How To Hit An Iron

The key to understanding how to hit an iron shot is appreciating there are a number of fundamental factors that you must get right. Each of these can be refined and improved individually, using expert tips and the best training aids, but bringing it all together is key.

One of the first things you need to learn about the strike with an iron is that you actually have to hit down to get the ball to go up, which may seem counter-intuitive but trust me, it works.

Adding loft unnecessarily, flicking with your hands and not checking you have the perfect golf grip will only lead to more problems, even if you do have one of the best irons on the market.

In this article, we take you through each stage of the process and share our expert advice on how to hit an iron shot...

How to hit an iron: Set-up

Getting your ball position right is crucial, irrespective of what iron you’re using (more of this later). 

Having the ball too far forward in your stance means you won't be able to move the body far enough forward during the downswing, which in turn leads to ineffective ground contact at impact.

It's important to remember that ball position does vary depending on which iron you are hitting, but for the majority of amateur golfers, middle of the stance will be the right zone for a mid-iron.

Weight transfer

Starting the takeaway correctly is also crucial. Start with a nice, wide and low movement away from the ball. You also need to avoid any temptation to lift the club up quickly with your hands.

Transfer your weight across to the right side during the backswing, but be careful not to sway off the ball. The turn is what you are looking for at this moment.

By staying centred over the ball with your upper body, you can prevent any unwanted lateral movement. If this undesirable motion kicks in during the swing, you will need flawless timing to compensate during the downswing, and will actually make it much harder than it needs to be.

When you have turned to the top, your first thought should be to shift your right knee across towards the left as your start your downswing. As a result, your weight transfer will improve and help to move the low point of your swing arc forwards.

Impact

As explained earlier, good ball-striking requires a downward rather than upward angle of attack with the divot fractionally after the ball rather than before it.

A simple but effective way to hone your striking is to place a towel or sheet of card two to three inches behind the ball at address. Your goal is to then miss this on your downswing.

As your angle of attack and striking improve, you can move the towel or piece of card closer to the ball.

Now we will move on to the different types of iron and highlight the key differences between long, mid- and short irons.

Long irons

Stance width will get narrower as you move down from long irons to short irons. You need a nice stable base for the wider swing arc a long iron requires, so feet just a fraction over shoulder-width apart with weight evenly distributed.

A handy rule of thumb for ball position with irons is ‘inches to iron number’ with reference to your left heel. So, with a 4-iron, for example, the ball should be 4 inches inside your left heel - further forward than with mid- and short irons.

The backswing should be just short of parallel, and don’t hurry the transition from the top – a common issue with long irons where many golfers are less confident and therefore more anxious.

Make sure your sternum stays over the ball as you rotate through to help you clear your hips. This is what pros mean by ‘covering the ball’ at impact.

Mid-irons

The shorter shaft means you will now be standing a little closer to the ball, so it will need to come back in the stance (so 7 inches from the left heel with a 7-iron using the ‘inches to iron number’ mantra) to help promote the correct angle of attack.

The hands should be just a fraction ahead of the ball and the stance should narrow down to around shoulder-width.

The backswing should now be some way short of parallel as we’re moving into the clubs where distance control is more of a priority than out-and-out distance. You can always go up a club if you feel you’re going to have to hit it too hard.

Again, make sure your upper body is over the ball at impact, your hands are ahead of it and your hips keep turning. This promotes the downward attack angle needed to compress the ball and make ball-then-divot contact.

Short irons

With short irons, your stance should narrow further, with ball position slightly back of centre. You want your hands to be ahead of the ball but not too far ahead, so resist the temptation to push them too far forward and get the shaft leaning too much.

A good thought is to keep the club and your left arm in a straight line from shoulder to clubhead. The backswing should become shorter still as the emphasis on control over distance increases.

Although control is now the main priority, resist the temptation to get too ‘steery’ and hold on to the shot more through impact

You still need to release the club fully with a short iron, so allow the clubhead to overtake the hands after impact so your swing can follow through into a nice flowing finish.