Making Long Iron Ball Contact

Long irons are the 3-iron and 4-iron in your bag. The more rarely carried club, the 2-iron, is also a long iron.

Making consistent ball contact with long irons is difficult for higher handicappers because the ball must positioned further forward in the stance to hit it correctly. In addition, the long irons have longer shafts which necessitate standing further away from the ball. To make matters worse, the long irons do not appear to have any loft which causes a subconscious effort to get the ball airborne. The distance to the hole also plays a subconscious role in long iron play as long irons are typically played from 200 yards or more away from the hole. The tendency with that kind of distance is to swing hard to get the ball there. Swinging out the shoes can make consistent contact difficult to achieve.

Those characteristics of the long irons often lead to poor swings and frustration with the longer irons.

Long irons do not have to be frustrating. To make solid contact with the ball, it is important to widen the stance and maintain a stable upper body through the shot. Fight the urge to help the ball into the air and allow the club to do what it was designed to do. Also fight the urge to overswing and trust the club.

Swinging smoothly through the shot, keeping the spine angle intact and not overswinging are the keys to making consistent long iron ball contact.

Long irons