The Advantage Of Long Golf Irons (Video) - by Pete Styles
The Advantage Of Long Golf Irons (Video) - by Pete Styles

For a lot of golfers using a long iron might feel a little bit more difficult than using a hybrid club. And certainly when they look down, it might not give them a great deal of confidence. So we need to ask ourselves, what is the reason for using a long iron? Why should I be using a long iron as opposed to a hybrid club in certain situations? Now the first consideration might just be the height that that ball flies up. If I can hit an iron that flies lower rather than a hybrid that flies higher, how might that affect me?

And particularly on a day like today where I'm playing into a headwind. Clearly that wind is going to be stronger. It’s going to have more influence and more effect on the golf ball the higher it goes, particularly if you play tree line golf course. If you play tree line golf course and the trees around me here are at about 30-40 feet high, if I can keep my golf ball below the top of those trees at 30 or 40 feet, it’s less affected. As soon as it climbs above those trees, the wind's going to have more influence. So playing a long iron particularly of a tee shot might actually be quite useful for me. So a 2 iron or a 3 iron punched in low off the tee, it might give me long and accurate tee shots rather than flirting over 3 wood or even a driver above the top of the trees that gets blown around a little bit. So playing the ball on a lower tee shot, lower trajectory might be beneficial to you. Another consideration that’s going to be great for using your long irons is actually when you're punching out of the trees. Generally if you've hit a shot into the trees, you should be able to find your golf ball. You should be able to look around and see it. And a lot of golf courses will maintain the trees. So roundabout head height there's not that many branches. Not branches growing down, but actually branches a bit more up here. So if you then get down to your ball and you can see a route out, often the route will be at low level. If I can get my ball to stay low and force out forwards, I'm going to have less influence on the trees. Rather than if I hit the ball up into the air, it’s going to start clattering around in the branches. So again the natural club selection there might be going to a long iron. It doesn’t have much loft on it. It doesn't have all the weight low and deep at the bottom like a hybrid club is going to pop the ball up in the air. I am going to try and force one out forwards. So let's go ahead and just see if we can hit a nice, efficient long iron that's going to come out low and dart forwards as fast as we can. So you are going to hopefully see a shot like that that’s played with a 4 iron. It comes out nice and low, rises up a little bit. But at no point does that shot really sort of balloon up into the sky. And if I can master a shot like that out on the golf course, long accurate tee shots, low running shots and blasting out of the trees are going to be three potential areas where I could use a shot like that. 2016-07-08

For a lot of golfers using a long iron might feel a little bit more difficult than using a hybrid club. And certainly when they look down, it might not give them a great deal of confidence. So we need to ask ourselves, what is the reason for using a long iron? Why should I be using a long iron as opposed to a hybrid club in certain situations? Now the first consideration might just be the height that that ball flies up. If I can hit an iron that flies lower rather than a hybrid that flies higher, how might that affect me?

And particularly on a day like today where I'm playing into a headwind. Clearly that wind is going to be stronger. It’s going to have more influence and more effect on the golf ball the higher it goes, particularly if you play tree line golf course. If you play tree line golf course and the trees around me here are at about 30-40 feet high, if I can keep my golf ball below the top of those trees at 30 or 40 feet, it’s less affected. As soon as it climbs above those trees, the wind's going to have more influence. So playing a long iron particularly of a tee shot might actually be quite useful for me.

So a 2 iron or a 3 iron punched in low off the tee, it might give me long and accurate tee shots rather than flirting over 3 wood or even a driver above the top of the trees that gets blown around a little bit. So playing the ball on a lower tee shot, lower trajectory might be beneficial to you. Another consideration that’s going to be great for using your long irons is actually when you're punching out of the trees. Generally if you've hit a shot into the trees, you should be able to find your golf ball. You should be able to look around and see it.

And a lot of golf courses will maintain the trees. So roundabout head height there's not that many branches. Not branches growing down, but actually branches a bit more up here. So if you then get down to your ball and you can see a route out, often the route will be at low level. If I can get my ball to stay low and force out forwards, I'm going to have less influence on the trees. Rather than if I hit the ball up into the air, it’s going to start clattering around in the branches. So again the natural club selection there might be going to a long iron.

It doesn’t have much loft on it. It doesn't have all the weight low and deep at the bottom like a hybrid club is going to pop the ball up in the air. I am going to try and force one out forwards. So let's go ahead and just see if we can hit a nice, efficient long iron that's going to come out low and dart forwards as fast as we can. So you are going to hopefully see a shot like that that’s played with a 4 iron. It comes out nice and low, rises up a little bit. But at no point does that shot really sort of balloon up into the sky.

And if I can master a shot like that out on the golf course, long accurate tee shots, low running shots and blasting out of the trees are going to be three potential areas where I could use a shot like that.