Thinning iron shots can not only feel frustrating, but it can also have a huge impact on your scorecard. Many golfers have a problem with this, particularly with how to hit long irons, and often want to stop striking the ball heavy. Thankfully, in the video and article below, PGA pros Alex Elliott and John Jacobs share some simple tips that provide instant feedback and will get you started on the journey to better and more crisp strikes with your irons. 

Thinning iron shots

If you are hitting thin iron shots, your first checkpoint is with your posture. While the golf swings of the best players in the world differ greatly, something they all have in common is a good posture at address. This is just one of the things tour players do that you don't and it lies at the heart of consistent ball-striking.

One posture-related fault is when your pelvis moves towards the ball during the downswing. While unintentional, this is often a consequence of tiredness at the end of an overly long range session - a mistake great golfers don't make. 

This move leads to your shoulders rising which lifts the arc of the swing and the clubface catches the ball on the equator. By setting a strong, athletic posture at address you will maintain the angle of your pelvis through impact. This is an essential element in how to swing a golf club.

At address push your pelvis back, as if you are pushing your backside up against a wall. This will create the room you need to swing your arms - then aim to keep this angle as stable as possible during the swing.

What does 'thinning a shot' mean?

There are more tips below on how to fix thin iron shots, but first let's look at exactly what the term 'thin' means. Essentially, this is when you strike the ball with the very bottom (leading edge) of the golf club. Ideally, you want to compress your iron shots, taking a shallow divot just after impact.  

When you hit the ball thin, the club tends not to come into contact with the ground. When you 'thin' a shot, you hit the ball with the leading edge and this often creates that uncomfortable stinging sensation in your hands. Another clear indicator would be the ball flight, as it will usually come out lower than you had planned.

Chicken wing

You might be wondering 'what is a chicken wing swing?', but it's one of the reasons that golfers may be thinning iron shots. If you watch high-level players, you’ll notice that most have a straight left arm in their golf swing as they release the club through impact. While this isn't the case for all professionals, this might be why you are thinning iron shots.

Lots of amateurs shorten or bend their arm to prevent them from hitting the ground. This is a compensatory move that's often required because golfers don't know what is the right angle of attack and they end up getting too steep. 

To combat this, try some drills to get your golf swing on plane or try to hit shots from a side hill lie with the ball above your feet.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, you may also hit thin irons shots due to having a very flat swing, where you swing your arms too much around the body. This makes it impossible to hit the bottom of the golf ball.

To improve this, hit some mid-iron shots and place a tee peg in the ground just in front of the ball. Focus on striking the tee through impact, as this will force a slightly steeper angle of attack.

It may seem fairly obvious to say that understanding how to aim in golf is crucial, but many of the best golf tips highlight the importance of this fundamental aspect. After all, one of the key principles of the game is hitting target areas, with some of the best players in the world also being the most accurate.

Aiming in golf is right up there with ensuring you have the perfect golf grip or that your are using the correct ball position for every club, so how do you practice this key area of the golf swing?

In this article, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Zane Scotland shares his top tips to nail your alignment, find more fairways and attack more pins...

How To Aim In Golf: Swing Path

Alignment is an area that is really easy to let slip, and allow bad habits to creep in. Poor alignment will affect your swing, bringing into play pull shots, hook shots and all manner of other unwanted outcomes.

Aiming left can cause you to cut across the golf ball, while aiming right can cause you to push it depending on how the clubface moves through the ball at impact. Much of the ball flight is determined by your swing path, so make sure you check this next time you head to the range.

You can do this by lining up at a target, then put a shaft or alignment stick down on your heel line. If you lay it down on your toe line, it can be distorted by turning your feet out, as some people like to do. Then step behind and see where it is aiming. 

Your foot line should be parallel to your target line, like a train track, so it should be aiming very slightly left of your target (for a right-hander) if you’ve aligned correctly at address.

If your alignment isn’t right then stand in again and make adjustments, checking each time, so you start to calibrate yourself to what square to target actually looks and feels like. Jack Nicklaus used to do this after every round.

Don't Forget Your Shoulders 

Even when your feet are correctly aligned, your shoulders can sometimes not be. You want your feet and shoulders to be parallel at address. It’s easy to make sure they match by holding a club shaft across your shoulder line. This is also good for making sure your shoulders are parallel to the ground for iron shots, and your lead shoulder is slightly higher for driver, a crucial factor in how to hit a driver. 

Use Spot Alignment 

Aiming at target along way away can be tricky as you set you club down behind the ball. Instead, in your mind's eye, draw a line back from your target to your ball and pick a spot a foot or two in front of the ball, on that line, that you want to start it over to help you align correctly.

This can be a bit of darker grass, a divot, a twig or anything. Then build a golf pre-shot routine where you put the clubhead in behind the ball first, aiming over that spot, and you set up and take your posture around the clubface, rather than standing in and putting the club behind the ball.

Where Do You Aim When Hitting A Golf Ball?

It’s really important that you aim exactly where you want to at address, but it’s worth noting that you might not always want to align straight at where you want the ball to finish, such as the flag or the middle of the fairway. You need to take your natural shot shape into account, so aim left to allow for a fade or right to allow for a draw if you’re a right-hander, and the reverse for lefties.

Finding the perfect golf grip will instantly improve your ball striking, but it's easy to allow bad habits to creep in if you lose focus of this key fundamental.

Some of the most common amateur faults in golf are linked to a strong or weak golf grip, so investing some time to get this aspect of the golf swing set-up right is well worth the effort.

In this video and article, PGA Pro and Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Paul Foston explains everything you need to know... 

How Do You Grip A Golf Club?

The average golfer will grip a golf club anywhere between 70 to 100 times per round, but getting this aspect right is going to save you plenty of shots. The correct grip enables you to deliver the club square at impact, allowing you to find your intended target more effectively.

Start by gripping the club in the palm and fingers of your left hand. For the ideal neutral grip, your left thumb should be positioned just to the right of centre of the shaft. From there, attach your right hand by gripping with the middle two fingers and forefinger. Your right thumb should sit just to the left of centre of the gip.

If you have a truly neutral golf grip you should be able to see two knuckles on each hand at address. If you can’t, your grip will either be too strong or too weak, causing you to make contact with the ball with either a closed or open clubface. When asking how do you grip a golf club, use these checkpoints to make sure you are doing it correctly.

If you can team up a neutral grip with the perfect ball position for every club, you should be able to hit shots sweetly that fly straight. Who doesn't want to do that?!

How far up the grip should your hands be?

One common error I often see among amateur golfers is holding the club too far up the grip. This results in a loss of control and also causes shots to come out of the heel of the club - in fact, it can be one of the main golf shank causes. You should look to leave an inch between the top of your grip and the end of the club. On many grips, there’s a mark where your bottom thumb should go. This is a good marker for where your grip should be. 

What is the right grip pressure?

If you can feel tension in your forearms at address, then you’re gripping the club too tightly. This is one of the most common mistakes players make because, as they search for power and control, they hold the club even tighter. But the opposite rules apply here. A tight grip will prevent you from completing a full shoulder turn. It’s something that happens to all standards of golfer, particularly when playing under pressure. 

Focus on soft hands - a grip pressure of about 5/10 is right. It should be tight enough to ensure you don't let go without being too tight and disrupting your fluidity. Don't forget that a good rhythm is an essential element behind how to swing a golf club. A good tip is to waggle the club at address, as this action helps to alleviate tension.

Grip size

When asking how do you grip a golf club it is worth pointing out that having the wrong size grip immediately puts you on the back foot. An easy way of checking your grip size is to grip the club with just your glove hand.

Take a look at where the ends of your fingers are relative to your palm. They should be lightly touching each other. If your fingers are digging into your palm, your grips are too thin. If they aren’t touching at all, your grips are too thick. The incorrect grip size will hold you back when trying to deliver the club squarely at impact. This could be all you need to help fix your slice.

Even at the highest level of the game the top professionals swing the golf club in very different ways. There is certainly more than one way of getting the job done - think Jim Furyk or Matthew Wolff, for example.

But if you’re new to the game or still in the early stages, getting the fundamentals as correct as possible will certainly help you to develop a more consistent golf swing. Many of the different-looking swings you see actually rely on compensatory movements at various stages to be able to deliver the club back to the ball squarely.

While good players may be able to time these movements consistently thanks to many hours of practice and repetition, for lesser golfing mortals, it’s a tougher challenge and one that invariably leads to inconsistency.

Here, we break down the fundamentals from grip to follow-through pooling advice offered by a number of our expert team of top coaches. The whole movement only takes a second, so getting the fundamentals right in each element of the swing will give you a better chance of the whole thing knitting together more effectively.

For example, setting up correctly will give you a better chance of taking the club away correctly. Taking the club away correctly will give you more chance of completing the backswing effectively and so on…

The Grip

While some golfers play well with stronger or weaker grips, a neutral grip is the ideal starting point.

A strong grip is one in which the upper hand sits on top of the grip too much and the lower hand too much underneath the grip, with things vice versa in a weak grip. 

In a neutral grip, the club’s grip should run along the base of the little finger, on through the other fingers until intersecting the middle part of the index finger.

For the perfect golf grip that keeps the clubface neutral, when you wrap your hand over, the V created by the thumb and index finger should point at your right shoulder. 

In the game’s most common overlapping grip, the little finger of your right hand sits over your left forefinger and middle finger. The resulting V created by the thumb and forefinger of your right hand should point towards your right chest.

Set-up

A good athletic posture is key to generating power - check out any tour pro’s posture and you won’t see them slouched over the ball. To get your posture correct, let your arms hang freely down from your shoulders to the ball ensuring that your shoulder blades are back rather than hunched forward.

Now, bend forward from your pelvis while maintaining your spine angle. This will also dictate how far from the ball you should stand with each club. Finally, just ‘soften’ or flex your knees a little into position.

Finding the perfect ball position for every club is very important - if the ball is in the wrong place as you start your swing, you are reducing your chances of good contact and the right ball flight.

But all your clubs vary in length from wedge up to driver, so how do you find the right ball position for each club?

A simple way is to start with your feet together. Then, with a short iron, take a little step left with your left foot and the same length step right with your right foot.

With a mid-iron, take the same little step left but a slightly bigger one to the right, and with a long iron the same step left again, but a slightly bigger step still to the right.

This will set your sternum in the right position to help each and every iron bottom out correctly through impact.

The only variation is with the driver as you need to hit up on the ball more. So, take just a tiny step with the left foot, then a nice big one with the right, taking care not to go too wide as this will reduce your ability to turn effectively.

If you can get the right ball position and as long as you know how to aim in golf, you'll be in a much better position to make an effective golf swing.

Takeaway

A smooth, fluid tempo in the initial movement away from the ball is critical. Any short, snatchy movement will really throw the sequencing of your swing out. A common error is to over-rotate the hands and arms at this point, which then fans the clubface open.

