“CHECK YOUR
IMPACT POSITION.
IS THE SHAFT OF
THE IRON LEANING
FORWARD?”
your chest is over the top of
the ball. When I talk about
compressing the ball, squeezing
it off the turf, this is what I mean.
You never want to try to get
the ball airborne. The dynamics
of this club-ball-then-turf
interaction creates backspin,
and that will get it up. Keep doing
this divot drill until you routinely
get that feel of compression.
3 rehearse the move
▶ Assuming you worked on the
half swing and divot drills, you’re
now ready to try your new iron
game on the course. For many
of you, this will take you out of
your comfort zone. Different lies,
small greens, the pressure of the
match—you might be tempted to
go back to your old, scoopy, off-
the-back-foot iron swing.
Instead of letting the situation
get the best of you, let me offer
a suggestion: Don’t focus on
what could go wrong. Block out
distractions like that by thinking
about what position your body
needs to be in at impact to
compress the ball. You can do
that by rehearsing impact as you
address the ball like I’m doing
here (left). Make sure the
shaft is leaning forward, your
weight is into your left side, and
your chest is covering the ball.
Then return to address and try
to re-create that impact position
when you swing.
I want to stress that your
weight shift is only a slight lateral
movement, not a sway. You might
not exactly match that rehearsal
of impact, but the closer you
can come to it, the better your
chance of a solid shot.4 know your hybrids▶ I encourage you to add as many
hybrids to your set as you can.
There’s no reason to hit a 5-iron
off a tight lie unless you’re trying
to impress someone. It’s much
easier to hit it high and solid with
a hybrid. Just remember one
thing: A hybrid is much more like
an iron than a fairway wood. That
means you want to play the ball
roughly center in your stance,
just like an iron, and you want to
hit down on it (below, left), even
taking a bit of a divot.
Because distance gaps with
hybrids tend to be bigger than
with irons, I also suggest you
adopt two grips per hybrid—at
the top of the handle and an inch
or so down. This will give you two
distances per club, so you can hit
more approaches pin-high.
Let me leave you with one
more overall thought about
approach shots: Be honest with
yourself. You might have hit a
6-iron 170 yards—once—but you
don’t do it regularly. So don’t
take out the 6 when a 5-iron is the
more reliable choice. Even if you
catch one perfectly, and the ball
flies over the pin, flushing it is
going to feel pretty darn good. •