It’s commonly believed that pro golfers hit their iron shots very high in the air, but that’s not entirely accurate.

Among professionals, even high-ball hitters like Vijay Singh flight their shots with a penetrating trajectory. It’s the only way to control the ball consistently in a variety of conditions.

Do your iron shots display a sharp, penetrating launch angle, then peak and drop softly onto the green? Or do you loft the ball high into the sky, only to watch it flutter, fizzle and fall short of the target?

In the latter case, your misses probably end up right of the green, too – often in a bunker. If so, you’re unintentionally hitting a cut shot. (As opposed to the intentional kind, aka a fade.) Your swing path is left of target and the clubface open to this line at impact. You’re adding loft to the club and sidespin to the shot, both no-no’s. This is fatal when playing into a headwind or with a left-to-right crosswind.

The answer is to get the club more behind your body on the downswing, rather than casting it out across the line. This will create an inside-to-outside swing path, eliminating those high, weak cut shots.

Work on starting the downswing with your hips, rather than the shoulders. A good mental key is to initiate your move down by pressing the left heel into the ground, which activates the left hip, torso, shoulders and arms in sequence. Rather the casting the club away from your body, you’ll drop it onto an inside path.