I have maintained a handicap index between 2-4 for as long as I can remember. My memory isn’t very good, so this might not be as long as I think, but it’s at least a decade, probably more. Sounds pretty good, right? Possibly. But I also can’t remember the last I time I felt completely comfortable over the ball with an iron in hand.
The constant fear of not really knowing where the ball will go, coupled with the anticipation that it will probably sail 30-yards left over those out of bounds posts, has plagued me on every mid and long iron shot.
It got to the point where enough was enough. For too long have par threes been card wreckers and I can’t remember the last time I benefitted financially from the birdie twos pot.
So I went to see PGA pro Tom Bailey (@kineticgolf_ on Instagram) who is based down at the excellent performance centre at Ashridge Golf Club near Luton. Tom has a high-tech indoor set up that would be sure to leave no stone unturned in uncovering the root cause of my iron play pulls. It didn’t take long…
After just a few swings, the problems (unfortunately there were more than one) became clear. One was a club path issue, the other to do with clubface, which makes sense. You have to be careful as to the order in which you tackle them, as addressing them in the wrong order could lead to even bigger problems.
(Image credit: Future)
So first up – club path. He spotted that my swing direction was too far to the right which was causing me to have to flip the clubface with my hands to get it square, which was an inconsistent and highly volatile action. So he positioned an alignment stick at roughly a 45-degree angle on the target side of the ball. The aim was to make short swings ensuring the club exited underneath the stick. Sure enough, my swing direction became more neutral in a handful of swings.
Once I’d temporarily corrected my swing direction, he then needed to address my clubface, which was closing too quickly through impact. This was something I knew about given my left-biased dispersion pattern, but had no idea why it was happening or how to fix it. The secret, it transpired, was all down to my right elbow position.
It had gotten too far on top in the set up, so if you were to place an alignment stick along my forearms it…
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