Top 7 Long Iron Practice Drills (4 iron, 5 iron, 6 iron)
Every golfer goes through phases where they hit the ball well, make putts, and hit fairways. These stretches, however, are rare and far between for most of us. Consistency in iron play is a problem for most golfers.
When learning how to play, hitting the driver is usually the initial step, and the larger head size allows for a larger error without a heavy penalty.
The most challenging hill to climb when trying to lower your scores is learning how to hit pure irons and upgrading from those game improvement irons, but today I’ll show you how to hit irons better and more consistently.
We’ll go through the principles in these Top 7 Long Iron Practice Drills to help you strike the ball more accurately.
Resource: Step by Step Golf Practice Routines + Training System
How to Set Up to Hit Your Long Irons
- Positioning of the Ball
The first aspect I want to discuss is ball placement. It may appear easy and uninteresting, but it is necessary.
For a right-handed golfer, the ball should be positioned slightly right of center when hitting with long irons. Not only will this allow you to strike the ball with a square clubface, but it will also keep the ball’s flight lower for more distance.
If you need to hit the golf ball higher, position it slightly forward of center (left of center) or try positioning it dead center.
- Setup
The setup is the next thing I’d like to discuss. Many people do not consider golf to be an athletic activity, but nothing could be further from the reality.
When it comes to setting up to the golf ball, think about how the professionals set up their golf stance. Making my posture more athletic was the most significant modification I made when I began to improve my golf game.
This included adjustments such as bending my knees more and adding a slight forward tilt of the upper body so that my chest is pointed towards the golf ball on the ground out in front of me.
This improved my balance throughout the swing and helped me to be more confident over the ball. Creating more spacing between your arms and body at setup is essential once you feel more balanced over the ball.
This allows the arms more room to swing on the way down, reducing over-cutting the golf ball. Another brief setup tip is if you’re having difficulties striking the ball first, then place 60 percent of your weight on your lead foot.
This will cause more weight to be transferred to your lead side, making it much easier to hit the ball first and avoid fat strokes.
- Takeaway
So now we’ve covered some basics of ball placement and setup, I’d like to provide some swing ideas to assist you to smooth out your ball flight.
The takeaway is one of the major problems I see in amateur golfers. Although it may appear insignificant, a poor takeaway may result in adverse habits at the top of your swing and have a strong influence on how you swing the club through the hitting area.
The most common error I see during the takeaway is having the club come to the inside. An inside takeaway leads to a good hit that results in slices. The clubhead should be slightly outside your palms when you take the club back and it is parallel to the ground.
- Downswing
Many players assume they must push the ball in getting into the air, which leads to scooping at the bottom of the swing. This will result in a huge loss of distance, making it relatively difficult to control distance with every club in the bag.
We need to shift your weight to your lead side to fix this blunder. The first move we want to execute is a slight turn of your lead hip with a slight dropping of your biceps to get the arms back in sync with the body.
When a player is in a position where all they have to do is rotate, their swing becomes more accurate and consistent. Simply concentrating on rotation can help you maintain your posture.
Resource: How to Score in the 70’s Golf Training Plan
Best Golf Drills to Practice Hitting Your Long Irons
Learning what you need to do during your swing to create high-quality iron shots is one thing; putting it into practice with drills is another. Here’s the 7 golf drills to help you improve striking and accuracy of your longer iron golf clubs.
- Pure strike
The Golf Pure Strike is not so much a drill as it is training assistance that I can suggest. This is an excellent training ad for locating the middle of the clubface. This encourages a better swing plane and control of the clubface.
- Two alignment sticks
When you’re at the range hitting a bucket of balls, try this practice. Set two alignment sticks parallel to your target on the ground, about two balls apart.
Put the ball between the two sticks that you’ll be hitting. The alignment sticks will push you to strike the center of the clubface when you hit these balls.
If you’re hitting the club with your heel or toe, narrow the gap between the two sticks. Use two soft head covering if the alignment sticks are making you uncomfortable. This practice improves swing plane control, balance, and clubface control.
