How To Achieve Long Irons, Hybrids And Fairway Woods Every Time

Golf Monthly

Long irons, hybrids and fairway woods can be especially difficult to hit off the deck. If you're someone that struggles to nail these clubs like the pros, then this is the video for you! Watch as Top 50 coach Gary Munro runs through the keys to striking these clubs correctly the get the maximum distance and control out of them. His step-by-step guide will ensure you're in the best position to be able to find the green on long par threes and even attack the greens in two on par fives after a good drive.

Transcript

00:00Hi I'm Gary Munro. Today we're going to be discussing how to master those long irons,

00:05hybrids and fairway woods off the deck. So what's required to make this shot work?

00:11We need good speed and a good strike to ensure we can get the correct launch angle for the shot

00:17so it can travel the correct distance. Big things I see are people say that their four irons, five

00:22irons and six irons all travel the same distance which is why they don't want to reach for those

00:26long irons. So we're going to split this video into a few sections looking at setup, speed, strike and

00:35a few different drills that you can do to practice this to ensure that your long irons, hybrids and

00:40fairway woods work every time. So what's our intention when we're addressing a long iron?

00:49It's actually understanding that we still need a downwards attack angle to strike ball first then

00:55turf to get the ball up in the air. It may be daunting looking down at a club with not much loft

01:01but if we get that strike location going more down we will get more compression and more ball speed.

01:12So to ensure that you get a correct setup every time we're going to have an alignment stick down

01:17your target line, an alignment stick here for your ball position. So we want your ball position to be

01:24two balls width inside your left ankle. This is also in line with your left pec. So the best way of

01:31doing this is grab two golf balls, address the club and the ball, from there take a little step to the

01:39left which is your two golf ball width. Then from there take a slightly bigger step to the right.

01:45We're looking for a wider base with a long iron and fairway wood for stability as we need to create a bit more

01:51speed. Once we've got this setup because we need a slightly downwards strike on the golf ball for a mid

01:59iron you're looking at four or five degrees for a long iron it'll be closer to one and two we still

02:04need 55% of our weight on our lead side. From there with the ball being slightly more forward naturally our

02:11angle of attack will be set better. After we've got this setup position the final check we need to have

02:17is your distance from the golf ball. Well from here we're going to be waving the right hand to ensure

02:23that the grip and your belt buckle are the correct distance apart it should just fit through here.

02:29What we've now done is make sure the strike across the face is sorted from the distance from the ball

02:35and the strike up and down the face is sorted by getting the correct ball position. With the hybrid

02:41as we move on to the fairway woods such as a three wood the ball position will actually be one golf

02:47ball back of the left heel. This is because there's less loft on the club face we want the angle of

02:53attack to be a little bit more level so we can get away with being one degree down or level with the

02:59ground to still get good distance and good trajectory. So from here it's the same setup but just have one

03:05golf ball inside the left heel it'll move from the left peck to more your left armpit as your ball position.

03:11So a great feedback drill to know if you are hitting slightly down on your long irons is grab a tee

03:25because we're putting the ball position two ball widths back we want you to place the tee peg two

03:32club heads in front of the golf ball here. Now what we would like to see is as the golf club is traveling

03:39down we hit ball first and that the golf club stays low enough to the ground that it can take the tee

03:46with it. You will not be able to take that tee if you're striking up on the golf ball. We're looking

03:51for ball first and then take the tee. Now as I've hit that the tee has gone with it which means I'm

03:59striking down on the ball perfectly. Now to do this drill with a fairway wood because the golf ball is

04:06placed one ball width inside the left ankle we're only going to put the tee one club head width in

04:12front as opposed to with a long iron and hybrid we had it at two. It's the same golf swing so we've got the

04:19ball position one ball width in the left ankle slight 55% pressure on my left hand side and we're

04:26trying to hit ball and keep the club head low enough where I take the tee with me. Again great feedback

04:35I'm hitting ball then the tee goes with me that I'm hitting that downward strike. So what are some faults

04:40that I see with this setup with the long irons is the golf ball will be placed too much in the center