A good exercise is to grip halfway down your driver with the shaft touching your left hip at address. In a good takeaway you will retain that shaft/hip connection for the first 18 inches or so. If you over-rotate your hands and arms, the shaft will separate from the hip.

Another good takeaway tip is to pop a tee-peg in the back of your glove, which should point pretty much towards the target at address. In the early part of a good takeaway, the tee should point more or less at the ball.

Again, any over-rotation of hands and arms will see the tee pointing more towards the sky, meaning your clubface is very open and will be difficult to return to square at impact.

Backswing

Good rotation of the upper body is the backswing key to storing up power. But while a good shoulder turn away from the ball is important, it will only generate power if the shoulders have something to turn or coil against.

This means your hips need to rotate less than your shoulders as you take the club up to the top (perhaps 45˚ versus 90˚).

One way to work on this is to make sure you keep your right knee nicely flexed as you take the club back. If it straightens, your right hip will move backwards and you will lose power as your hips will rotate too much leaving your upper body little to coil against.

Any lateral movement will also make it much harder for you to get back to the ball consistently and generate any power, so guard against swaying rather than turning. Make sure you can feel more weight on your right leg at the top than at address.

Finally, your arms are important too. The triceps in your left arm should be nicely loaded at the top. If you let the left arm bend or collapse at the top you will lose that tension and with it the ability to store energy to release back into the ball at impact. 

Downswing

Weight transfer is the big key in the downswing Keeping your body weight too much on your right side makes it impossible to achieve good impact. Start your downswing with a shift of your left or lead side towards the target to encourage your weight to transfer to your left side.

Try standing your golf bag by your left foot at address, then start your downswing by moving your left side towards the target, making contact with the bag through impact.

A good thought to have is “butt of grip to lead pocket” as you swing through. Try to get the feeling of the butt of the grip pointing to your front trouser pocket on your lead leg at impact.

Impact

With an iron, you should be hitting down on the ball so the effective loft on the club at impact should be less than it would have been at address.

This simple truth is hard to grasp as golfers understandably feel the need to try and help the ball up by scooping at it with the hands or holding back on their right side in a bid to help it up. Both these will be highly counterproductive and lead to very inconsistent striking.

A good way to encourage the downward angle of attack required with an iron is to set a sheet of card or towel down a few inches behind the ball. You must then look to miss this at impact to encourage the ‘ball first, ground second’ impact required.

You can vary how far behind the ball you place the sheet or towel as your striking improves.

Another good way to encourage the correct weight transfer to your left side is to make the first thought at the top of your backswing to shift your right knee across towards the left.

Driver impact differs as you do want to hit this club on the up to optimise spin and flight. A good set-up will help you to achieve this, with the ball further forward, the stance a little wider and the spine angled away from the target more than with an iron as the right shoulder tilts down more.

Finish and follow-through

Good poise, balance and a full flowing finish can be great indicators that what has gone before has also been good. A great thing to focus on as you work through the pointers in this feature is how well-balanced you are once the ball has been dispatched.

Good balance will often indicate that the weight transfer required for powerful, consistent ball-striking has been good, with most of your weight transferring to the inside of your right foot going back, then on to your left as you swing through.

Poor balance as you finish could indicate poor weight transfer, which can significantly impact power and ball-striking.

If your balance is off at the end of your swing, you will know there are probably still things to work on in what preceded it!

How Hard Should I Swing The Golf Club?

A technically sound golf swing will deliver both speed and distance. However, every golfer needs to find a rhythm that allows them to deliver good speed without losing control. A good way to think about this is to rank how hard you swing the club out of 10.

If 10 is the absolute max where you are swinging so hard that you are only just able to stay on your feet and 1 sees the club barely moving - what number is your swing? Every golfer is different but with a driver, you should aim to be at around 8 on this scale. Then with your irons, that might drop to 7. 

When it comes to pitching (where strike and ball flight control are absolutely essential) many top golfers like swing within themselves and their tempo would drop to about a 6. 

The golf impact position holds the key to longer, straighter shots. We've added Alex Elliott's video to an article from top coach Gary Alliss to give you all the information you need! Check it out below...

What we’re talking about is the area – the hitting area if you like – that passes through impact. During this phase of the swing it’s important to understand how you should be releasing, what you should be releasing, and why.

The most important elements are the angles in the wrists and the right elbow, and your forearm rotation through impact, and indeed beyond, as club and ball travel together for a few milliseconds and you can still influence the ball in that split second.

Take a look at Alex Elliott's golf impact position drills that accompany this article for some great tips on how to improve.

Common mistakes

1. Early release 

Some people get into a nice position at the top, but then release too early, casting the club, letting it overtake the hands and thinning it, topping it or catching the ground behind the ball.

Even if they do manage to get the ball, the early release leads to the classic ‘chicken wing’ position, with shots flying all over the place. This ruins your ability to create lag for power.

2. Early weight shift 

Others think they need a huge sideways movement at the start of the downswing in a bid to create a downward angle of attack for a pure strike. They over-do it. They drive out of their right heel on to their left toes, blasting it miles right, or rescue it with the wrists, shutting the clubface too quickly and hooking wildly.

The right sequence

We talk about rhythm and timing, but for me it’s more about sequencing on the way down. You work from the ground up. The feet work, then go quiet, without stopping; the hips then work, ‘settling’ gently back down to keep the weight nice and even, before going quiet, putting the hands and arms in position to swish the club through.

If that doesn’t happen in sequence, you can move your shoulders and shift your weight all you like, but the ball won’t go where you want it to.

Wrists and elbows

Coming into the golf impact position, you should still have angles in your wrists, and your right elbow should be ‘soft’ and bent as at set-up. As you come down into impact, rotate the forearms and straighten the wrists.

At the moment the club hits the ball, the right elbow should still be very slightly flexed, but a split second later the forearms should rotate and the right elbow should straighten out. That is the moment of full release, helping carry the swing up to a full finish.

In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by Tour Coach Liam James to look at the biggest iron play faults and how to fix them

Iron Play Faults... Fixed!

If you are struggling with your iron play, your short game will come under pressure. Here we take a look at three key iron play faults - missing short, pushes and pulls.

Missing short

Aside from frequent underclubbing, one of the main reasons club golfers come up short is poor contact. This simple drill can help you work on achieving the ‘ball first’ contact needed for solid striking and full distances. Place an alignment stick just inside the right heel at address. Focus on staying nice and still all the way to the top, then, when you swing down and through, the divot will be well after the stick.

RELATED: Biggest Driving Mistakes

A lot of players move their heads away from the target too much as they take the club back. This shifts their weight a long way from the target, and if they don’t then move back across, they’re going to either hit the ground early or possibly thin it, neither of which gives you the full yardage. That's why it is far better not to move your head and weight across in the first place

This drill encourages you to move your weight towards the target through impact. Set up as usual but with the ball a couple of inches closer to the target than the clubhead. Again, keep nice and stable as you swing back. With the ball further forward, you must then really focus on shifting your weight towards the target to ensure good contact. It highlights the stability needed on the way back and how much you need to shift weight on the way through.

RELATED: How To Hit Your Fairway Woods And Hybrids

Keep it still

I’m not saying keep things rigid, but with really consistent iron players, there’s not much movement away from the target at all. They keep everything really stable.

Pushes & pulls

How the left wrist looks at the top of the backswing can be a good indicator of how you’re likely to return the club to the ball.

Using a tee peg down the back of your glove that just overlaps the wrist joint, and by making some gentle practice swings, can give you a tell-tale hint if something is not right at the top. 

REVIEW: PING G425 Irons

In a push, the ball starts right and stays right because the clubface is too open at some point. A root cause can be a cupped left wrist at the top, and you’ll feel a little pressure via the tee peg if you’re guilty of this. The left wrist should be flat with the tee peg pointing perfectly down your forearm. 

In a pull, the clubface is too closed as it comes back into the ball sending it left. This drill can alert you to a potential cause. Hold the club about a foot above the head and swing through. If the shaft strikes your left side just after you would have struck the ball, you’re probably flicking at it with the wrists and coming into impact with a closed clubface 

What you’re looking for as you swing through the ball is for the shaft to stay firmly away from your side as here. This will allow you to stabilise the clubhead through impact keeping the clubface nice and square and helping you to hit much straighter golf shots.

Groove the move

For the push drill, use the tee peg for two or three practice swings to really groove the move before taking it out and hitting shots for real with that new feel.

Understanding how to hit draws and fades is invaluable for amateur golfers, as the ability to shape your shot to a target is a skill that will almost certainly lead to lower scores.

Accessing tough pins or the correct side of the fairway is something tour pros do well, and if you want to play better golf it's a skill you will need to practice. 

In the video and article below, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Trey Niven shares his expert tips for how to hit draws and fades on demand...

What Is Shot Shaping In Golf?

Due to the advancements in technology, it's now easier than ever to see how well tour professionals shape their shots. Shot tracking now forms a fundamental part of television coverage, and with the developments in premium golf balls that allow the ball to spin more than ever, some of the results are truly inspiring.

Learning how to hit draws and fades will add another dimension to your performance on the course, and the theory behind achieving it is not that difficult to understand.

Much of it comes down to set-up, and making small adaptions to your address position. Ultimately, it comes down to the correlation between the clubface and the golf ball.

The start of a golf ball's flight is usually dictated by the direction in which the clubface is pointing at impact, while the swing path in relation to that will control the curvature.

How to hit a fade

It's a shot that's becoming more and more popular among the world's best, who are happy to sacrifice a few yards for the added control. Even Rory McIlroy, who ascended to the top of the game by overpowering courses with his delightful draw, has added it to his locker in recent years.

For right-handed golfers, this means starting the ball left of target with an out-to-in swing path which is 'more left' than the clubface. To achieve this, you'll want to get your feet, knees, hips and shoulders aligned left at address. The club should also be aiming left of target but you want it to be open relative to the rest of your body.

When practising, use an alignment stick like I have in the video above to make this process easier, placing it between your feet and the ball to help you line up. From there, move the ball position further forward in your stance and swing down the line of your feet to create the out-to-in path required. It'll take some practice to get right but will come in very handy and could even become your go-to shot.

If you need some extra assistance, make a gate with two tees like below and place the ball in the middle. This will create an excellent visual for you to swing through which will further encourage the cut shape.

How to hit a draw

In order to hit a draw, the opposite applies. To get the ball moving right-to-left through the air, you want the club to be working from the inside with a face that is open to the target but closed to the path.

Use your alignment stick again to get your body aiming right, which will encourage an in-to-out swing direction and nudge the ball back in your stance to near the centre. With the face pointing right of your target but left of your body, the ball should draw nicely if you swing down the line of your feet once again. For slicers, this will help you learn how to stop cutting across the golf ball.

David Howell gives his advice on how to make sure you're getting the most out of your hybrids

How to swing hybrid golf clubs: Tips from David Howell

A hybrid is one of the most versatile clubs a golfer can have in their bag, no matter the level they play at. It's for this reason that some of the best players in the world have them on rotation, ready to be put into play depending on the specific course requirements of the latest tour stop.

