Puring an iron

Joff

Joff

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How often do you hit an iron shot pure?

My handicap flits between 8 and 11, but I'm an awful striker of a golf ball.
Genuinely awful. I don't think I've hit a golf shot where you get that lovely sensation on not hitting the ball in about 2 years.

I wish I could strike the ball properly.
 
Mate, you must still be a properly good golfer then as your h/cap is showing as 9.

We have a lovely par 3 at my course which is around the 140-155 mark depending on the pin position. Water is in front, left and to the back is dead and there is a huge tree to the right. Basically you need to hit a towering iron and let it drop. It is an all or nothing shot which really tests your ball striking skills. Some days I pull it slightly left into the rubbish but the strike is so clean I frankly don't care. That is probably why I am a 22. On that hole, more than any other where I play, you hope for that pure strike where you stroke the ball and it soars into the air with a minimum of effort.

My rambling over. Something is slightly out as someone at your level should be getting a clean strike far more often than I do for example and even I manage that glorious moment a few times in a round. You can't be far away but maybe a lesson is needed just to tweak you a slight amount. Keep going, it can't be far away.
 
The ball still goes in the right direction (ish), just not hit very well.
Chuck in a few fats and thins of course.

Thankyou bobmac, will bare that in mind.
To be honest, I'd love to start my swing again from scratch, as it is so bad.

Handicap is fairly irrelevant here, I feel as we all have differing expectations. I play with a lot of people who strike the ball so well, but have a higher handicap. I'm kind of jealous...
 
Last edited:
Joff said:
How often do you hit an iron shot pure?

My handicap flits between 8 and 11, but I'm an awful striker of a golf ball.
Genuinely awful. I don't think I've hit a golf shot where you get that lovely sensation on not hitting the ball in about 2 years.

I wish I could strike the ball properly.
Click to expand...

You must be a wizard on and around the greens then!

My bad shot is out of the toe, so I can lose a lot distance when that happens!
 
Joff said:
The ball still goes in the right direction (ish), just not hit very well.
Chuck in a few fats and thins of course.

Thankyou bobmac, will bare that in mind.
To be honest, I'd love to start my swing again from scratch, as it is so bad.

Handicap is fairly irrelevant here, I feel as we all have differing expectations. I play with a lot of people who strike the ball so well, but have a higher handicap. I'm kind of jealous...
Click to expand...

I think that goes to show the importance of direction. I would say I'm the opposite in that a lot of my hits are good but miss too much left and right, to go hand in hand with my rubbish short game
 
I usually find the middle more often than not, but went through a bit of a sticky spell over the over the last winter with inconsistent strikes.

A lesson 2 months ago and I'm back to the middle again.
 
Just been to the driving range with my son... Still no better 😆 More fat than thin I'd say. Very frustrating.

It came to a head during a major over the weekend, where I was 6 over going down the 9th, which isn't a disaster... And I decided to N/R. Carried on playing, and never lost my temper or anything, but just didn't want to score anymore, I think I was bored of the awful shots. Used the rest of the round to try and find my swing. Didn't succeed 😂 I was better company not having anything riding on the back 9, but still felt a bit of a wally.
 
I share your pain. I'm off 12, so an even worse golfer, but have struggled with iron contact for ages. And driving, putting and chipping which just goes to show that you can be cr&p and yet still score from time to time.

However, I completely pured a 9 iron yesterday with the last shot of my round. Absolutely sweet, perfect flight, dead straight. It was so surprising that I remember talking about it with my PP afterwards. I genuinely can't remember the last time I hit a ball so well.

There's nothing like a hot tip, so what worked for me was this - trying to keep my hands low through and after impact. I had seen a bunker vid on Peter Finch Youtube with some pro or other. He seemed to do that in the sand. I found it worked in both the sand and with the full swing. Probably won't tomorrow though...

Good luck, let us know what your magic fix is.
 
Joff said:
How often do you hit an iron shot pure?

My handicap flits between 8 and 11, but I'm an awful striker of a golf ball.
Genuinely awful. I don't think I've hit a golf shot where you get that lovely sensation on not hitting the ball in about 2 years.

I wish I could strike the ball properly.
Click to expand...

I played my first tournament of the year last week. Scored - 3, +5 and level par. I hit 2 really pure iron shots in those 3 rounds, an 8 iron on day 1 and a 6 iron on day 3.
Most of the rest were kind of OK, you know the ones that go more or less the right distance and direction, but only 2 felt perfect.

Don't worry, I think it's overrated :D
 
bobmac said:
Have you heard the expression 'real and feel'?
Click to expand...

Not sure if this referenced my 'hands low' comment. Apologies if it was for something else.

You're right of course. I guess the skill of an instructor is to find a way to put pictures in the head of a student which allow them to perform an action in a particular way.

I hesitate to mention Crossfield, but when he does his online lessons, he spends a good deal of time trying to find the right 'trick' to get someone to achieve a particular movement. It's often different from person to person.
 
MeAndMyGolf are doing a series of vids on puring your irons at the moment. The first part is on YouTube, the other parts are on their website and I think you have to sign up to watch them. They do offer a free trial membership, though, so if after watching the first part you have the feeling that this is something that might help you, it might be worth trying out.
https://youtu.be/yixJCQSvlgA

Also, I found these two vids by Rick Shiels really helpfull:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29sG1TsVAFI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1CGjXw_tSc

The second one I still do on the range on almost every warm up to find the right feel for the strike.
 
To me it's less about how often you hit the best shots.

Lower handicaps are about making your bad shots better.

You can shoot high 70s without hitting any perfect as long as you can get in on or to the green and have a chip/putt for birdie.

Most of us can get down in 2 from the fringe enough times to shoot in the 70s.
 
Have you thought about the tour striker iron? Supposed to really help with iron striking. Not cheap mind. Thinking about finding one second hand myself.
 
Golf is a game of misses though and I doubt even the pros nail every single iron. If you are finding greens or the misses aren't catastrophic I'd not be worrying too much. Of course if you are hitting it left or right and the strike is poor then clearly there's a problem.

Nothing beats that rare pured iron. I managed to hit a four iron out of the sweet spot the other week and expected it to be nestling near the flag but it had plugged on landing and was short. Didn't detract from enjoying the moment

As long as you're making decent enough contact regularly and distances are consistent then accept that as enough to help make a score and enjoy the flushed ones when they happen
 
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