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.
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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 would point to the left of the target. The fix? Rotate my right elbow outwards – the feeling or thought to achieve this was to imagine you were giving blood with your right arm and how you would position it to do so. The result was a clubface that immediately rotated more open and so the goal would be to maintain this feeling of the right forearm facing more upwards through the hit.
The impact was almost instant. The first few shots hit the screen to the right of where they had when I began the lesson and my pull draws were turning into frozen ropes or slight fades. I was blown away – never would I have concluded my right elbow was to blame for my issues and the value of spending time with a knowledgeable pro like Tom was highlighted to me in our short time together.
Since our lesson, my iron play has much improved. The occasional horror hook creeps in now and again but I’ve hit a many more acceptable approach shots and have even scared the pin a few times on par threes (a hole-in-one continues to elude me, unfortunately) and I’m confident about what the future holds. Now if I can just sort out my bunker play…
To book a lesson with Tom, click here.