In particular, the best hybrid golf clubs are great for long par-3s and approach shots as they're designed to help you hit the ball high, straight, and land it softly onto the green.

But how do you get the most from them? Five-time European Tour winner David Howell has some tips...

Basic hybrid shots

When amateurs struggle with this part of their game it is often because they don't know whether to treat their hybrids like fairway woods or irons.

This is where the subtle differences in ball position can make a big difference. Remember that your hybrids are designed to get the ball up in the air for you, so you should approach the shot like you would a long-iron.

Related: Most forgiving hybrids

Don't complicate things. One of the big traps you need to avoid is getting the ball too far forward in your stance, as if you were hitting a 3-wood. With a hybrid, the ball should be just ahead of centre. From there, just make a normal swing and you should find the consistent strike you're looking for.

Flight control

The hybrid is great at getting the ball up in the air, but it's also a very versatile club. For example, if you need to bring the flight down to control it in the wind, you can, just by using your normal punch shot technique.

All I would do in this situation is move the ball to the middle of my stance and add a little more weight on my left side at address.

Related: David Howell's tips on tow to hit a hybrid from the rough

Similar to when playing from the rough, this will help you hit down on the ball, delofting the club a little through impact for a lower ball flight.

With these two small tips on how to swing hybrid clubs, you can bring the flight down by some 10 to 15 feet, while still retaining plenty of power. It'll require some practise but the end result will be a much more penetrating shot which is ideal for windy conditions.

Piers Ward and Andy Proudman of Me and My Golf share some simple tips on how to hit your fairway woods better

Me and My Golf tips: How to hit a fairway wood

The main reason golfers struggle with fairway woods, especially from the turf, is that the club bottoms out too early, meaning the low part of the swing occurs before the ball. This is down to a lack of understanding as much as it is poor technique.

Golfers often use a fairway wood like a driver, which may work off the tee, but from the ground, having the ball forward and hitting up on it is likely to cause a succession of thin or heavy contacts.

Related: Most forgiving fairway woods

You want to level out the attack angle compared to the driver and if anything, impart a slightly downward blow. And in order to do this, you'll need to make a couple of adjustments to your set-up.

First, move the ball position back a couple of inches so it's inside the left heel rather than in line. It's not a huge amount so be careful not to overdo it.

And second, instead of feeling like the weight is more on your trail side to encourage an upward strike as is the goal with the driver, try to keep it fairly central at address and trust that the loft on the club will do its job.

From here, just make your normal swing and see how you get on. You should start to notice pretty quickly that the consistency of strike improves and that you're able to hit your fairway woods further.

Related: Best fairway woods for mid-handicappers

As always, getting on top of the basics is half the battle and the correct set-up is key to getting the most out of this versatile club.

Once you've done that you'll be able to use the loft to launch it high and long, making it a great alternative when you're struggling with the driver.

While it's undoubtedly one of the most daunting clubs to hit in the bag, from a more efficient address position, you'll be able to strike the ball better and turn this into a real strength of your game.

Ian Poulter explains how best to hit your hybrid from the fairway to get it launching high and landing soft

How to hit a hybrid club off the ground

There are very few players, even out on tour, who don’t carry hybrids these days. The flight they offer means you can attack greens from distance while retaining the necessary stopping power, even on firm putting surfaces.

Additionally, the extra distance and versatility relative to the comparative long-iron can be invaluable. It's why you see many players, both amateur and professional, hitting a hybrid out the rough rather than an iron.

Related: Best golf hybrid clubs

In the above video, the focus is on how to get the most out of this club from the fairway, and who better to offer some advice than three-time PGA Tour winner Ian Poulter.

Ball position

First and foremost, we need to nail down the right ball position. From the fairway, you want the ball to be landing on the green and stopping as quickly as possible.

If you move it back in your stance at address, the trajectory flattens and the result will be a lower flight with more roll. A handy shot to have when the situation calls for it but that’s not what you want from this basic shot.

Related: Best hybrid golf clubs for seniors

So, ideally you want to set the ball position just inside your left heel. It's not as far forward as a driver but up from where an iron would be. This means you can make a normal swing and get the flight you are looking for.

Angle of attack

The goal is to launch it high so you want to just pick the ball off the top of the grass. In order to achieve this, it's important to keep your weight fairly central and retain width in the downswing. It's something we saw Phil Mickelson practising en route to his 2021 PGA Championship win.

If width in the downswing is something you struggle with, try and feel like you're casting a fishing line from the top of your swing. It'll feel extreme in practice, but will help you make small inroads over time that will add up to a big difference.

And as far as this shot is concerned, it'll allow you to shallow out your angle of attack into the golf ball and produce the deadly high-flight-soft-landing combination that you’re looking for.

Honma Custom Fitting Specialist and PGA Pro Luke Peterken breaks down the punch shot with these simple tips

The Punch Shot Made Easy

In the video above, we're joined by Honma Custom Fitting Specialist and PGA Pro Luke Peterken at North Hants Golf Club for some tips on how to play the punch shot effectively.

Luke is faced with a shot of 155 yards with the pin placed towards the back of the green, so the punch is an effective one to play in this instance as the ball will hopefully run out up the green and towards the flag. If you can master the technique, this can be an invaluable shot - here's what to do:

RELATED: How To Play The Low Punch Shot

'If we use our stock iron shot as a benchmark to work from, so 155 yards is a stock 7 iron for me.

I'd take my length of swing and my swing speed of my stock shot and then dial it down a bit, so I wouldn't swing back as far and I wouldn't apply as much clubhead speed.

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Both of those already would change my trajectory quite a bit.

And especially with this shot where the pin is right at the back, we've got lots of green to work with so actually this is quite a nice shot to employ because those effects that we're going to have on our trajectory will mean that the golf ball will roll out that little bit more.

So it's a nice shot to play if there's no danger in front of the green.

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I'm going to club up a little bit to counter the fact that we've dialed down the swing speed and swing length.

A couple of set up changes - I would take my ball-to-target line and then work a little bit left of that.

Feet slightly left, we're already kind of pre-setting our hips into our impact position because we're not using as much speed so it gets us delivering the club in a consistent way.

In other words, I can keep my clubface much more stable by keeping my hips a little bit more open with this shot that we're choosing.

Shoulders are kept parallel to the target line itself, it's just the hips to give me the space to then not get into those type of habits where we're flipping the hands over.

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So slightly left, my ball position will be slightly back of centre as well but that's about it.

Shorter swing and less speed, and then it will chase up there.

So we're able to cover a yardage of 155 yards but in a very controlled, repeatable way.'

This shot is incredibly useful but it does require practice. Devote some time to this on the range, think about the technique and use Luke's pointers above to give you the framework for the shot. The more you practise it, the better you should become at reducing the flight - ideal for this sort of scenario out on the golf course!

In this golf shank fix video and article, Golf Monthly Top 25 coach John Jacobs offers a great move to practice that should help improve your swing path

Golf Shank Fix - Best Move To Practice!

Almost all golfers at some point have felt the frustration of wasting a perfect drive by then shanking an iron shot into the trees or the water.

There are a few different golf shank causes but perhaps the most common is the steep, out-to-in swing path (which is also one of the main reasons why you pull iron shots). This places the hosel of the club in dangerously close proximity to the ball. The best golf shank fix, I’ve found is this drill: place two balls next to each other (or you can use tees for the right hand ball if you'd prefer), address the furthest one from you, but hit the one nearest to you.

The ball (or tee) on the outside acts as a very helpful visual barrier to avoid. It should force you to change your swing path. Of course, it will strange at first so make some slow swings with your wedge to start with. This will give you the feel you need for the shot. Then once you are happy that you are training a better path, take the right hand ball away and hit some shots (starting with the club outside the line of the ball).

This golf shank fix will give you a great feel for how to stop cutting across the ball and it will retrain the way you deliver the club through impact; you should start to develop a much more neutral swing path that allows you to strike the ball from the correct part of the face.

RELATED: Golf Shank Drills - Four Top Tips To Try!

The shanks can be the most frustrating fault in the game, but with this drill and some dedicated time, you should be able to eradicate them.

Another golf shank fix to try

Try putting three tees approximately one-eighth-inch to a quarter-inch beyond the toe of your club. Then, when swinging, be sure to miss these tees. Avoiding the tees will prevent you from extending so much that you hit the ball with the hosel.

Honma Custom Fitting Specialist and PGA Pro Luke Peterken can help you strike your irons better

3 Best Ball Striking Tips

Does your ball striking need to improve? You're in the right place!

In this video, Honma Custom Fitting Specialist and PGA Professional Luke Peterken talks us through three tips and drills to help you begin striking your irons more consistently.

1. Posture

Your posture needs to be athletic and keeping a good posture on every shot brings consistency to every shot that we approach.

Golf is tiring so it is easy to get lazy with your posture in the latter stages of a round, which frees you up and loosens you up to perhaps go to places in the swing that you shouldn't.

To find the best posture, I have a 4 step process that allows me to know that I'm standing over the golf ball the same every time...

1) Firstly I aim to my target line and then put my feet together and stand up straight out with the club extended in front of me

2) Keeping my legs straight I'll bend forward until the golf club head is level with my knees

3) Then I'll take the width of my stance

4) Then I'll unlock my knees, this puts me in the perfect posture

VIDEO: The punch shot made easy

2. Step drill

This drill allows us to ensure that we are moving towards the target.

A common fault when it comes to poor iron strikes is to lean back on it and try to help the ball up, which this drill stops.

VIDEO: Pitching tips - How to make more birdies

3. Headcover drill

We're taught to hit down on the golf ball with irons and this is a good drill for it.

Place a soft object 10-12 inches behind the ball and try to hit the ball without hitting the object.

Too many amateurs bump their hips too far towards the target at the start of their downswing. We all know that a good weight shift towards the target through impact is key, but crucially you still need to harness your power from the ground.

As PGA Professional Dan Whittaker explains in this video, a stable lower body is key here.

As you start the downswing you should feel your weight moving down into your left toe – this is a very powerful move you’ll see top players like Jordan Spieth make. To facilitate this, let your left knee rotate out a fraction as you start down. You should almost feel like you are squatting a little into your left side as you transition into the downswing. This is crucial to more power and accuracy.

One way to hit longer golf drives is to stop swaying in your backswing as this inhibits your ability to rotate and load your right glute correctly. Swaying also leads to timing issues, as you have to get back to the ball from the place you’ve moved to. In the video below, PGA pro Dan Whittaker shares his simple advice that will get you using the ground better.

One great visualisation is to turn your hips like you are stood in a barrel to stop unwanted lateral movement. Feeling as though you’re weight is loading into your right thigh and heel in the backswing is another great swing thought.

Good footwork is essential for power, accuracy and longer golf drives. At address, your weight should be on the balls of your feet - so not too far forward where your calf muscles are tense and not sat back on your heels.

