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
04:58or 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
09:39and then from there to generate more club head speed remember those positions of the 90 degrees
09:4690 degrees shoulder tan get a good strike enjoy the new distance
09:52so
10:02you
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