Hit your irons accurately like iron-shot wizard Jang Ha-na
Jang Ha-na
By Kim Jeong-kyoo
Jang Ha-na is a great iron player. Following an astonishing approach on the penultimate hole, she won the Hana Financial Group Championship last October. She nearly converted her third shot into an eagle. Similarly, she notched the inaugural BMW Ladies Championship title in the third playoff hole with a marvelous iron shot the same month. She hit her superb approach to just a couple of feet behind the hole, rattling off a winning birdie.
To hit dazzlingly beautiful iron shots as Jang did, you need to grip your club correctly and set up properly. The golf swing comprises chained actions and reflexes. A good setup sparks a proper takeaway, which triggers a good overall swing including solid contact of the club with the ball.
Address your ball without tension and without scrunching your arms together. You will be in hot water once tension creeps into your swing. Any tension in your upper extremities including hands, arms and shoulders impairs your ability to swing your club properly.
Play the ball off your left heel with your left foot flared out 40 degrees to 45 degrees for all irons on standard full shots. All you have to do is take a narrower stance progressively with shorter irons so you can hit down more and compress the ball, ripping a divot after impact. Naturally, your stance becomes the narrowest when you get to the wedges. You will even lean just a fraction toward the target, which allows you to hit the ball with a more downward blow.
Let your left arm and club shaft form a straight line from the face-on view. Importantly, make sure you don't reach for the ball. Standing too far from the ball throws your balance off.
Also, keep your shoulders level. Lowering your right shoulder too much deprives you of your chance to hit the ball down.
Keep your back straight rather than leaving it hunched or crooked.
Importantly, make sure the toe of your clubhead rests off the turf before you trigger your swing. To this end, just flex your knees comfortably just a little and bend from the hips to hinge your upper body toward the ball. You need to bend your spine enough so your arms hang freely and directly under your shoulders.
Before each shot pick out your target. Don't step up to your ball before you decide where to send your ball. Without fixing your mind's eye on your target, you will rarely hit it accurately. Selecting a small, specific target, you will better aim your clubface, hitting your ball more accurately.
Making proper pre-swing preparations is a blanket way to hit your shots accurately. And here are two in-swing tips to further ensure you hit your approach shot accurately like seasoned iron-shot wizard Jang.
Keep clubface square to swing arc
To hit dazzling iron shots, you need to control your clubface. You need to make sure it stays a touch open an instant before contact, square to the target at contact and closed just a fraction immediately after contact.
To this end, you need to keep your clubface square to your swing arc hip-high on the backswing. Mistakenly leaving your clubface facing toward the ground, you've closed it too much. This will inflict a poor shot curving excessively from right to left. Leaving the toe of your clubhead wrongly pointing skywards, you've opened it too much. You will incur a nasty shot curving from left to right.
To enjoy accurate shots, you need to keep your clubface square to your swing arc. In other words, you need to let the leading edge of your clubhead match to your spine angle hip-high on the backswing, from a down-the-line view. Importantly, you need to do the same on the follow-through. That says you are keeping your clubface square to your target when you hit the ball, rotating it correctly through the shot. Eventually, you will enjoy long, accurate shots.
Shift weight from right heel onto the outside edge of left foot
In a good golf swing, your weight shifts into your right heel on the backswing. This is a must-make move to achieve a full turn with less effort and put you in an ideal position ready to start down properly.
Once you've completed your backswing, you need to set up your downswing by shifting your weight to the outside edge of your left foot. Important here is leaving your arms and hands quiet or passive. That allows you to lag your clubhead correctly behind your hands and body and produce solid, powerful strikes.
You've shifted your weight correctly if you can finish your swing in balance with your weight on the outside edge of their left foot, your left instep coming off the turf.
Whisper to you “weight (into) right heel” going back slowly and “(onto) outside (edge of left foot)” starting down. This will let all good moves take care of themselves, allowing you to hit your target accurately without complicating your swing.