As Dan Whittaker explains in the video above, if your weight is in the wrong position, your hips will not be able to work as they should. So at address feel your weight on the balls of your feet and then, as you turn to the top of your backswing feel your weight shift into your right heel.

A great drill is to hit shots with your right foot drawn back a fraction at address. This will help activate your hip rotation and give you a great feel for how your weight moves into your right heel at the top of the backswing.

For golfers of all levels, fairway woods are usually the toughest to hit consistently well. So, in the video and article below, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Alex Elliott shares three tips that will help you turn this weakness into a strength.

Don't lean back

First, you need to understand why you are struggling with your fairway woods. One of the big reasons is the intimidation factor. At address, it doesn’t look like there’s a lot of loft on the club. That causes golfers to feel like they need to help the ball into the air, which causes them to lean back and scoop it.

This analogy will help you gain an understanding of what’s required. Think of the bottom of the club as the wheels of a plane. Now, you don’t want to abort the landing as that results in the scooping motion. I don’t want you to crash land and swing too steeply into the ball. Instead, I want you to feel like you’re getting the wheels just to touch down as you’re striking the ball away.

Gate drill

The second drill will help you keep the club lower for longer and increase your margin for error and the quality of strike. Simply create a gate by sticking two tees into the ground an inch or so ahead of your ball. Once you’ve done that, knock your ball out the way and address the bit of ground where it was sitting. Feel like you’re going to brush the ground through the gate and not lean back to avoid the gate. Doing this successfully will help you keep the clubhead lower for longer and improve your consistency. 

The reason I want you to move the ball out the way is because, as you do this, you’ll feel like you need to transfer your weight and open your hips to start training the feeling of keeping the clubhead lower for longer. Start with some hip-height swings back and through to hone the feeling. When you feel comfortable, bring the ball back in and put what you’ve worked on to the test. Add this drill to your practice routine and you’ll quickly stabilise your swing for better fairway wood strikes. 

Stabilising your legs

The final concept is all about stabilising your legs for a solid foundation. If you’re swaying, the bottom of your arc is constantly moving, meaning it’s harder to marry up the low point of the swing with the golf ball. Put your hands on your belt, one on your lead hip and one on your trail hip, and practise just turning your hips back and through rather than swaying. 

Then, make some practice swings trying to feel that same turn in your lower half, imagining there’s a wall behind you that you want to press your back-right pocket into on the backswing, and the left-back pocket into in the through swing. It’s a simple concept that will help stabilise the bottom of your arc.  

Galvin Green European Tour player Laurie Canter offers two simple keys to help you flush your irons

Me and My Golf Tips: Hit Your Hybrids Better - Andy Proudman demonstrates a simple drill that will transform the way you hit your hybrids for the better

Me and My Golf Tips: Hit Your Hybrids Better

By Andy Proudman, Me and My Golf

Hybrids may be billed as the easy-to-hit alternative to long-irons, but some people still really struggle with consistency of strike, trajectory and distance. Much like with fairway woods, a correct and more consistent bottom of the swing is the key to achieving better results with your hybrids. The extension of the arms play a pivotal role in this, perhaps more than you might expect.

A common mistake we often see is the arms bunching up, with the hands moving towards the body and the elbows splayed. This fault creates too much loft and won’t enable the bottom of the swing to happen at or after the ball, like you want.

A good impact position is crucial if you want to get the most from your hybrids. When the elbows separate, the hands rise and you add loft, creating problems with the strike

To deliver a better strike and a stronger trajectory, you need the arms to fully extend through the ball. We’ve got a great drill to help you incorporate this into your technique, called ‘feel the reach’.

Try this drill - Feel the Reach

In your golf posture, place the club in your lead hand and reach out towards the target. Keep the arm straight and get the shaft parallel to the ground at waist height, with the toe of the club pointing up to the sky.

Maintaining your posture, reach over with your other hand and take hold of the club. You should feel like you’re reaching out with the arms extended. Note that body rotation is required to take your grip. The arms will be fully extended past the ball, helping achieve a cleaner strike, a more consistent impact position and better results with your hybrid.

In this exclusive video, Ged Walters offers his pre-shot routine tips for golf to help you prepare both mentally and physically for the shot ahead

Pre-shot routine tips for golf

The first part of your pre-shot routine is where the decision-making needs to happen. As every golfer knows, good shots rarely happen if you aren’t 100% focussed. This is when you need to build up a picture in your mind for exactly what a good shot would look like – how it would fly, where it would land and how far it would roll. As you look at the shot facing you, think about the weather conditions, how the ball is lying, the terrain of your landing zone and what the wind is doing. Take in as much information as you can because when this phase finishes, I want you to have a vivid visualisation of what you are trying to do. This will help you hugely when it comes to the execution.

Watch more long game tips videos

Your Yardages

If you want to improve your scores, it makes sense to do some homework, finding out exactly how far you hit the ball. Your yardages are exactly that – yours. They have no relation to how far anyone else hits the ball and they will form the foundation of your strategy. When working out which club to hit into the green, always calculate the number to the back. Few amateurs miss long but they often fall foul of the bunkers and trouble that lie short of the green. Having the distance to the back in your mind and picking a club that will get you as close to that spot without going past it, will allow you a little leeway on the strike as well. As you can see here, there is a 34-yard gap between the front and the back of the green – for most of us, that’s a three club difference. When it comes to pre-shot routine tips for golf, figuring this part out is essential.

Watch more golf swing tips videos

Dress Rehearsal

Before you move into the shot itself, make a proper practice swing. I’ve placed a wooden block on the ground here to divide the ‘practice’ area and the ‘performance’ area. Try to replicate exactly what you are trying to do. Your practice swing is your dress rehearsal, the last swing you make before it matters so it makes sense to make it as realistic as possible. Too many players waste energy on a meaningless practice swings. Use yours to help set a more confident mindset by developing a genuine feeling for the shot and the swing you are trying to make.

Picking your target

Aligning yourself correctly is something we can all successfully do before every shot but you have to be precise, the target you pick has to be as small as possible. As soon as you start to get lazy or sloppy, small mistakes can quickly ingrain themselves into your routine. Trying to align your clubface to a target that is in the distance is incredibly difficult and can lead to mistakes. Stand behind your ball and draw an imaginary line from your target back to your ball, then pick out a spot that is no more than 6 inches ahead of your ball along this imaginary line. Try to see an imperfection or an object on the grass on that line to aim at. As you stand over the ball in the address position, this is your target to aim the clubface directly at. Once you have this target line, you are in a much better position to build your stance. The confidence you’ll gain from aiming correctly is huge. These pre-shot routine tips for golf will not only help you set better address positions but they will help create a positive, focused mindset

In this exclusive video tip, Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Rick Shiels explains how to play the knockdown shot to hit lower, punched iron shots

How to play the knockdown shot

There are two things that will determine the height of your golf shots: the loft on the club at impact and the speed at which you are swinging. It makes sense that when learning how to play the knockdown shot, these are the two factors to adjust. Obviously, you need to de-loft the club at address and you do that simply by moving the ball back in your stance. With the ball back, your hands will automatically be ahead of the ball and you’ll be strengthening the loft of the club by around 10˚.

Golf swing tips videos

Your swing speed determines how much backspin you create – more backspin equals a higher flight – so you need to swing a little slower. You can do that by pure feel but I prefer to shorten the swing. A three quarter back and through swing will take important backspin off the shot. Just note that as you are looking to take speed out of the swing, you may need to take an extra club to hit your usual distance. Experiment with this on the range – it’s great fun to do and really helpful once you get to the course.

Punch shot tips - control the flight

1 Address keys

Move the ball back in your stance so that your hands are a couple of inches ahead. This will help you create the low initial trajectory you are looking for.

Watch Andy Sullivan's punch shot masterclass

2 Backswing check

Removing speed from your swing is key to keeping the flight down. Just hit a few half shots with a 7-iron on the range and you’ll see. For a punch, swing back to three quarters your usual length.

3 Flight and balance

Again, make a three quarter length follow through feeling like you are ‘punching’ the ball through the wind. You should be able to hold this finish, maintaining your balance comfortably throughout.

There are few better feelings in golf than making crisp, ball-first contact and taking a nice divot. But have you ever considered what you can learn from these flying bits of turf? In the video and article below, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Andrew Reynolds provides some simple advice that could help you decode your divots.

Your divots often hold clues as to how the club is working through impact and there are three types in particular to look out for next time you are on the course. Here they are...

Heel deep

The first is heel deep, which is when the heel of the club digs into the ground more than the toe. If you notice this type of divot, it's likely the club is closing through impact, forcing you to miss shots left and even, in extreme cases, causing a hook.

Shallow, square divots

This is the holy grail of divots. If your divots are shallow and even in depth from heel to toe, point towards the target, and are square at the exit and entry point, your swing is likely in a very good place. 

If your divots look like this but you're not hitting the shots to match, it might be worth checking if the clubs you're using are right for you and your swing.

Toe deep

If the toe is deeper than the heel, that will cause problems. The toe digging into the ground will encourage the face to open up through impact and mean you're more likely to hit blocks or slices.

Solutions

If your divots are either toe to heel deep, your first port of call is to check your address position. Take care over your body alignment and set an athletic posture with your weight over the balls of your feet (not on your heels or toes). In the ideal position, the butt of the club should be a hand’s width from your thigh. 

If you feel like you are in a strong, athletic address position but your divots are still not good, it is time to get your clubs checked. If the lie angles of your irons are not right, heel or toe deep divots are the evidence. Speak to your local PGA professional to make sure your irons are the perfect spec for your game.

In this video, Challenge Tour professional Reeve Whitson shows you the swing essentials you need to strike an iron purely from a tight lie every time

Amateurs often struggle with their ball striking because the low point of their golf swing – the lowest point the clubhead travels in the downswing – is in the wrong place. When hitting from the fairway, you want the low point to be after the ball, so you strike the ball as the clubhead is still travelling downwards, talking a divot after impact.

Ball striking it a lot to do with ball position. I see a lot of amateurs will the ball too far forward in their stance trying to help the ball up by adding loft and leaning back on their right side (for a right handed golfer). When they do this, they actually catch the ground before the ball and duff it or miss the ground and catch the ball thin because the low point of their swing is too far back.

Moving the ball back to the middle or just back of middle in your stance should make sure you catch the ball first from a tight fairway and then you need to trust the loft of the club to get the ball up and stay down on the shot. The key to making sure you hit the ball first is to make sure your weight moves onto your lead leg in the downswing. Your sternum represents the low point of your swing, so getting this ahead of the ball should eliminate any duffs or thin shots.

Keep the angle in your wrists applying pressure to the ball and the ground with your weight forward and down at impact and through to the finish. Getting the hands are ahead of the clubhead at impact will ensure the shaft is leaning forward, allowing you to generate a clean, powerful strike. Your divot is a tell-tale sign of your swing’s low point. If it starts after the ball, you know it is in the right place.

In this instruction video, Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Andrew Jones explains how to play fairway trap shots...

