Getting good at golf is a challenging task, and nothing helps you to improve your ability more than practice does, but sometimes if you’re consistently not hitting your shoes correctly, then it could also be down to poor technique, and you don’t want to fall into any bad habits when it comes to your form or technique too early on whilst playing, so it’s always best to watch plenty of tutorials and take advice from more experienced players on the course!
If you’re struggling with being able to hit your irons straight, then there’s no need to panic, this is a much more common problem than you would initially have thought, but thankfully resolving it shouldn’t too make much effort, and in no time at all, you’ll be able to hit your irons straight every time.
So, to learn how to hit irons straighter, keep reading through our guide to find out all of the tips and tricks on how to hit irons straighter!
Causes
Before we can begin to provide you with the necessary drills to improve your iron shots, you should first try to evaluate what some of the underlying causes behind your miss-hit iron shots are.
There are a few different ways you might mess the shot up, whether it’s due to you pushing the shot (which means that your shot ends up landing on the right side of the original target, although its path isn’t curved), hooking the shot (which is where the ball goes from right-left or left-right depending on the player’s dominant hand), both of these will prevent your iron shots from being straight.
Similarly, if you’re pulling your iron shots (Hitting the ball, which ends up going to the left of the target with no curve in its path), then it’s time that you try to understand exactly what it is that is causing your shots to go awry.
It could be that your swing is actually cutting across the ball, or perhaps your swing is coming down over the top of the ball, which is known for causing iron shots to stray from the intended path.
The 3 Drills
So, now we have an idea about what some of the underlying causes might be, let’s evaluate them a little further.
When it comes to understanding what is going wrong with your shots, you should know that there are three different types of misses when it comes to a well-struck shot, two of which we mentioned earlier, these are: push, pull, or there’s an alignment error.
If you happen to be shanking, skulling, or chunking your shots, then the reality is that you drastically need help when it comes to your swings and shots, so if you’re constantly having this issue, try and consult an experienced teacher immediately!
As for these other well-struck mishaps, fixing them isn’t an overly difficult task, it just takes some practice and dedication, and with the help of these three drills, you should be hitting your irons straight in no time at all.
Aiming With Your Eyes
To beginners, hearing the phrase “practice makes perfect” is a surefire way to be driven crazy, but the reality is that in a sport like golf, this is truly the case.
So if you’re struggling with your aim when it comes to hitting your irons, one of the drills we recommend practicing is this drill called “Aim With Your Eyes”.
You’ll want to begin by being behind the ball, and as you find yourself stepping into your setup, try to use your eyes to create an imaginary target line between the ball and the target.
If you want to make sure that you’ve set yourself up square to this imaginary target line, then simply pick a point of reference anywhere along that line that’s behind the ball itself, it could be anything, from a patch of flattened grass to a fallen leaf.
You’ll then want to ensure that your clubface is aimed entirely square to your imaginary target line, which will mean that there will be a straight line created from the center of your clubface, all the way to the target, which the ball will then be sent along.
Fixing Push Shots
If you’re right-handed and missing to the right of the target, this is called “pushing”, and in order to fix this, you need to practice rotating the trailing shoulder past your lead shoulder upon the completion of your swing.
Provide yourself with visual checkpoints, enter your stance, extend the club from the large toe on your leading foot, and then use a marker and place it on the line that extends from your leading toe to the outside of the ball.
From then on, you want to make sure your trailing shoulder finishes in front of this marker after every shot. As this will help you bring the club through the ball.
Getting Rid Of Pulled Shots
Pulling your iron shots is annoying, but fixed easily, and this drill is actually quite fun!
Pull a headcover from one of your woods, and place it under your trailing armpit, and then begin to practice simply backswings with the cover still in place.
And from there then try to hit shots all whilst keeping the cover stuffed under your armpit, dropping it during your follow-through is okay, but it should remain under your armpit during the backswing!
Keeping your elbow tighter to your body will help you to eliminate these pulled shots, and will help you to ensure that you hit your irons straighter every time.
Summary
So, hitting your irons straighter shouldn’t take too much effort to fix, and with the three fun drills we listed, you should have your irons straightened out in no time at all, all you have to remember is that practice makes perfect!
Hi, my name is Garratt Shmidt and I have been playing golf in my spare time for almost a decade.
Before I found a passion for golf, I didn’t see the appeal. I thought it was slow, repetitive, and quite frankly boring.
- Can You Bring Your Own Clubs To Topgolf? - November 15, 2022
- How Wide Is A Golf Cart? - November 15, 2022
- How Long Does 9 Holes Of Golf Take? - November 15, 2022