- Rotation Drill
Place an alignment stick directly outside each hip during setup. You will become “stuck” between the two sticks as a result of this. This is an excellent practice for keeping your weight on your lead side on the downswing and keeping you positioned over the ball.
You should not touch the alignment stick with your back hip as you turn. If it happens, you wobble during your swing, making it difficult to shift your weight to the lead side.
If you strike your lead hip on the opposite stick during your downswing, you’re over-covering the ball, which can result in thin strokes and hooks. This is a range practice that you should do before hitting the ball.
- Takeaway Drill
This one is incredibly simple and can be done in almost any place. Set up to the ball like you would for a swing, but instead of putting the ball in front of your club; put it behind the clubhead.
You want to send the ball right behind you, as you take the club back. You’ll push the ball behind you, where you can’t see it if your takeaway is too far inside. This exercise is beneficial since it provides rapid feedback and leaves little space for mistakes.
Place a drinking cup in front of the ball and strike it with the ball if you execute the drill correctly. This will provide you with a target to shoot for.
While you’ve done this a few times, the clubhead will be slightly outside of your hands when the club is parallel to the ground.
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- Drill with a towel
Drill with a towel may feel awkward to some of you, and it will feel like you are doing it wrong and you can’t make contact. This is because we tend to lose the connection.
This drill is designed to enhance your golf swing’s connection, rhythm, and synchronization. This drill will help you find that connection so you know what it should feel like on the downswing.
The towel drill’s main advantage is its unfailing ability to produce strong upper body rotation. However, you may achieve the same outcomes if the lead arm pins the cloth against your side.
Find a large towel and roll it up the length of the towel. Place it behind your back and under each arm at this point.
Then, using a wedge, begin doing simple three-quarter-length backswings. Concentrate on swinging your arms and rotating your body.
The towel should stay in place if you do everything right. The towel will slip out if done incorrectly, indicating that you have lost contact.
The right arm will be unable to disconnect and release down the target line if it is placed under the right arm. Players who are inside-out swingers are more prone to this kind of inconsistency.
- Feet Together Drill
Body intervention is one of the most typical golf swing flaws and the main energy drainer. Excessive leg and shoulder movement are what I’m referring to.
Most golfers, to generate power, move out of the angles they created at address, becoming imbalanced, resulting in compensating movements and, in most cases, a golf club that slows down through the contact.
Hitting balls with your feet together is an excellent way to enhance your swing coordination. This not only improves rhythm and timing but also makes the wrist movement faster, allowing the clubhead to go faster through the impact zone.
But the question is, how to perform this drill right.
Firstly, with your feet together, face the ball in a nice stance. Then, Swing your left arm wide and away from your chest in a three-quarter backswing.
To change directions, take your time. As your arms slip a bit towards the floor, you should notice a smooth, slick movement in your wrists. As the hands guide the clubhead through the striking zone, the impact will feel extremely strong.
The re-hinge is a process in which a hinge is replaced with a new one in the through the swing; all skilled golfers produce a lovely L-shape with their right arm and club.
- Tee in front of ball
When you’ve mastered consistent contact and you are ready for full shots, these are simple drills you can do to keep improving your long iron game. Place the ball on the ground for your shot at the range.
Place a tee in front of the ball with the length of the clubhead as the distance. In this exercise, you aim to make clean, strong contact with the ball and strike the tee with your swing.
This drill teaches the golfer to hit rather than swoop at the ball, forcing the weight to move forward in a logical next step. By striking the tee after the shot, you may ensure that your clubface remains square throughout the ball strike.
Have faith in the club’s ability to reach the desired height and distance for better shots into the green. Above all, keep in mind that this shot can only be achieved via excellent repetitive practice.
Golf Practice Plans to Follow
- How to Score in the 60’s Golf Training Plan
- How to Score in the 70’s Golf Training Plan
- How to Score in the 80’s Golf Training Plan
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Thanks for reading today’s article!
Nick Foy – Golf Instructor