How to play fairway trap shots

Unlike with the greenside splash shot, where you play that with plenty of knee flex, the fairway bunker shot is all about maintaining your height for a clean strike. That's why you need to make some subtle changes to your normal approach. But before we get into the technique, remember that you must take a club with enough loft to clear the lip. Being greedy, hitting a good shot and firing it into the face is one of the most frustrating mistakes you can make on a golf course. For the sake of a few yards, it is not worth taking the risk so if you're worried about hitting a 5-iron, take a six instead!

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Now let's concentrate on the technique - start by moving your hands down the grip a fraction. Then as you address the ball - taking care over your ball position and ensurimng your stance is as secure as possible - stand a little taller than usual. Both of these elements are designed to bring the bottom of the swing arc up a fraction to ensure you clip the ball cleanly off the top of the sand. Finally, make sure your leg action doesn’t get too aggressive during the swing itself. A big weight shift into your left side at the start of the downswing can cause you to lose your footing through impact and catch the shot fat. Ian Poulter explains how to the play the fairway bunker shot nicely here. So try to remain passive in your lower body, certainly do not try to hit the ball too hard and maintain your balance. If you can take these pointers on board, you should be able to clip the ball away off the top of the sand with power and accuracy.

Follow these simple tips on playing from a divot by Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Barney Puttick, and you'll start making birdies from poor lies.

These tips will help you if you often mishit the ball when playing from a divot, or you make the same swing when your ball is in a divot instead of making adjustments to compensate for the poor lie.

This is one of the most frustrating scenarios in golf – you’ve split the fairway with a great drive only to find your ball in a divot.

But don’t panic! If you can make a couple of small changes to your address, you should be able to hit a good shot.

Start by moving the ball back in your stance so that your hands are ahead of the ball at set-up. This will help you find a nice, descending blow that will ensure you catch the ball first.

It’s important to stay down over the shot – there is a tendency to flick your hands at the ball to help it up, but you need to trust the loft of the club to do the job for you.

Finally, take one extra club as you are likely to lose a little distance. If you can do these things, you might be surprised how good a shot you actually hit.

Remember!

• Move the ball back in your stance
• Hands ahead of the ball at address
• Focus on making a downward, descending strike in order to catch the ball before the turf behind the ball
• Stay down over the shot
• Resist the urge to flick your hands at the ball to help it up
• Let the club do the work and handle the poor lie for you
• Take one more club than you normally would do from the same yardage out of a perfect lie
• Also play for the ball to release a little further than it normally would with a sweet strike from the fairway

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Keith Wood has some tips to help you get the feeling for the correct way to release the club through impact for more consistent ball striking and extra yards.

Try these tips for how to release through impact if weak strikes are costing you precious yards and you tend to hit a lot of shots fat and thin.

As you take the club back, your right elbow and wrist will naturally fold. This is good because the angle created here is what will generate power once it is released.

Poor strikes as well as fat and thin contacts often occur when this angle is released too early. You can create immense power without losing control by storing this angle for as long as possible before releasing through the ball.

To help you visualise this, imagine a Rafael Nadal serve. His left elbow (he’s left-handed) bends as he throws the ball up, but as he delivers the racquet that elbow straightens, creating the power and sweet contact he is looking for.

The same rule applies in golf. As you can see from my swing, my right elbow and wrist release their angles through impact.

It is this last-minute move that creates speed through impact. Crucially, the timing of this is everything, but if you can set and retain the angles for as long as possible, your brain will be able to work out when to release in order to strike the ball.

Be aware of this key move without getting bogged down in the technicality of it. The power and control this creates is an essential aspect of any good golfer’s game.

Top tips

• As you take the club back, your right elbow and wrist should fold naturally
• The angle this creates is what generates the power once the release is initiated
• It is this last-minute release of these angles that creates the speed through impact
• The timing of this is everything, but if you can retain the angles for as long as possible, your brain will work out when to release in order to strike the ball

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Clive Tucker offers his power fixes for golf to help you hit longer straighter drives.

A good way to check how well you are swinging is to see how powerful your swing is. Technical errors in the mechanics of your game might cost you accuracy but they will definitely stop you reaching your power potential. Our complete guide to getting more distance is well worth reading but if you are suffering from weak drives my power fixes for golf article should have the answer.

Rotation check

If you are struggling for power off the tee, the first thing to check is whether your torso is performing in the way it should and helping you to create the x factor power move.

Your body is the engine of the swing but to get the most from it, you need to work it effectively. A great way to check is to place two alignment sticks – one across your hips and the other across your shoulders – to mark your movements.

Also place two shafts on the ground as I have done here. Now move to the top of your backswing. The shaft across your shoulders should be parallel to the shaft that’s square to your target line. This represents a good upper body movement.

You’ll notice that my hips have turned a little to facilitate this upper body move. Indeed, it is the difference between the angle of your hips and the angle of your shoulders that creates the powerful body move that you’re looking for.

Release check

A powerful golf swing teams a good body action with an effective arm swing. The key to the latter is the timing of the release and I have a drill that should help you check yours.

Place a golf ball on the ground as if you were about to hit it with a 5-iron. Holding a second ball in your right hand, mimic your normal golf swing, releasing the ball at the moment you’d release the angle in your right wrist through the downswing.

If you are prone to casting (releasing the angle too early and losing crucial energy from the swing) the ball will fly away from the target.

You are looking to get the ball to bounce as close as possible to the one on the ground. If you can hold the angle in your wrists for as long as possible, you’ll create crucial clubhead acceleration when you need it most.

Connection check

As we have mentioned, for a powerful swing you need your body and arms to be working effectively but you also need to link those movements.

The best way to train this is to make some three quarter swings with an iron. Place two empty golf ball sleeves under your arms, keeping them in position throughout the swing.

If you can do that you’ll have the correct connection between arms and body for more power and accuracy.

Synchronisation check

As we have discussed, the golf swing is an athletic and dynamic movement but for it to be truly effective you need to move in the correct sequence.

One of the keys is to start your downswing with the movement of your hips. From the top of the backswing, it is your hips that ‘bump’ back towards the target first, leading your upper body to unwind powerfully.

You can check this by swinging with your shadow directly in front of you. I have placed three balls on the ground to help mark exactly how my body is moving.

From the top of the backswing (and with my head nice and still) you can see how my hips initiate the movement back into the ball.

This small but essential element to the swing will help you find better synchronisation for more power and accuracy.

Clive’s checklist

Make sure your upper body is rotating powerfully in the backswing. Release the angle in your right wrist as late as possible. Start the downswing by moving your hips towards the target.

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Keith Wood asks how to judge your lie and offers some simple guidance on when a hybrid is a better option than a long iron

How to judge your lie

When you arrive at your ball in the fairway, rough or bunker, your first challenge is to judge the lie. If it’s sitting on a good lie in the fairway, no problem – you can continue to work out your yardage and strategy from there. But if the lie is anything but perfect, you need to make decisions about the sort of shot you are going to hit.

One of the key choices you’ll need to make is over when a hybrid is a better option than a long iron and vice-versa. Remember the hybrid is designed to help you cut through some of the rough and heavier ground before the ball. The curved sole makes the rough less likely to snag around the heel – one of the main problems to look out for is the hosel getting caught, closing the face through impact and causing the ball to go left. The hybrid is less likely to suffer this fate than the long iron.

Also the hybrid has a slightly deeper face than the long iron. That will help the club get under the ball and aid the launch of the shot. With the mass lower and deeper in the head you'll create the spin required to get the ball up for a high launch and plenty of carry.

However, most importantly of all, you have the forgiveness of the head to fall back on. Your mishit should perform far better with a hybrid than a long iron.

The only occasions when a long iron might be a better option is if you want to shape the shot or, in particular, keep it low. The long iron is designed to do that and certainly the faster swingers amongst you will notice that benefit. The best thing to do is test both from a range of lies and you'll seethe results clearly...

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Kevin Craggs talks through the power golf swing mechanics and has some easy-to-implement tips to help you gain more yards.

Power golf swing mechanics

Using a Thera-band – or a resistance band as they are known – can have a big effect on the power you produce in the golf swing.

They don’t cost much, and can be used in a number of ways to help you improve. One of the main keys to ensure that you don’t lose power in the swing is leg stability.

Keeping the legs stable is key to creating power. To work on this, tie a resistance band around your legs so that you feel some resistance when you adopt a normal stance.

From there, if your legs give way at any point, you will feel the band pull them together, and that’s not what we want.

You want to climb all the way through the different stages of your backswing and keep your knees strong, resisting the band.

What this will do is cause greater turn of the upper body, which in turn creates more power.

You aren’t restricting your movement here, you are resisting it. By turning the upper body you will create more coil, allowing you to fire more power at the ball.

Use your big muscles

As golfers, we tend to do the easy thing rather than the right thing. This exercise will help you do the opposite of that and hit the ball further.

Take one end of the band and stand on it with your front foot. Place the other end in your palm and grip the club as normal.

Make some swings, turning to the top and really feeling the resistance. Use those core muscles to make a full turn and coil to the top.

If you take the easy route and swing with your arms you will feel no resistance and the band will come across your body. Turn properly and you’ll store power at the top that you can deliver into the ball.

Keep stable

Another way that players lose power on the way back is because the right elbow becomes disconnected from the body.

You can get a feeling of the right arm being more stable by tying the band around your body and your arm, just above the elbow.

As you swing to the top, the band will keep your elbow connected. This allows the right arm to fold correctly, which will help encourage a more effective shoulder turn for maximum power once you start swinging down.

Release the club

So often I’ll see the position pictured above left after impact where a player has swung across the body and the power generated during the backswing has been lost.

Stand at address with one end of the band under your back foot and the other between your hands. From there, put yourself into the right position after impact with your arms fully extended.

If you do it right you will find plenty of resistance from the band as your arms stretch out. Get into the wrong position and the band will pull across your legs.

This is just as important as creating the power on the way back as it will help transfer it from the body to the club, and then into the ball.

It's vital to get the basics right to make the game as easy as possible. In the video and article below, PGA pro Neil Plimmer looks at how to address a golf ball so you have a solid base to swing from.

Ball position first - the most important point to make here is that you need to be consistent. All too often I see amateurs on the golf course completely changing their ball position for almost every shot, and for no apparent reason.

The only way to find a repetitive swing that delivers predictable results is to ensure you are consistent with the basics.

Naturally, the ball position is slightly different depending on the club. For a short iron, place the ball in the middle of your stance.

For a long iron, it should sit slightly forward of centre, and then for a wood, the ball should sit more in line with the left heel. Following this simple principle will help you find the ideal angle of attack for a good strike.

Posture & knee flex

It’s imperative that your address position is athletic, allowing you to make a powerful but controlled movement.

Your posture and the amount of knee flex you employ can have a huge impact on the swing that follows.

A great way to check both of these factors is to test how your arms hang at address. Take your normal set-up and then release your right hand from the club.

It should still hang down in line with the butt end of the club. Notice how much space there is between my hand and my thigh in the main image.