04:48so from here players as they hit the golf ball won't create enough height the ball won't reach the apex

04:54of its flight so it travels the same carry distance as a five iron or a six iron for this example of me

05:00using a four iron. So what will end up happening as they're hitting the ball too low and not getting the

05:05desired distance they will try and instinctively lift the golf ball up or try and add loft by letting the

05:13club head get to the ball first and when they do this they actually strike it worse and the ball goes

05:18less distance so in the end they don't use the fairway woods or the hybrid because they're not

05:22getting the most out of them. So what I need you to do is remember if you put this drill and set it up

05:28with a club head in front of the ball if you are not striking the tee on the way through it means you're

05:34probably one of those players that are staying behind it trying to lift the ball in the air and you won't get

05:39the most out of it so why we need to create more club head speed is to ultimately create more ball

05:50speed and get more spin so the golf ball can travel up with a long iron or hybrid or fairway wood

05:57reach the apex of its flight then come down if you don't create enough spin because the strike's not

06:03good enough or you've not got enough club head speed the ball will take off and then dip very quickly

06:08ultimately not giving you distance so how are we going to create more club head speed we've got

06:13this great setup we're going to start to work on wrist hinge so on your backswing as the lead arm gets

06:21parallel which is at this section here we're looking to create a 90 degree angle from there i want to

06:28see the shoulders turn to a minimum of 90 degrees here combining the wrist hinge and the shoulder

06:36turn is a really nice power source to create more club head speed coming into the golf ball as you're

06:44setting the wrists they still need to be set at this 90 degree angle the club still needs to be on its

06:51natural plane here do not need to set them at a vertical angle or a very flat angle like this so you

06:58create the 90 degree angle here then you turn the shoulders now you've loaded up a really strong

07:03backswing position so how you're going to practice creating the 90 degree angle with the wrists 90

07:08degree shoulder turn is either grab a video camera or a mirror and build the swing into stages so as you

07:16take your nice setup getting the ball position correct take the club back to this section here lead arm

07:22parallel make sure you've got the angle after you've done that section you can check it from there

07:29you're going to turn the shoulders the bigger the shoulder turn the more speed you're going to get

07:33then you're going to hit the shot so it'll look like this hitting balls in stages

07:38so wrists shoulders and then hitting the ball

07:43you might not strike at your best every time doing this but you're trying to build the elements of the

07:52golf swing to make sure you get all the right positions and eventually you want to make it flow

07:58all as one so it'll look like this so you're getting the hinge the turn and then go through to a

08:03balanced finish so build it up in sections then make it all flow as one so common faults i see when

08:10players try and add club head speed they've got 200 yards to the flag they're looking down at a club

08:15with not much loft they try and take the golf club back faster in an effort to get more club head speed

08:21as they snatch the club back it's going back in all different angles to their normal golf swing

08:27and most importantly their timing completely goes so then at impact they get a worse strike and the ball

08:33doesn't travel its distance so if you do the drill of building the right positions that's a proper way of

08:39getting a good club head speed at impact now if you're a player who cannot generate more club head

08:44speed maybe through limited mobility or just haven't got the movement necessary to get that

08:50hybrids are going to be your best friend so you can buy hybrids that even replace six irons five irons

08:55and four irons now this club is more versatile out of the semi rough and the rough so you'll be able to

09:00use it on more occasions but also it's going to be generating more hype for you because the club has more

09:07mass to it and more forgiveness so as you address the ball it's the same setup we spoke about earlier

09:13with two ball widths back and from here it's a lot less intimidating to look down on there's more mass

09:19behind the head you're naturally going to get more ball speed and more distance so this is a great

09:23alternative if you're a player who can't add too much club head speed so to recap how you can master

09:29these shots long irons and hybrid you want them to be two golf ball widths back of your left ankle

09:36the three width off the deck will be one golf ball width back and then from there to generate more

09:42club head speed remember those positions of the 90 degrees 90 degree shoulder turn get a good strike

09:50enjoy the new distance

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