There is an old saying in golf that goes something like this – ‘You drive for show, and you putt for dough’.

The idea here, of course, is that you hit great drives mostly to impress your friends and others on the course, but it is your putts that really determine your score at the end of the day. That’s a nice thought, but it overlooks one major part of the game – your iron shots. Without quality iron shots to link your drives to your putts, you aren’t going to get anywhere close to reaching your goals on the links.

In this article, we are going to present a variety of tips on how you can play better iron shots. Some of these tips will be mechanical in nature, while others will be strategic. In fact, you are likely to find that the strategy points are even more helpful, as making good decisions on your iron shots is an important piece of the puzzle. Even if you don’t make any mechanical improvements to your swing at all, simply making better choices can allow you to hit the ball closer to the hole.

If you do decide to make some technical changes to your iron swing, be sure to practice those changes extensively on the range before you put them to use on the course. It is never a good idea to make those kinds of changes ‘on the fly’, as this game is too difficult to allow for that kind of approach. You need to work on your swing changes in an organized, thoughtful manner before you can trust those changes to be deployed successfully on the golf course.

All of the content below is based on a right-handed golfer. If you happen to play left-handed, please take a moment to reverse the directions as necessary.

Setting Up for Success

The first piece of the puzzle with regard to good iron shots actually can be found before you even take an iron out of your bag. The shot you play previous to an iron approach – usually your tee shot – is going to have a lot to do with what you can accomplish when you do play into the green. If you put yourself in a good position, it will be far easier to hit a quality shot that finishes close to the hole. Golfers who are constantly playing iron shots from tough spots will inevitably be disappointed in their results, even if there is nothing at all wrong with their iron game.

We have listed a few tips below which you should keep in mind as you plan out your tee shots.

• The short grass is essential. First and foremost, you should always be trying to place your ball in the fairway off the tee. That might sound like an obvious point, but plenty of golfers prioritize raw distance over accuracy. Sure, it’s great to hit long drives, but it’s difficult to turn those drives into low scores if you aren’t in the fairway. Make it your number one goal to simply hit the fairway and make decisions to support that goal. In other words, consider hitting something less than a driver on holes where a narrow fairway is in play. Only when you have plenty of space to work with should you go ahead and let the driver rip.
• Think about angles. When you hit a drive, what you are really doing is determining what kind of angle you will have for your next shot. You don’t get to choose where you start the hole from, as you are required by the rules to play your first shot from between the tee markers. Each subsequent shot, however, is played from wherever the previous shot came to rest. That means you can think about the angle you would like to have for your next shot, and you can do your best to put the ball in that position. For approach shots, there are a couple things to keep in mind. For one, you usually want to play from the flattest lie possible, so evaluate the fairway from the tee and try to find a flat section to use as your target. Also, you’ll often want to be on the opposite side of the fairway from where the hole is cut. So, if you see that the hole is cut on the right side of the green, try playing down the left side of the fairway. This will usually give you a better angle and make for an easier overall approach. As you pay more and more attention to angles and the way your tee shots set up your iron shots, you will develop your own personal preferences and playing style.
• Play to your strengths. Speaking of playing style, you need to make sure that the decisions you make off the tee are going to work to your advantage with regard to the ball flights you prefer. For instance, don’t force yourself to hit a fade off the tee just because doing so would be the ideal shot to set up your approach. That’s a great strategy if you can execute it correctly, but most amateur golfers don’t have the ability to work the ball both ways on command. You are just asking for trouble if you try to play shots that are outside of your comfort zone.

Before you blame your iron game for some poor approach shots, be sure that your game off the tee is giving your irons a fair chance to be successful. If you are constantly putting yourself in tough spots, it’s inevitable that you will struggle to hit the ball close to the hole. A well-rounded game is necessary to post good scores, so don’t neglect your performance off the tee while working on your irons.

Basic Mechanical Keys

The obvious challenge when writing a golf instruction article is that we have never seen you swing the club. We can’t tell you exactly what kinds of changes you need to make in order to hit better iron shots, as the right changes to make will depend on the mistakes currently found in your swing. For that type of advice, you’ll need to take an in-person lesson from a local golf professional.

With that said, there are some basic mechanical keys we can identify in this section, as it relates to solid iron play. During an upcoming practice session, take some time to focus on these keys. If you are able to check off most or all of the points below, you can feel confident that you are taking your iron game in the right direction.

