistent strike thus inconsistent ball flight and distance.
Practice hitting after the ball through correct weight transfer and rotation into impact
Practice drill - Draw a line in-line with the golf ball. Practice landing the club on the line to ahead of the line to avoid heavy strikes.
Practice drill - place a towel/card 4 inches behind the ball with a 7 iron and simply miss the towel/card whilst still hitting a good strike.
4. Depth of Arc - This is where the lowest point of your arc is and how low/high this is relative to the ground. A misconception is that you can have a deep divot so must be steep or the opposite, if you hit the ball thin you must be shallow. This is not always the case.
Controlling how deep the club goes into ground can help reduce the club slowing down drastically in wet conditions.
Make sure posture is not changing too drastic in swing and you can control your lowest point of the arc
Practice drill - hit some irons off a tee whilst keeping the tee in the ground with your normal ball flight produced. Test with a higher and higher tee to make it more difficult.
Practice drill - lowest point in your arc with a 7 iron is roughly 4 inches ahead of the ball. If on a mat, place a tee 4inches flat ahead of the ball and strike the ball and tee with your shot.
As always, enjoy golf
Zach
THSG