clubface contact

[provx]

heel, center, toe...

i have a half swing related half club fitting question.

i play to a low handicap, about 2 or 3, but no matter what set of irons i play i have a couple of bad tendencies.

with long irons (3,4,5) i tend to make my mistakes but hitting too much toward the hosel, sometimes shanking.

the 6,7,8 irons i hit dead flush in the center

the short irons 9,pw,gap,56,60 i hit more toward the toe as the club gets shorter.

is this just a swing mistake or is this something wrong with my club specs ?

[GOLF FTW]

on your long irons.. do you stand way to close to the ball.. or maybe over swing therefore you start to come off plane and hit the hosel? thats what happned to me...

[Shaitan]

It sounds like it could be related to both your swing and your setup. Go and get both checked by your local pro, as I think that would be the best option.

[provx]

yeah i am going to go get it checked out, but i wanted some possible ideas as to what wrong, so i know the fitter isn't bsing me.

[Babydaddy]

Not all that unusual. I would ask how tall you are first. As you probably know, shanking is usually caused by holding off a pull, or what you think will be a pull. What can happen with longer irons is that as you stand taller you also tend to aim more left than you think. When you are aimed left in a tall posture, you will tend to hold off the club more and shank.

You may be crowding the ball which works fine for mid-irons but is not so good for long irons. You may be instinctively backing up a bit for the short irons (because they are shorter and you stand even closer, and your instinct tells you can't hit it, so then you back up).

What can also happen is that with shorter irons people will aim more right and come a little more from the inside, hence hitting on the toe. I am a big believer that 99.9% of tendencies and mistakes happen at address. Try opening your stance just a little on the short irons and make sure to fit your hips and shoulders to the open stance, and see if impact doesn't move a little more towards the center.

Conversley, on the longer irons, try aiming a little right. It's really hard to shanking with the clubface rotating shut through impact.

If you are shorter, it's better to err on the side of addressing almost every shot a little out towards the toe. Hope this helps

[Babydaddy]

Not all that unusual. I would ask how tall you are first. As you probably know, shanking is usually caused by holding off a pull, or what you think will be a pull. What can happen with longer irons is that as you stand taller you also tend to aim more left than you think. When you are aimed left in a tall posture, you will tend to hold off the club more and shank.

You may be crowding the ball which works fine for mid-irons but is not so good for long irons. You may be instinctively backing up a bit for the short irons (because they are shorter and you stand even closer, and your instinct tells you can't hit it, so then you back up).

What can also happen is that with shorter irons people will aim more right and come a little more from the inside, hence hitting on the toe. I am a big believer that 99.9% of tendencies and mistakes happen at address. Try opening your stance just a little on the short irons and make sure to fit your hips and shoulders to the open stance, and see if impact doesn't move a little more towards the center.

Conversley, on the longer irons, try aiming a little right. It's really hard to shanking with the clubface rotating shut through impact.

If you are shorter, it's better to err on the side of addressing almost every shot a little out towards the toe. Hope this helps

[provx]

well im 5'7. thanks for the reply that makes sense. im hoping this is a swing issue rather than the clubs.

[Babydaddy]

I would also suggest that you get fitted for your irons. Irons that are too flat can cause a decent player to move towards the heel to achieve solid contact leading to shanks and inconsistency in general. The opposite can be said for clubs that are too flat at impact. As the iron loft gets higher and the club length shorter, the effects of improperly fitted clubs can be seen more or less depending on what way the clubs are incorrectly fitted.

I used to think that getting fitted was for people who had quirks or set up problems, but I know now that because we are all built differently, we need to have clubs fitted to our bodies or we will build in compensations over time. In my case, I got new irons and starting shanking a bit and contact was sporadic. I told my pro about it thinking that I did not deserve the new irons and he walked out on the range and said "I can tell that those irons are at least 2 degrees flat for you sitting back here in my golf cart!" We did the fitting and he was right!! Everything that was happening was a direct result of the clubs being flat for me. He picked up my 6 iron and shanked it, and he is a plus 2 handicap! for every iron I hit in the same spot, so he told me it's surely not your swing! When I saw him shank my 6 iron, I knew he was right! I was ready to quit golf until I learned all of this! The pings that I had before were a little upright and I never had problems shanking them.

I hope this helps!