• Hands in front of the ball at impact. This is one of the fundamentals of quality iron play. To strike your irons cleanly time after time, you need to hit down on the ball. And, if you are going to hit down on the ball, you are going to need to have your hands in front of the ball at impact. By ‘in front’, we mean slightly to the left of the ball as you look down from address. Put another way, your hands should be just a bit closer to the target than the ball when you strike your shots. Keeping this goal in mind while you swing may help you to remain aggressive in the downswing, rather than letting your swing slow up as you attempt to guide your shot toward the target. Consistently place your hands past the ball at impact and you might be pleasantly surprised with the way your quality of contact improves.
• Lower body rotation on the way down. To be fair, this point is one which applies to all of the shots you hit on the course, no matter what club is in your hands. However, it is particularly important with the irons, as you need to use your lower body correctly in the downswing if you are going to get into position for a clean strike. As your first move down from the top of the backswing, turn your hips toward the target, with your left hip leading the way. Remember, this should be a rotational move, not a lateral slide. Rotate your hips open and allow your upper body to follow along naturally as the downswing continues. Getting started with your lower body will benefit your iron game for a couple of reasons. First, it is going to put your body in a good position to achieve a downward strike (meaning it will be easier to get your hands in front of the ball at impact). Also, you are going to have the opportunity to build significant speed this way, since rotating your body effectively is one of the best things you can do to increase your power in golf.
• No scoop! Perhaps the biggest iron-game mistake made by amateur golfers is the tendency to ‘scoop’ the ball off the ground at impact. Basically, scooping the ball means you are trying to help the ball into the air by lifting it off the ground. This is an unnecessary action, since your iron has loft which is designed to get the ball airborne. If you simply hit down through impact and let the loft do its job, you should have no trouble getting your ball off the ground and headed toward the target.
• Right elbow in tight at the top. When striking your iron shots, you want to hit down through the ball – but not so dramatically that you stick the club head into the turf. A swing which is too steep through the hitting area is going to be problematic for a number of reasons, including the fact that you’ll probably produce too much backspin. To prevent your downswing from becoming too steep, work on keeping your right elbow in tight to your body at the top of the backswing. If your elbow is pointed down toward the turf, you should be in a pretty good position. This will make it easier for you to swing down from the inside, and your path through the ball should remain shallow enough to be effective.

Don’t head out to the range with the idea of dramatically changing your swing technique all at once. Instead, try to make subtle changes, one at a time, until you are happy with the state of your iron swing. We hope the points listed above will help you move your swing in the right direction over the coming weeks and months.

Iron Shot Strategy Tips

When playing an iron shot in toward the green, your goal is beautifully simple – to put your ball in the best possible position for the next shot. Hopefully, that next shot will be a putt. However, you can still come away with a positive outcome even if you miss the green, as long as you miss in a good spot. There is a ton of strategy which should go into every iron shot you hit, and we are going to talk about some of those strategies here in this section.

You are certainly free to develop your own playing style on approach shots, but we recommend keeping the following tips in mind.

• The short side is your enemy. One of the first things you need to understand about playing iron approach shots is that you should be trying to avoid the short side of the green if at all possible. The short side is the side of the green where the hole is located on that particular day. So, if the cup is cut on the right side of the green, missing your approach shot to the right would mean you have missed on the short side. Why is this a problem? Simple – you won’t have much room to work with on your chip shot, meaning you may not be able to get up and down to save your par. It is worth noting that not all short side situations are created equal. For instance, if you are playing on a damp day with soft greens, you won’t need to worry much about being short sided – you’ll be able to stop your chip shots quickly even if you do find the short side. On the other hand, playing a course with firm greens means you need to respect the short side on every approach. Leaving yourself without much room to work when the greens are firm will make it very difficult to get up and down.
• Stay under the hole. In addition to steering clear of the short side, you should also strive to keep your ball below the level of the hole. That means you are going to be playing to the downhill side whenever possible. Keeping your ball under the hole means you can putt or chip uphill, which is a great advantage in terms of speed control. Downhill putts and chips can be difficult to control, so you may feel like your short game is letting you down – when it is really your approach shots that are putting you in a bad place to begin with. It’s not always going to be possible to position the ball under the hole, of course, but look for opportunities to do so whenever possible.
• Play wedge shots low to the ground. This is a tip that surprises many amateur golfers. When most players picture a wedge approach shot, they picture a swing that sends the ball way up into the air before it comes back down to the turf. That is actually not going to be the best way to play wedge shots in most cases. Rather, you should do your best to keep the ball down closer to the ground, since doing so is going to improve your ability to control the distance of your shots. The wedge game is all about distance control, and you should find that playing the ball down is going to permit you to make big strides in this area. Obviously, there will be some instances where you need to play your wedge approach shots high, such as when the hole is cut near the front of the green and you have a hazard or other obstacle to carry.
• Use more club. For the average amateur golfer, club selection is a task that rarely goes right. Most players struggle to pick the right club for their approach shots, with the common mistake being the use of too little club based on the distance at hand. Here’s the issue – most players pick a club based on the best possible scenario. In other words, they choose a club that will only work if the ball is struck perfectly. How often does that happen? Not very often – which is why you’ll see so many approach shots come up short when watching average golfers go around the course. During an upcoming round, try using one extra club for most of your approach shots. With plenty of club in hand, you’ll be able to make a relaxed swing. There will be no need to force yourself to swing harder than normal, and you will be amazed at what this relaxed approach can help you achieve. The only exception to this game plan would be when there is a notable hazard behind the green. For instance, if there are out of bounds markers lurking behind the green, you’ll want to stay with a shorter club to reduce the chances of sending the ball beyond the target. However, when there isn’t anything beyond the green other than some rough (or even a bunker), try this method of using one extra club and see what it can do for you.
• Think conservative. In addition to not using enough club, the average golfer also plays far too aggressively on approach shots. Sure, it is tempting to aim directly at the hole on each and every iron shot but doing so is going to put you at risk of making some big mistakes. Generally speaking, playing it safe is the right way to go. If you have an upcoming round where you can experiment with strategy – in other words, a non-competitive round – try aiming at the middle of the green on every approach shot. Ignore the location of the hole and simply use the middle of the green as your target. You’ll almost certainly hit more greens this way, meaning there should be fewer bogeys on your card at the end of the day.

