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. So 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 shot
00:17so it can travel the correct distance. Big things I see are people say that their four irons, five
00:22irons and six irons all travel the same distance which is why they don't want to reach for those
00:26long irons. So we're going to split this video into a few sections looking at setup, speed, strike and
00:35a few different drills that you can do to practice this to ensure that your long irons, hybrids and
00:40fairway woods work every time. So what's our intention when we're addressing a long iron?
00:49It's actually understanding that we still need a downwards attack angle to strike ball first then
00:55turf to get the ball up in the air. It may be daunting looking down at a club with not much loft
01:01but if we get that strike location 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 stick down
01:17your target line, an alignment stick here for your ball position. So we want your ball position to be
01:24two balls width inside your left ankle. This is also in line with your left pec. So the best way of
01:31doing this is grab two golf balls, address the club and the ball, from there take a little step to the
01:39left which is your two golf ball width. Then from there take a slightly bigger step to the right.
01:45We're looking for a wider base with a long iron and fairway wood for stability as we need to create a bit more
01:51speed. Once we've got this setup because we need a slightly downwards strike on the golf ball for a mid
01:59iron you're looking at four or five degrees for a long iron it'll be closer to one and two we still
02:04need 55% of our weight on our lead side. From there with the ball being slightly more forward naturally our
02:11angle of attack will be set better. After we've got this setup position the final check we need to have
02:17is your distance from the golf ball. Well from here we're going to be waving the right hand to ensure
02:23that the grip and your belt buckle are the correct distance apart it should just fit through here.
02:29What we've now done is make sure the strike across the face is sorted from the distance from the ball
02:35and the strike up and down the face is sorted by getting the correct ball position. With the hybrid
02:41as we move on to the fairway woods such as a three wood the ball position will actually be one golf ball
02:47back of the left heel. This is because there's less loft on the club face we want the angle of attack
02:53to be a little bit more level so we can get away with being one degree down or level with the ground
02:59to still get good distance and good trajectory. So from here it's the same setup but just have one golf
03:05ball inside the left heel it will move from the left pec 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 is grab a tee
03:25because we're putting the ball position two ball widths back we want you to place the tee peg two club
03:32heads in front of the golf ball here. Now what we would like to see is as the golf club is traveling
03:39down we hit ball first and that the golf club stays low enough to the ground that it can take the tee
03:46with it. You will not be able to take that tee if you're striking up on the golf ball. We're looking for
03:51ball first and then take the tee. Now as I've hit that the tee has gone with it which means I'm striking
04:00down on the ball perfectly. Now to do this drill with a fairway wood because the golf ball is placed
04:06one ball width inside the left ankle we're only going to put the tee one club head width in front
04:14as opposed to with a long iron and hybrid we had it at two. It's the same golf swing so we've got the
04:19ball position one ball width in the left ankle slight 55 percent pressure on my left hand side and
04:25we're trying to hit ball and keep the club head 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 downward strike.
04:39So what are some faults that I see with this setup with the long irons is the golf ball will be placed
04:46too much in the center. So from here players as they hit the golf ball won't create enough height
04:52the ball won't reach the apex of its flight so it travels the same carry distance as a five iron
04:59or a six iron for this example of me using a four iron. So what will end up happening as they're
05:03hitting the ball too low and not getting the desired distance they will try and instinctively lift the
05:09golf ball up or try and add loft by letting the club head get to the ball first and when they do this
05:16they actually strike it worse and the ball goes less distance. So in the end they don't use the fairway
05:21woods or the hybrid because they're not getting the most out of them. So what I need you to do is
05:26remember if you put this drill and set it up with a club head in front of the ball if you are not
05:32striking the tee on the way through it means you're probably one of those players that are staying
05:36behind it trying to lift the ball in the air and you won't get the most out of it.
05:40So why we need to create more club head speed is to ultimately create more ball speed and get more spin
05:53so the golf ball can travel up with a long iron or hybrid or fairway wood reach the apex of its flight
05:59then come down. If you don't create enough spin because the strike's not good enough or you've not
06:04got enough club head speed the ball will take off and then dip very quickly ultimately not giving you
06:09distance. So how are we going to create more club head speed? We've got this great setup we're going
06:16to start to work on wrist hinge so on your backswing as the lead arm gets parallel which is at this
06:22section here we're looking to create a 90 degree angle. From there I want to see the shoulders turn
06:30to a minimum of 90 degrees here. Combining the wrist hinge and the shoulder turn is a really nice power
06:38source to create more club head speed coming into the golf ball. As you're setting the wrists they
06:47still need to be set at this 90 degree angle the club still needs to be on its natural plane here. Do
06:53not need to set them at a vertical angle or a very flat angle like this. So you create the 90 degree angle
06:59here then you turn the shoulders now you've loaded up a really strong backswing position. So how you're
07:05going to practice creating the 90 degree angle with the wrists 90 degree shoulder turn is either grab a
07:11video camera or a mirror and build the swing into stages. So as you take your nice setup getting the
07:18ball position correct take the club back to this section here lead arm parallel make sure you've got
07:23the angle after you've done that section you can check it from there you're going to turn the
07:29shoulders the bigger the shoulder turn the more speed you're going to get then you're going to hit
07:34the shot so it'll look like this hitting balls in stages so wrists shoulders and then hitting the ball
07:48you might not strike at your best every time doing this but you're trying to build the elements of the
07:52golf swing to make sure you get all the right positions then eventually you want to make it
07:58flow all as one so it'll look like this so you're getting the hinge the turn and then go through to
08:03a balanced finish so build it up in sections then make it all flow as one. So common faults i see when
08:10players try and add club head speed they've got 200 yards to the flag they're looking down at a club with
08:15not much loft they try and take the golf club back faster in an effort to get more club head speed
08:21as they snatch the club back it's going back in all different angles to their normal golf swing
08:27and most importantly their timing completely goes so then at impact they get a worse strike and the
08:32ball doesn't travel its distance so if you do the drill of building the right positions that's the
08:38proper way of getting a good club head speed at impact now if you're a player who cannot generate more
08:44club head speed maybe through limited mobility or just haven't got the movement necessary to get that
08:50hybrids are going to be your best friend so you can buy hybrids that even replace six irons five irons
08:55and four irons now this club is more versatile out of the semi rough and the rough so you'll be able
09:00to use it on more occasions but also it's going to be generating more hype for you because the club has
09:06more mass to it and more forgiveness so as you address the ball it's the same setup we spoke about
09:12earlier with two ball widths back and from here it's a lot less intimidating to look down on
09:18there's more mass behind the head you're naturally going to get more ball speed and more distance
09:22so this is a great alternative 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 hybrid you want them to be two golf ball
09:34widths back of your left ankle the three width off the deck will be one golf ball width back and then from
09:41there to generate more club head speed remember those positions of the 90 degrees 90 degrees shoulder
09:48tan get a good strike enjoy the new distance
10:01so
10:07you
10:09you