7 Shots Every High-Handicapper Needs To Break 90 (Avoid A Scorecard Killer With Tip No.2)

There are many situations on the golf course where club golfers rely on their iron play to find the right position on the fairway, set up scoring opportunities or escape trouble – but often they come unstuck by making poor decisions or being imprecise in their execution.

Flushing an iron from the middle of the fairway is a great skill, and one that will help you cut your handicap, but being able to hit a range of different iron shots can actually help you to shoot lower scores in 2026.

Most high-handicappers like myself, trying to break 90 for the first time, will fall foul of the same common mistakes - so I reached out to a top PGA pro with more than two decades of experience for his expert advice.

In order to help you and I reach that elusive milestone, Top 50 Coach Ged Walters shared 7 shots every high-handicapper needs to master and offered a crucial reality-checking tip that can help you to avoid a common scorecard killer...

1. Safety shot off the tee

If you are planning to hit a safety shot off the tee with an iron, you need to commit to achieving this via a centred strike.

So often, amateurs intend to use this shot as a fairway-finder only to then miss the fairway and leave themselves a long and difficult second shot into the green.

Your weight should slightly favour your lead side at address, with ball position just forward of centre for a mid-iron and below your collarbone for a long-iron.

Your tempo should be committed but not too aggressive, focusing more on a centred strike and finding the correct landing zone than distance.

Setting a tee in the ground ahead of the ball is a great way to practise a ball-then-turf strike. You're aiming to smash the tee out of the turf instead of thinking about making contact with the ball.

2. Taking your medicine

For the majority of players, there will be times when they put themselves in positions out on the golf course where they really don't want to be.

Here, I am blocked out by the trees, which are obscuring my route to the flag and interfering with my swing. Instead of being a hero and taking it on over the water, the sensible shot is to play out and try to get up and down from a better spot.

Playing the hero shot is foolish, especially for high-handicappers, as it rarely pays off and often brings a scorecard killing number into play.

This play helps to take a potentially big number off the cards, so pick a line that allows you to see the green for your next shot and from a yardage that you like.

Your lie in this situation will dictate the type of shot you play and the club you select. The correct strategy is to avoid as much of the danger as possible, limit the damage and trust your short game to bail you out.

3. Ball above or below feet

When the ball is below your feet a common mistake is to simply adopt your normal set-up position.

This causes you to lose balance and lean forwards, which then leads to excess body movement as you desperately try to rescue the shot and get the clubhead down to the ball.

To make consistently good strikes from this kind of lie, you need to bend your knees more to lower your centre. You can also widen your stance and feel like the handle is closer to your legs at set-up, with the resulting shot likely to have a fade shape to it.

When the ball is above your feet, people often end up hitting the ground well before the ball. To address this, stand taller and ensure you grip down lower.

The shot is more likely to have a draw shape to it, so adjust your aim to suit. Maintaining posture throughout is really important whether the ball is above or below your feet, as without this your chance of a solid strike is slimmer.

4. Downslopes and upslopes

When playing a shot from a downslope, it's important to match your shoulders, hips, knees and feet to the angle of the slope as much as possible.

The alignment stick shows how everything matches up to the slope, creating a solid, stable base from which to swing the club.

Widen your stance to help you retain balance and move the ball back towards the trail foot to encourage ball-first contact. You will also require more loft as the ball is going to launch lower off the face.

You need to match the slope and adopt a wider stance on upslopes too, but your weight will naturally favour the trail side more.

Ball position can return to centre, or slightly forward with woods, and the natural launch pad created by the ground means you can take less loft.

5. Low punch shot

Shot selection is all about conditions, but when the wind is up and into your face, the last thing you want is to send the ball up high as it will almost certainly stall and fall.

The low punch helps you to manage the trajectory and spin, allowing you to achieve a good carry distance without sacrificing control.

To hit this shot, use a three-quarter backswing and around a half-length follow-through, maintaining pressure in the lead foot as much as possible throughout.

Take a little loft off by getting the hands forward, and move the ball slightly further back in your stance.

6. Fairway bunker shot

In terms of body position and weight distribution, this is going to feel very similar to a typical iron shot, but the key difference is the unstable surface.

To create the best possible conditions for a solid strike, shuffle your feet into the sand a little to help boost stability through impact. Don't dig in as you might for a greenside bunker shot as you don't want to lower your centre too much.

This can cause you to hit the sand first, whereas, just as from the fairway, you want ball-first contact in a fairway bunker.

Grip down slightly and set 70% of your weight distribution on your lead side, retaining a stable head position throughout the swing. The lip of the bunker will determine what club you hit, but don't be too greedy and risk leaving the ball in the sand.

7. Pitch-and-run shot

Yes, this is more of a short-game wedge shot, but it can still be played with an iron.

At set-up everything is much closer to the ball than for a full shot. The handle of the club is higher, my feet are closer together and weight distribution is 70% in favour of my lead side.

Control is the focus here, because you are attempting to flight the ball around half to two-thirds of the distance required before it pitches and releases onto the green.

You would only play this shot if you had good ground conditions in front of you, as a wet or uneven surface can lead to unpredictable results. If you aren't confident enough to play a flighted wedge, this shot is a great alternative.