If your right hand is too close to your thigh, or too far away, you’ll find the problem lies with either your posture or your knee flex, or possibly both, so keep a close eye on these factors.

Hip range

The width of your stance is crucial, as it should do two contrasting things. Firstly, your stance should be wide enough to provide a stable platform from which to make an athletic swing.

However, it shouldn’t be so wide that you find it hard to transfer your weight through the swing. The best way to check/set the perfect stance width is to find your hip range.

To do this, walk at a normal pace and then after a few strides stop as soon as your front foot hits the ground.

Now turn 90 degrees as the sequence illustrates here. This is your perfect stance width. Alternatively, find out what is too wide and what is too narrow. Hit shots from these positions and then you’ll be able to feel the correct stance width.

Perfecting the basics

I’m a big believer that in order to improve, your practice regime needs to be closer to your on-course experience.

I don’t like to see my pupils lay shafts on the ground and hit ball after ball to the same target. Instead, I think it’s much more beneficial to change targets and, better still, clubs between every shot.

Run through your pre-shot checks before each ball to make sure the keys we’ve discussed here are in place. This is a far more effective way of grooving the fundamentals you’ll need for a better golf game.

Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Andrew Jones explains how to adapt your technique to find a good strike when the ball is above your feet

Ball above feet golf tips

I’ve created a familiar scenario on the range having placed the ball above my feet. This is one of those everyday scenarios that requires some fine-tuning to your normal technique. If you can make the following changes you’ll make a clean, accurate strike. This is all about ensuring a difficult lie doesn't cost you a bad contact.

Firstly, the slope will naturally make your swing flatter that usual and this, along with the full release that is also encouraged, will cause the ball to turn left in the air. There’s no way to really counteract this confidently, so just allow for the draw with your alignment and aim your feet, hips and shoulders as well as the club face, a little right of your intended target. Secondly, move your hands down the shaft, to the bottom of the grip. This will prevent you from catching the ground before the ball and hitting it fat - a common trap you simply must be aware of and avoid. Finally, stand a little taller to the ball than usual – you’ll need a little less knee flex at address to do this. Importantly, ensure that you still pivot over the ball from your hips, keeping your back straight. Your adress still needs to be dynamic and athletic to allow you to make a good upper body rotation. As long as you can maintain this spine angle through the swing - from address to impact - you should be able to find the strike you’re looking for.

Try to find a slope on the course as you play in a friendly. Practice this shot and you'll see how the ball shapes from right to left in the air. As long as you allow for this you should still be able to attack the flag despite the lie.

In this exclusive stop slicing golf tips, Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Andrew Reynolds goes back to basics and offers a simple solution to a simple fault

The slice is one of the most common and frustrating faults in the game. For the majority of slicers, the issue starts at address - either your shoulders are open (pointing left), or your hips are open or your feet are open. Often all three are aiming left!

How to fix your slice

This is a natural reaction for anyone with a slice (to aim further left) but it becomes self-fulfilling. The more you aim left, the more it drifts right through the air. The problem with this is that it causes an out-to-in swing path through impact that sends the ball off with left-to-right spin. The resulting slice will leave you with your head in your hands.

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If you want to rid yourself of the slice try my stop slicing golf tip. Start by setting up square to your target line. There are no shortcuts here and this will feel strange at first but is an absolute must. Make sure that your body and your feet are square (it isn't good enough just to square up your feet). Hit a series of shots but don't worry about where they go. This is about getting comfortable.

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During the swing itself, you need to create a different feel through impact. You will be used to cutting across the ball and your left elbow might well be bending through impact. You need to feel that you are hitting 'out' on the shot - driving the clubhead towards the right of the target through impact.

Undoubtedly you will hit some fairly horrible shots as you try to rid yourself of the slice but trust me, the more shots you hit the more comfortable you will feel. Make sure that you develop that feeling of 'release' through impact - driving the club to the right. This will give your swing a new shape and and your ball flight a much straighter look.

Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Andrew Jones has created this hybrid ball position video with some simple advice on how to strike your hybrid from tight lies

Hybrid ball position video

This winter your hybrids will prove themselves an invaluable part of your armoury. But to get the most from the technology on offer you need to adapt your technique for different lies and understand how to strike your hybrids. If the ball is on a bare patch of grass, a muddy spot or even a slightly thicker area of rough, you’ll need to strike down on the shot more than usual to ensure you make a powerful contact. Start by moving the ball back in your stance a fraction. This will set your hands slightly ahead of the ball, de-lofting the club for a lower flight but essentially, a cleaner contact.

Then as you start the downswing feel that you are getting your upper body over the ball, that you are ‘covering’ it through impact. You do not want to be hanging back on your right side through the downswing but instead you should move powerfully onto your left side. Don’t be afraid to take a divot – your hybrid will have the built-in technology to get the ball up and away with good distance.

Remember that whenever the lie is poor, a good contact is all about your angle of attack. The steeper you can make it, the cleaner the contact with the ball will be. You can make all the changes you need at address without needing to make massive changes in the golf swing itself. With more knowledge about how to strike your hybrids from different lies you should be able make a sweet contact everytime.

If you find yourself asking how do I improve my ball striking, who better to help than one of the finest in the business. Ernie Els gives his best tips on how to strike the ball solidly time after time.

Former Open champion Ernie Els says the one thing his father always told him was that a complete backswing is fundamental to striking the ball well. Here he explains why...

Completing the turn

Occasionally, when my ball striking is a little off, I look at my ball position. A weakness in my game is that my ball position can get a little too far forward. Getting your ball position right is essential - if you get it wrong you'll push or pull your iron shots.

The problem with this is that I feel I can't get to the end of my backswing. I end up overswinging and rush back into the ball. So for me, ball position is important because it helps me complete my turn, which then helps me make a nice, smooth transition into the downswing.

With the ball central in my stance, I know that I have completed my backswing when my left shoulder is behind the ball. I physically can't go much further than that.

Golf swing tips

This is good because the resistance between my upper and lower body is what creates power through the downswing. This is a great position - you're fully loaded and your transition is going to be nice and smooth, so you aren't going to be rushing at the ball.

Improve my ball striking

Once you've completed your turn, with your left shoulder behind the ball (ensure you don't sway away from the target to get into this position) and your back is fully stretched, you're in a strong top-of-backswing position.

From here, you want to feel that the club is dropping down into the slot - this is how your create lag in the golf swing. That should happen naturally if the transition is smooth. Then all you need to do is complete your follow-through with a full extension of the arms through the ball.

These key moves should all happen as a natural chain reaction, sparked by a good transition. If you can get these moves right, you should be perfectly balanced in the finish.

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Gary Alliss talks about the right ball position in fairway bunkers and offers some simple tips that will help you escape every time.

Ball position in fairway bunkers

Just because you have found a fairway bunker off the tee doesn’t mean you have to give up on your aim of reaching the green in two.

Here I’ve found my ball in a trap with quite a steep lip and I have around 170 yards to the flag. I can still get there with my 4-iron but I’ll need to make some simple adjustments to get some quick height on the shot.

Dig your feet into the sand a little bit like you would do in a greenside bunker. This will help set a solid base for you to swing around.

Move the ball forward in your stance, about a ball’s width inside your left heel – this will help create a shallow angle of attack that delivers a high initial flight.

Now move your hands down the grip by about an inch – you do this because you’re looking to catch the shot almost a fraction thin (striking the ball without taking any sand). This will also help compensate for having dig your feet into the sand.

From there just make your normal swing, focusing on striking the ball first. If you can make these adjustments, there’s no reason to fear fairway bunkers.

Don’t forget

Keep your sternum over the ball through impact - this is your 'cover the ball' golf swing. Avoid leaning back to add height to the shot as you risk catching the sand before the ball.

If you're ever in doubt about clearing a high lip, always play it safe and take one less club. Being 10 yards short of the green is always better than not getting out of the bunker.

Read more top golf swing tips

If the lip is not a problem, take one extra club than you normally would do from the same yardage off grass. The ball never travels quite as far out of sand.

Shot on location at Montgomerie Maxx Royal, Turkey by Paul Severn

Keith Wood has some tips to help you improve your golf posture fundamentals and strike the ball consistently more solid

Golf posture fundamentals video

People talk about posture as a basic but it’s not, it’s a fundamental that lies at the very heart of the golf swing.

The angle of your spine at address will dictate your swing plane, it will place your arms and hands in a position where they can function properly and it will determine how effectively you can rotate.

So it is impossible to over-emphasise the importance of setting and maintaining good posture in the golf swing.

Feel the strain

The perfect address position should NOT be comfortable. Most of us, whether we are gym-goers or not, can understand that doing 10 proper press-ups offers a much better workout than doing 100 cheating press-ups.

This is exactly how you need to view your address position. If you get the right posture, you’ll engage certain muscles that a poor posture will not.

Your abs, glutes, thighs and calves will all be engaged at address and as such they take on a certain amount of strain.

A good address position is one that will be uncomfortable to hold. But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Of course, we all have a tendency to gravitate to wards doing what is comfortable (think about how you are sitting right now) but you need to resist that temptation.

Finding your posture

A great way to find the ideal posture is to stand perfectly upright and then, bending at the hips and keeping your back straight, tilt your upper body over the ball.

At the point at which you begin to lose your balance, flex your knees a little. This represents good posture with the right amount of knee flex. Notice how many of your muscles are engaged – this is you in an athletic, dynamic position.

Read Keith's address fundamentals

Posture faults

By far the most common posture-related fault is that players don’t stick the bottom of their spine (or bum) far enough out.

Players, because it is comfortable, will often tuck their pelvis under and create too much knee flex – it’s a sitting action.

This causes the spine to be too upright at address and the weight to fall onto the heels. The knock-on effect during the swing is that the plane gets too flat and often the body turn will lack power.

Read more top golf swing tips

Posture & Ball Striking

Once you have set your posture, the idea is to maintain it during the swing. Setting and then maintaining that spine angle is something that every good player has in common, regardless of his body shape.

So as you rotate your upper body, reaching the top of the backswing and then you drive through the downswing and into the ball, aim to keep your back at the same angle throughout.

If your height changes during the swing so will your swing arc, making fat and thin shots far more likely. So think of your spine angle at address as the constant fulcrum around which your body rotates during the golf swing.

Golf Monthly top 25 coach Barney Puttick asks why do i hit thin iron shots and offers some simple advice on how to cure the problem for good

Why do i hit thin iron shots

Faults

You're catching iron shots either thin or fat

Inconsistent ball striking is costing you strokes

Fix:

Catching your iron shots fat or thin is a problem that usually stems from the way in which your body is moving during the swing. If you hang back on your right side through the ball, the club is likely to connect with the ground too early, causing a poor strike. This is known as 'bottoming out' too early - the bottom of the arc of the swing has come too soon. The result is that you eith hit the ground before the ball or, the club is rising through impact and you strike it thin. Either way, the results are bad!