Believe it or not, the tips above only scratch the surface of what can be included in iron shot strategy. These points should be more than enough to get you started, and hopefully you’ll see improved results as you start to think more carefully about how you plan your approaches.

Final Thoughts

Playing good iron shots is at the heart of successful play on the golf course. Sure, driving and putting get a lot of attention – and they are important – but the ability to produce great iron shots can take you a long way. When trying to get the ball as close to the hole as possible, don’t forget that this part of the game is all about precision. Even if you like to swing hard off the tee to produce maximum distance, don’t fall into that trap while standing in the fairway. Controlling your ball is the name of the game here, both in terms of distance and direction.

We hope the tips presented in this article will help you move toward improved iron play in the near future. Whether you need to take steps forward with your physical technique, your strategic approach, or both, the key is to practice your play on the range before heading out to the course. The more prepared you are before walking to the first tee, the more likely it becomes that positive outcomes will be waiting on the links. Good luck and have fun out there!

Iron shots make up a big bulk of the shots that you would hit on an entire round of golf. So it’s really important that you are good with your irons. You have got an awful lot of them in the bag, so you really need to get it good right from your short irons, through to your long irons. And here is five really crucial tips, that I think would help you improve as an iron player. Tip number one, is don’t be afraid of taking a divot, we often see golfers around the course, trying to sort of be the green keeper’s best friend, they are scared of taking a divot.

They think hitting a divot is going to get them told off, but you watch the world’s best players, they are gauging out pieces of turf all around the golf course. As long as you put that divot back, there is no real harm done, but a divot is a sign that the golf ball was hit correctly. We should hit the ball and then the club should keep descending down into the turf, anytime, the club hits the turf first, yes, that’s going to be a problem.

We wouldn’t want to hit the divot behind the ball, but we should be taking the divot after the ball, taking a nice piece of turf as we hit through the ball. Tip number two, here relates to the fact that when you are playing your iron shots, you shouldn’t necessarily try and hit the ball flat out full power all the time. We want to see a slightly more relaxed approach to hitting your business, is hitting your irons. So for some golfers, they – they try and over hit themselves, they think they hit it 150 yards with an 8 iron, so they force that distance and they get two times in trying to hit the ball too hard. So just try and feel like your swing instead of 90% of your normal power with most of your full swings, that would keep the iron swing a little bit smoother, a little bit more relaxed and mean that your distances are more achievable.

This brings us onto tip number three, which is making sure that you do know your distances with your irons. You might have 9 irons in your bag and generally, there would be ten yards between each club, as you go through your bag. But it’s really important that you know your yardages and your yardages are accurate and attainable. There is no point standing there trying to tell yourself, that your 8 iron goes a 150 yards, if we all know it only goes a 130 yards, because then you end up having to hit it too hard. So make sure your yardages are accurate and attainable and I daily write them down somewhere. Then when you are out on the golf course, 160 yards from the green, I know that’s a 5 iron and that’s the club I will play and I can go ahead and hit that one.

One nice thing I would like to see with a lot of golfers is their understanding and their ability to make sure that striking the ball correctly out to the middle of the golf club, by the sound of it. So when we are standing on the driving range and we are hitting balls, good players are listening as much as watching. We can’t really see the strike on the ball at full speed and what we can do is hear it and as good players we can also determine, whether we are hitting the toe of the heel, the top or the bottom. We want to make sure we are striking that ball dead in the center, then as we got out in the golf course, if we start to hear the ball striking the wrong part of the golf club, we can make the relevant adjustment to get better quality contact.

And the last of the five tips I would like to focus on, is understanding that there is a sweet spot in the middle of a golf club, a sweet spot where the ball will fly better. You can find the sweet spot just by bouncing the ball on the club face and you will hear it in the sweet spot of the golf ball, the golf club sound nicer, bounce up a little bit higher. You will also then appreciate when you hit the toe of the heel up and down on the sweet spot, that the ball doesn’t bounce up quite as high.

Now if it’s not bouncing up as high, just doing this, you can imagine how it’s definitely not bouncing as far when it does this either. So as a good golfer, we want to strike the ball in the middle more regularly. You will see this one the golf course, it’s either a white mark from the ball or even a grassy muddy mark off the ball as it hits if you are playing off the turf. Or actually get yourselves some face tape, which is just white tape, you slide it on the club face and it will leave an imprint or remark on the face. You want to make sure that sweet spot has been hit regularly, then it sounds good, you are taking a nice divot, you know your yardages and you are not over hitting those yardages. That way, you will be a much better iron player.