Long irons, hybrids and fairway woods can be especially difficult to hit off the deck. If you're someone that struggles to nail these clubs like the pros, then this is the video for you! Watch as Top 50 coach Gary Munro runs through the keys to striking these clubs correctly the get the maximum distance and control out of them. His step-by-step guide will ensure you're in the best position to be able to find the green on long par threes and even attack the greens in two on par fives after a good drive.
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00:00Hi I'm Gary Munro, today we're going to be discussing how to master those long irons,
00:05hybrids and fairway woods off the deck.
00:08So what's required to make this shot work?
00:11We need good speed and a good strike to ensure we can get the correct launch angle for the
00:16shot so it can travel the correct distance.
00:19Big things I see are people say that their 4 irons, 5 irons and 6 iron all travel the
00:24same distance which is why they don't want to reach for those long irons.
00:27So we're going to split this video into a few sections looking at setup, speed, strike
00:35and a few different drills that you can do to practice this to ensure that your long
00:39irons, hybrids and fairway woods work every time.
00:46So what's our intention when we're addressing a long iron?
00:50It's actually understanding that we still need a downwards attack angle, strike ball
00:54first then turf to get the ball up in the air.
00:58It may be daunting looking down at a club with not much loft but if we get that strike
01:02location going more down we will get more compression and more ball speed.
01:12So to ensure that you get a correct setup every time we're going to have an alignment
01:16stick down your target line, an alignment stick here for your ball position.
01:22So we want your ball position to be 2 balls width inside your left ankle, this is also
01:29in line with your left peck.
01:30So the best way of doing this is grab 2 golf balls, address the club and the ball.
01:37From there take a little step to the left which is your 2 golf ball widths.
01:43Then from there take a slightly bigger step to the right.
01:46We're looking for a wider base with a long iron and fairway wood for stability as we
01:51need to create a bit more speed.
01:53Once we've got this setup, because we need a slightly downwards strike on the golf ball,
01:59from mid iron you're looking at 4 or 5 degrees, for a long iron it would be closer to 1 and
02:032.
02:04We still need 55% of our weight on our lead side.
02:08From there with the ball being slightly more forward naturally our angle of attack will
02:12be set better.
02:14After we've got this setup position the final check we need to have is your distance from
02:19the golf ball.
02:20From here we're going to be waving the right hand to ensure that the grip and your belt
02:25buckle are the correct distance apart, it should just fit through here.
02:30What we've now done is make sure the strike across the face is sorted from the distance
02:34from the ball and the strike up and down the face is sorted by getting the correct ball
02:39position.
02:40With the hybrid as we move on to the fairway woods such as a 3 wood, the ball position
02:46will actually be 1 golf ball back of the left heel.
02:50This is because there's less loft on the club face, we want the angle of attack to
02:53be a little bit more level so we can get away with being 1 degree down or level with the
02:59ground to still get good distance and good trajectory.
03:03So from here it's the same setup but just have 1 golf ball inside the left heel, it'll
03:07move from the left pep to more your left armpit as your ball position.
03:17So a great feedback drill to know if you are hitting slightly down on your long irons
03:23is grab a tee, because we're putting the ball position 2 ball widths back we want you to
03:30place the tee peg 2 club heads in front of the golf ball here.
03:36Now what we would like to see is as the golf club is travelling down we hit ball first
03:42and that the golf club stays low enough to the ground that it can take the tee with it.
03:47You will not be able to take that tee if you're striking up on the golf ball, looking
03:51for ball first and then take the tee.
03:56Now as I've hit that the tee has gone with it which means I'm striking down on the ball
04:00perfectly.
04:02Now to do this drill with a fairway wood, because the golf ball is placed 1 ball width
04:07inside the left ankle we're only going to put the tee 1 club head width in front as
04:14opposed to with a long iron and a hybrid we had it at 2.
04:17It's the same golf swing so we've got the ball position 1 ball width in the left ankle,
04:22slight 55% pressure on my left hand side and we're trying to hit ball and keep the club
04:27head low enough where I take the tee with me.
04:34Again great feedback I'm hitting ball then the tee goes with me that I'm hitting that
04:38downward strike.