A great drill that I often give my pupils is to take a normal address position, and then pose the impact position. This means opening your hips a fraction, pushing your hands slightly forward and setting 60 per cent of your weight on to your left side. This forces you to get your weight into a much better position for the strike and will help you find the right angle of attack. From here, make a half swing and then strike the ball.

Your aim here is simple - return to the same impact position you set before you started the swing. This will illustrate perfectly where you should be as you make the strike. This drill forces you to compress the ball through impact with a much better strike, and will eliminate fat or thin iron shots.

Alternatively, place a tee peg in front of the ball at address. Aim to strike the ball and then the tee. Again, this will force you to get onto your left side through impact for much better overall results. Give it a go!

Golf Monthly top 25 coach Andrew Reynolds explains the fairway wood technique and offers some simple advice on how to master it from set up to strike!

Faults:

Your fairway wood striking is inconsistent

You catch wood shots on the bottom of the club

Fix: Fairway wood technique explained

Over the years one of Tiger Woods' great strengths has been his ability to strike fairway woods so sweetly and accurately. This comes from a technically, very sound upper-body turn during the downswing. This one technical key allows him to strike his fairway woods purely every time with the perfect shallow angle of attack that you are looking for.

Firstly, make sure that your ball position is correct. With your fairway woods in hand, you should be looking to ‘cover' the ball. This means ensuring that your sternum is over the ball at impact. Many golfers have a tendency to lift their upper body during the downswing, but this will destroy the consistency of your strikes. You need to turn on to the ball and the club will have a shallow, descending angle of attack (as shown here by the alignment stick).

Read more golf swing tips

A great drill that forces you to do the right thing is to hit some shots off a downslope. This forces you to stay down over the ball to find a good strike, keeping your sternum in the right position and allowing you to cover the ball as the best strikers in the world do. It works brilliantly to groove the correct action, and will prove to you that you don't have to lean back through impact to get the ball up into the air. Instead, as long as you swing with enough speed and find a clean strike, the ball flight will take care of itself.

Whether you use your fairway woods regularly or not, understanding the fairway wood technique is absolutely essential and will help transform this area of your game forever.

Golf Monthly top 25 coach Barney Puttick offers his shanking cures to help you stop striking your iron shots from the hosel...

Shanking cures

Faults:

You regularly hit shanks with your irons

You strike the ball from the heel of the club

Fix:

If shanks have been killing your scores, then don't worry, usually the cause is a relatively minor fault that can be resolved. There are a host of possible causes of the shank but in my experience it usually stems from the takeaway - the drill below is for you if you suffer with the odd shank and your usual shot shapes from left to right in the air...

In this instance, I often see players taking the club back immediately on the inside. The chain of events that follows means the player goes on to attack the ball from outside the ball to target line, presenting the neck of the club (or shank as it was previously known) to the ball first. The result is both ugly and devasating for the scorecard!

To solve the problem, you need to get the club moving on a better path on the way back - this will kick start a better chain reaction of movements on the way down towards impact. Start by hitting shots with your left foot back at address - move it back by about 5 inches away from the ball. This makes it harder to take the club away on the inside. You should find a better takeaway and as a result, a better swing path!

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Headcover drill Another great drill is to place a headcover outside the line of the ball. This provides a clear visual barrier that will prevent you from attacking the ball from outside the target line. The only way to find a clean strike is to miss the headcover. Try to hit 20 shots in a row without touching the headcover and you should groove an action that eliminates the shank from your game entirely.

Golf Monthly top 25 coach John Jacobs offers his angle of attack golf tips to help you strike your shots better, more accurately and with more power!

Faults:

You often slice shots with the driver

A weak ball flight is costing you yards

Fix: Angle of Attack Golf Tips

Angle of attack is a crucial element in the golf swing. The general rule is that the longer the club, the shallower the angle of attack should be. However, if you were looking to hit a punch, you can change the angle of attack to alter the flight. You need to set the correct ball position to find the right angle of attack but it's also worth trying the drill below as this helps not only your angle of attack but also your swing path through impact.

Coaches often talk about the importance of having an in-to-out swing path through impact, but knowing what the correct path is and doing it are too very different things. That's why I find this drill often helps. Place two alignment sticks on the ground - one for your body alignment, which is exactly square to your target line, and the other at an angle, aiming to the right. Make sure your club is still pointing at the target (and your body is square to the target line).

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The stick that is pointing right is there to illustrate what an in-to-out swing path looks like through impact. Try to drive the club along this line through the ball. As long as the face is square at impact, you'll produce a powerful draw. This drill is a great way to stop yourself from coming ‘over the top', the main cause of pulls and slices.

Golf Monthly top 25 coach Barney Puttick explains the ball position basics to help you create the perfect angle of attack for better strikes and flights!

Why ball position is so important in golf

The simple rule about ball position is this: the longer the club, the further forward in your stance the ball should be at address. However, for consistently good strikes, your ball position needs to be correct in relation to where your upper body is set. This is the key - don't think about ball position on its own. Think about it in conjunction with your sternum and you'll be in a much better position to get it right.

If you have been asking yourself why do I pull I shots, this piece explains how it relates to ball position- it explains perfectly why your ball position could be to blame.

Driver: I find the following method of checking extremely helpful. With a driver, set the ball just inside your left heel, so that it's level with the inside of your left arm. With the middle of your chest behind the ball, you should be able to strike the ball on the ideal ‘upward' angle. If you are looking for ways to fix your slice, use this as your first checkpoint.

Irons: The shaft of a mid-iron is shorter, so the ball position needs to come back - it should sit in line with the logo on your shirt or jumper.

Wedges: Finally, with your wedges, set the ball in line with your shirt buttons. This will ensure you find a crisp contact every time.

Watch more golf swing tips videos

The basic principle is that the longer the shaft of the club, the further forward it needs to be in your stance. Ball position and angle of attack are directly related and that explains why ball position is so important in golf, get the position of the ball right and you'll deliver the club as it was intended through impact. Not only will this help the quality of your striking, it will also help your power and accuracy as well. All in all, this is well worth paying attention to in practice

Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Neil Plimmer offers his ball striking sand drill to help your contacts become sweeter, more precise and more powerful!

Fault:

- You catch too many shots fat or thin - You lack confidence in your ball striking

Fix: ball striking sand drill

Ball striking is a part of the game that we all struggle with from time to time. If you are suffering, I would strongly advocate hitting practice shots from fairway bunkers to help. The only way to make a solid contact is to have great stability through the bottom of your swing. This really tests the fundamentals at play in your game - how good is your posture, how effective is your weight transfer and can you keep your balance while making a powerful move at the ball?

Indeed, this is a good way to practise because it teaches you a lot about how to find a good strike without forcing you to become too technical and think about the specifics of the swing. So in this instance, a bit like Seve used to do with his 3-iron, I have come to the beach to hit shots, but any fairway bunker at your home course will do the job. The more you hit, the more you'll develop a natural feel for how to do it (things such as maintaining your posture through the swing). Start by swinging softly and then slowly ramp up the power. As you do so, try to keep your lower body nice and quiet - too much movement here will through your balance out and cause a poor contact.

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The more shots you hit, the better your ball striking will become. As you return to grass, a much easier surface to strike shots from, your confidence will grow. This drill also works because if you find yourself in a fairway bunker, this practice time will have left you fully equipped to keep your score on track.

In this video lesson, Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Clive Tucker offers his golf punch shot tips to help you control the flight of your approach shots

The punch shot is one of the most important shots for golfers of all abilities to learn. Playing in the wind is not uncommon for any of use so staying in control when conditions are tough requires you to develop a good punch shot.

There are two ways of hitting a punch shot. The first involves taking more club and simply swinging a little softer than usual. This works because with less swing speed, you produce less backspin and with less backspin there is less lift through impact. However, this can be hard to control both the distance and accuracy. So as far as my golf punch shot tips are concerned, I would advocate a different method altogether.

Golf Swing Tips

You can control the flight of the shot by making a couple of very simple changes at address and then restricting the follow through. Again, you will need to take at least one extra club and set the ball back in your stance a little at address. This will mean that your sternum and your hands are ahead of the ball – essentially, this set up position is de-lofting the club for a lower flight.

Make a three quarter backswing and then drive through impact with your usual weight shift onto your left side. The main difference is with the follow through that needs to be as short as you can make it (watch the video that accompanies this to see what I mean...). By holding onto the finish as much as possible, you’ll be reducing the clubhead speed created by a full release at the key moment. A little less speed will mean a little less backspin, less lift and so you'll find a lower flight more easily.

If the wind is really blowing, you must ensure you don't try to hit the ball too hard. More speed equals more backspin and you must be aware of this. So I would advise, if the breeze is up to use at least one more club if not, two. This way you can control the rhythm, pace and ultimately, the flight of the shot. Read Andy Sullivan's advice on controlling flight.

This will help you reduce the flight without forcing you to make any other changes to your golf swing. Try this on the range and you should see just how easy a powerful punch is to hit.

Some careful detective work will help you find better distance control with irons

Get Your Lofts Checked

If you are serious about your golf and want to find better distance control with irons, it’s a good idea to have your lofts checked. Ideally, you should have around 4˚ between each iron in the bag. However, as more and more of us fly to exotic destinations for golf, it is easy for your irons to be knocked in transit. A degree here or there can make a big difference to how far the ball flies so why not start the competitive season by getting your local pro to check your lofts. Doing this once or twice a year is important if you want better, more consistent distance control.

On Course calibration

The best place to develop a feel for how far you hit each iron is out on the course. What you are looking for is to settle on a number for how far you carry each club (the amount of roll you get is largely irrelevant as this will depend on the ground conditions). So, let’s say you are testing your 8-iron yardage. Hit a couple of shots from what you think is your ideal 8-iron distance. Then walk up to the green and pace out how many yards short or past the flag the ball pitched. Add or subtract this number from the overall yardage and you have your calibrated 8-iron distance. This is a great way to do it as you’ll develop a library of carry numbers to rely on when you have to clear sand or water. Just take into account how far you think the ball will travel when it hits the green and you’ll be all set and ready to make more birdies.

Read more top golf tips

Tricky distances: Option 1

If your 7-iron goes 155 yards and your 8-iron goes 145 yards, what do you do when you face a shot of 150? This is where your skill and ability to make small changes to your distances will pay off. Your first option, which is my preferred approach, is to shorten the length of your swing. You can either do this by making a more compact move or by going down the grip a little with your hands to shorten the shaft. So in this situation, take your 7-iron but simply aim to curtail your backswing and follow through a fraction or go down the grip - the technique is similar to the punch shot. Which ever approach you choose, make sure your rhythm is consistent with a normal shot. That should help you take five yards off the shot.

Tricky distances: Option 2

The second option is to control distance by changing the pace of your swing. This approach requires great feel as reducing the speed of your swing whilst maintaining the usual connection between your arms and body to hit a straight shot can be tricky. This requires some time to practise the art but if you can develop the feel, you’ll have a great natural ability to control distance throughout the bag.

