So you’ve set up with your hands ahead of the ball, the butt end of the club aimed just inside your lead hip exactly as you’ve been taught. But for some reason, you still hit weak iron shots that flutter and fall short of target.

The problem: failure to shift your weight on the downswing.

You can make an excellent backswing turn, transferring weight to your right (back) foot, but unless you shift back to the left side coming through, your swing will bottom out before reaching the ball. The clubhead outraces the hands, the wrists break too soon, you add unwanted loft and scoop the ball skyward. Sometimes you hit the ball thin, other times fat.

To cure this problem, you’ve got to instigate a lateral move to the left paired with body rotation. Feel your left heel press into the ground to start the downswing, turn the hips toward the target, and sense your chest moving in front of the ball.

This will keep your arms and hands ahead of the clubhead with the shaft tilted toward the target. Learn to punch the ball this way and you’ll make crisp contact.

Then watch those iron shots fly like darts toward the green.