04:40So what are some faults that I see with this set up with the long irons is the golf ball
04:45will be placed too much in the centre so from here players as they hit the golf ball won't
04:51create enough height, the ball won't reach the apex of it's flight so it travels the
04:56same carry distance as a 5 iron or a 6 iron for this example of me using a 4 iron.
05:02So what will end up happening as they're hitting the ball too low and not getting the desired
05:05distance they will try and instinctively lift the golf ball up or try and add loft
05:12by letting the club head get to the ball first and when they do this they actually strike
05:16it worse and the ball goes less distance so in the end they don't use the fairway woods
05:21or the hybrid because they're not getting the most out of them.
05:24So what I need you to do is remember if you put this drill and set it up with a club head
05:29in front of the ball if you are not striking the tee on the way through it means you're
05:34probably one of those players that are staying behind it trying to lift the ball in the air
05:38and you won't get the most out of it.
05:45So why we need to create more club head speed is to ultimately create more ball speed and
05:52get more spin so the golf ball can travel up with a long iron or hybrid or fairway wood
05:57reach the apex of it's flight then come down.
06:00If you don't create enough spin because the strike is not good enough or you've not got
06:04enough club head speed the ball will take off and then dip very quickly ultimately not
06:09giving you your distance.
06:11So how are we going to create more club head speed?
06:13We've got this great set up we're going to start to work on wrist hinge so on your backswing
06:20as the lead arm gets parallel which is at this section here we're looking to create
06:25a 90 degree angle.
06:27From there I want to see the shoulders turn to a minimum of 90 degrees here combining
06:35the wrist hinge and the shoulder turn is a really nice power source to create more club
06:41head speed coming into the golf ball.
06:44As you're setting the wrists they still need to be set at this 90 degree angle the club
06:50still needs to be on it's natural plane here.
06:53You do not need to set them at a vertical angle or a very flat angle like this.
06:58So you create the 90 degree angle here then you turn the shoulders now you've loaded up
07:02a really strong backswing position.
07:04So how you're going to practice creating the 90 degree angle with the wrists 90 degree
07:09shoulder turn is either grab a video camera or a mirror and build the swing into stages.
07:16So as you take your nice set up getting the ball position correct take the club back to
07:21this section here lead arm parallel make sure you've got the angle.
07:25After you've done that section you can check it from there you're going to turn the shoulders
07:31the bigger the shoulder turn the more speed you're going to get then you're going to hit
07:34the shot so it will look like this hitting balls in stages.
07:38So wrists shoulders and then hitting the ball.
07:48You might not strike it your best every time doing this but you're trying to build the
07:51elements of the golf swing to make sure you get all the right positions and eventually
07:57you want to make it flow all as one so it will look like this so you're getting the
08:01hinge the turn and then go through to a balanced finish.
08:05So build it up in sections then make it all flow as one.
08:08So common faults I see when players try and add club head speed they've got 200 yards
08:13to the flag they're looking down at a club with not much loft they try and take the golf
08:18club back faster in an effort to get more club head speed as they snatch the club back
08:24it's going back in all different angles to their normal golf swing and most importantly
08:28their timing completely goes so then at impact they get a worse strike and the ball doesn't
08:33travel its distance.
08:35So if you do the drill of building the right positions that's the proper way of getting
08:39a good club head speed at impact.
08:42Now if you're a player who cannot generate more club head speed maybe through limited
08:46mobility or just haven't got the movement necessary to get that hybrids are going to
08:51be your best friend so you can buy hybrids that even replace six irons five irons and
08:55four irons now.
08:57This club is more versatile out of the semi rough and the rough so you'll be able to use
09:01it on more occasions but also it's going to be generating more height for you because
09:06the club has more mass to it and more forgiveness.
09:10So as you address the ball it's the same setup we spoke about earlier with two ball widths
09:14back and from here it's a lot less intimidating to look down on there's more mass behind the
09:19head you're naturally going to get more ball speed and more distance so this is a great
09:23alternative if you're a player who can't add too much club head speed.
09:27So to recap how you can master these shots long irons and hybrids you want them to be
09:33two golf ball widths back of your left ankle the three width off the deck will be one golf
09:39ball width back and then from there to generate more club head speed remember those positions
09:44of the 90 degrees 90 degree shoulder turn get a good strike enjoy the new distance.