Distance measuring devices

Think about buying a distance measuring device if you haven’t already got one. By using one regularly you’ll soon build a more accurate picture of how far each club in the bag goes.

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Clive Tucker offers some iron practice advice to help you make the most of your time on the range.

Iron practice

Most of us are usually working on something in our golf swings. Whether that’s maintaining our posture, feeling the correct weight shift or keeping your hands connected to your body movement, there is always something you are trying to do better.

By far the best way to get a feel for swing changes is to make soft swings with short clubs.

If you are trying to groove a certain swing feel while swinging flat out with a 5-iron for instance, that club becomes very heavy during the swing.

It’s all over in a flash and so it’s very hard to get a feel for what you are trying to do. So take a wedge and make a very soft swing trying to develop a feel for the new move.

Build the pace of the swing as you get more confident and soon you’ll have grooved the change you are looking for.

Ball-striking drill

This drill is a great way of forcing yourself to find the right angle of attack with your irons for sweeter strikes.

Place a tee peg in the ground ahead of the ball as shown. Instead of locking your aim in on the ball, I want you to concentrate on striking the tee out of the ground.

Get it right and you should hit the ball with a downward strike, creating a divot that starts after the ball and forces the tee out of the ground. Notice how well the ball flies.

This is a great drill for anyone suffering with fat or thin contacts.

Over-achiever drill

Again, this is a great drill that will help your weight shift and create a cleaner, sweeter contact with the ball. Place the ball forward in your stance as I have done here.

Adopt your normal address position and swing to the top. From here, I want you to try and make a good strike. This will force you to drive your weight onto your left side in the downswing.

Your upper body will ‘cover’ the ball – something that every great ball-striker has in common. Spend 10 minutes on this drill and you’ll really sharpen your iron striking.

Take Clive’s test

Pick five different targets on the range and hit different iron shots to each one. Miss the green, start again!

Try to hit one punch, one fade and then one draw consecutively. If the ball flight is wrong, start again!

Run through your usual routine before hitting each ball.

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Clive Tucker helps you to strike your woods to achieve more consistent shots to the green.

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Clive Tucker helps you to strike your woods to achieve more consistent shots to the green.

The key to striking your fairway woods well is to return the shaft through impact to the position it was in at address. This is a neutral position without too much lean - this will help you pick the ball up sweetly off the deck for a better strike and flight.

More golf tips

Our beginners guide to fairway wood play will help you set all the basics at address. But once you have these in place, you need to think about your swing and how you are delivering the club to the golf ball. To help illustrate the point I’ve placed an alignment stick in the ground to mimic the shaft angle I’m looking for.

If my hands are ahead of the stick at impact, I’ll take a divot and hit a push.

If my hands are behind the position of the stick I’ll strike the ball thin and hit a pull - this article will explain why.

So you are looking for a neutral shaft angle through impact and it really helps when you are practising to place a stick in the ground as I have done. This will improve your visualisation for the move we are looking to create.

To help you get this right, ensure your posture remains set from address through to impact - another important element to solid fairway wood play.

Work on getting the timing of the release right and you should find the ideal shallow angle of attack and sweeping strike for better, stronger flying fairway wood shots. Ten minutes on the practice range using this drill should certainly help improve your fairway wood game.

Matteo Mannessero discusses fairway woods, including the setup in his bag at the moment, along with the technique he tries to employ when hitting them.

For many players, amateur and professional, finding the perfect fairway wood is a difficult challenge.

Unlike many of the other clubs in your bag, fairway woods need to fulfil a whole host of different roles – from a second driving option to opening up par 5s in two.

Being able to launch it high and long is essential, as is the technique that allows you to take yardage off the shot.

If you can find the right club and can adjust your technique for different shots, you’ll hit it right so many times.

This means that for a lot of players, when they find a fairway wood they like, they’re reluctant to swap.

I’ve just done exactly that, putting the new Titleist 913 in my bag. Here, I’ll explain how I work with the fitters and on my technique to make sure I get the most from this crucial club.

Set a solid base

With a fairway wood, you need the backspin created by good clubhead speed through impact so that you can launch it into the air.

To make an athletic swing that doesn’t kill your control, it’s important to have a solid base at address.

My ball position is forward and my core muscles are engaged. This will help me make a powerful turn without losing control.

When you’re hitting your fairway wood off the tee, the essential technique is the same. One mistake is to tee the ball up too high – you should peg it down so you don’t hit it too high on the clubface.

If you can set an athletic stance at address, you’ll be able to swing through to, and hold, a balanced finish. Do this consistently and you’ll strike the ball sweetly more often than not.

Shallow attack

For a normal fairway wood shot, either off the ground or from the tee, you’ll want a high launch. For that, a shallower angle of clubhead attack is important.

I believe that with a fairway wood, the swing plane needs to be slightly in-to-out. This means you can get the ball up without hitting down too much.

If you come out-to-in, you won’t find the flight you need, so think about this the next time you’re practising.

The difference between these two positions might seem relatively small, but the effect on the flight is significant

My fairway wood

I’ve recently put one of the new Titleist 913 fairway woods in my bag. I have an 18-degree head that’s set up to 17 degrees.

I did some work with the TrackMan launch monitor, and it shows that the flight is similar to a 3-wood but slightly higher.

This shows how the custom-fitting process can really help you find the perfect combination. For trying to get up on par 5s in two, I want the ball to land as softly as possible.

The 913 is ideal because the launch is like a 4-wood, but it goes a little further than you’d expect. That combination gave me the best numbers on TrackMan, as well as the best feel.

I’ve also had a second 913 3-wood built for me that has a little less loft, and so the flight is slightly stronger.

That’s the club I use when the course is tight or there are lots of bunkers at the landing areas and I need to avoid trouble off the tee.

Distance gaps

My driver carries 270 yards in calm conditions, a normal 3-wood from the fairway carries 235 to 240 yards, and my hybrid carries 220 yards.

This shows how important it is to be able to launch it further and knock it down if you need to. If you can find a 3-wood that you feel comfortable doing this with, then you’ll have more flexibility at the bottom end of your set

Punched 3-wood

As I’ve already said, a good 3-wood has to be versatile and cover a range of different distances. That’s why I always think it’s a good idea to be able to hit a punched 3-wood that goes a bit shorter and flies lower than usual.

I’ll start by gripping down the club a little and putting the ball further back in my stance. My main swing thought here is to have the feeling that my hands are moving low and to the left after I’ve struck the ball, holding off the release a touch.

With the ball further back in my stance, I’m naturally hitting down more than for a normal fairway wood shot – I may well take a small divot.

This will knock the flight down and you’ll cut it a fraction, which also takes off a bit of distance. It takes time to master, but it’s a very useful option.

Through impact

These three photographs highlight some of the most important elements to hitting a punch. You can see the ball is set a little bit further back in my stance than normal, my hands are also further down the grip.

This means my angle of attack is steeper and there is less loft on the club at impact. But I also need to try to keep the spin off so the flight stays low. I do this by holding the release of my wrists for a fraction longer than usual through the ball.

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Barney Puttick has some advice for being more aggressive when escaping trouble to help you make par more often.

Try these tips on escaping trouble if a hazard in front of you always means a chip out sideways and you'd like to be more aggressive with your escape shots

After a bad drive, sometimes a chip out sideways is the only option. That isn’t always the case, though, and you shouldn’t be afraid to take on escape shots every now and then, particularly when playing Stableford or matchplay events.

If you’re faced with a bush in front of you, but still want to progress the ball 100 yards or so, there are a couple of things you can do to make the shot easier.

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First of all, simply move the ball slightly forward in your stance to help get the ball up quicker. The key then is to break your wrists almost immediately after taking the club back.

This will really help to get the ball up quickly and miss the trouble ahead of you. Try this shot to get a feeling of how quickly you can get the ball up and how far it will then travel.

Top tips

• Obviously after some bad drives, a chip out sideways is the only option.
• However, a lot of the time there is a more aggressive option to take. It just depends if you have the confidence to execute it.
• You shouldn't be afraid to take on escape shots every now and then, particularly depending on the format, for example stableford or matchplay situations.
• There are a couple of things you can do to get maximum yardage out of your recovery shots.
• Move the ball slightly forward in your stance and break your wrists almost immediately after taking the club back.
• The combination of these will help you get the ball up quicker in order to miss the trouble in front of you.

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Barney Puttick has some tips to help you with your fairway wood striking to help you reach more par 5's in two.

Try these tips if you regularly struggle to hit a wood from the fairway and you find yourself lacking consistenct and distance from long range.

Many golfers are scared of this shot, but you should see the fairway wood shot off the ground as inviting rather than intimidating.

The key to good fairway wood striking is to clip the ball off the turf with a sweeping motion. One of the best ways of working on this is to use an idea first thought of by the great Ben Hogan.

Hogan came up with the image of a pane of glass running from the ball up through the shoulders at address.

The idea was to swing the club underneath that pane of glass. By keeping this image in your head, particularly when hitting this type of shot, it will help you shallow out the plane of the club as it comes through the ball, producing the required sweeping contact.

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You can take this idea a step further when practising by placing an alignment stick in the ground parallel with the shaft of the club at address, as I’ve done here.

This will really help you get the right feel for the ideal swing, and it should produce the desired results from the fairway time after time.

Tops tips

• The key to hitting fairway woods well is to try and clip the ball off the turf.
• Imagine a pain of glass running from the ball up through the shoulders at setup.
• The idea is to swing the club underneath the pane of glass.
• This should help you shallow out the plane of the club as it comes through the ball.
• This should result in the desired sweeping contact.
• To take this a step further, place an alignment stick in the ground parallel with the club shaft at address.

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Barney Puttick has some tips for dealing with first tee nerves to make sure you start your rounds off strongly.

Try these simple first tee tips if nerves are preventing you from starting your rounds off well and you don't luve up to your potential in big events.

Suffering first tee nerves can have a major impact on your round. Start by thinking about your breathing.

Take deep breaths to control your heart rate – this will help calm you down. When it comes to actually playing the opening tee shot, I always tell my students that it’s vital you stick to a pre-shot routine.

This will be slightly different for every golfer, but a great option is to take a practice swing behind the ball, pick out a specific target and then set up to this target.

This will stop you from thinking about all of the places you don’t want to hit the ball, and will set good fundamentals. Try to make a controlled swing to get the ball in play. If you can do this, you’ll be up and running.

Focus on the process, not the outcome. Concentrate on swinging the club like you always do, rather than thinking about where it's going to go.

If you swing the club like you have done a thousand times before on the range, it will go in vaguely the right direction. Quit thinking negatively and concentrate on the process.

Do you think Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy get nervous on the first tee? Well they do - all expectations are relative.

They know how they are capable of playing, and therefore they expect to be able to do it under pressure when it counts.

Woods has long been the best under pressure and as a result, the best Sunday tournament golfer there is.

He is able to play his best when it matters - seeminly playing better under more pressure. He is able to channel his nerves and adrenaline positively, and this is something you can only master with playing again and again.