That super sweet 4 iron.... yeah right!

Oddsocks

Ryder Cup Winner
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No honestly, yeah right! In the "brendy hybrid hater" post I made it quite clear I was in favour of my 4h burner over my 4 iron because it was one club in my bag I couldn't hit. I changed my irons in June time but after three rounds shelved the 4i in favour of a hybrid.

Well after 4 lessons covering a new neutral grip, weight transfer and swing plane things have been clicking recently with this weeks par 3 nearest the pin win I thought tonight I'd take my nice new barely used 4i to my lesson.

Started with a warm up few swings and some stretches etc, onto a few 9i's and all were struck consistently with a dispersion of around 15-20ft max. Ok onto 7i, pretty much a mirror of the 9i 15-20ft dispersion with some really nice solid strikes fizzing off into the night. Onto my 4h and 5 wood and strike and dispersion were again identical so rounded my warm up off with 5 drivers. Although dispersion was up to around 30ft the wider range was due to alignment again all 5 were bullet straight. At this point a random thought comes in "I've got my 4iron"

So after a few swings to get re introduced let's have a go. Set up, with my normal pre shot routine, wallop!!!!!!!!! Bullet straight 4iron no more than 4 yards max off of my aiming point! That feeling without doubt was a sense of achievement of how far my game has come on since my lessons started in October. Was it a fluke, let's have another go........ Fizz, another sweet 4 iron with perfect ball flight. I proceeded to hit another 8-10 4irons all pretty much the same. A couple of strikes were a bit thin, but with the exception of one fat off the toe they were all nice solid strikes with around 25ft of dispersion. At this point my pro comes up to my bay and asks if I'm ready for my lesson, and asks what I'm hitting,

I told him and he's reply was " I thought you couldn't hit that, you never even carry it, ok let's see it" After 3 of each 4i, 7i, 9i 5w and drivers he looks and says "chipping lesson?"

I proceeded to have a 45 min lesson on my chipping with the new wedges, and after it had finished I thought id work the last few balls off going through the bag, unfortunately I got so hooked on hitting the 4i the rest of the bag got left.

As brendy along with the others were stuck on the ball flight of a 4i against a 4h it is without doubt more penetrating and would in no way be as effected by the wind as much as a higher flying hybrid, I want to see if this is still the same on Friday but we could finally see the return of my long lost 4i

one very happy hacker..... :D
 
Nice one Oddsocks

You just cant beat the feeling of a well struck long iron. Keep up the good work and you'll make massive strides this year. Its all about confidence
 
Its all about committing to the longer irons, I'd leave the 3 iron for a wee while yet :D Nearly got a convert inside a week already haha.

before im truely converted i want to try come consistency testing between soley my 4i and 4h, but i agree its rewarding. lucky enough my new irons dont come with a 3i so my 5w is safe
 
Nice one Oddsocks

You just cant beat the feeling of a well struck long iron. Keep up the good work and you'll make massive strides this year. Its all about confidence

whats hard is our range is uphit, so its hard to guage a true flight on the ball, but id estimate the 4i went about 15 foot maybe 20 lower than the 4h. i think a few rounds around our 9 hole course just using irons, no woods or hybrids could be key for developing the iron play further.
 
We have ourselves a convert.........make way please........

I love long irons, my CB's came with a 2iron too, which I started using off the tee late last summer, frickin powerful club that bad boy !!

Work up to it tho Oddsocks......... ;)
 
Oddsocks,
Nice one Pal...
I dont want to throw a spanner in the works here but what surface were you hitting it off....
Clearly your lessons are paying off big time....Look forward to the competition rounds in the summer ;)
 
dodger, as a junior i couldnt hit a driver, yet work this out my weapon of distruction was a titleist dci 1 iron ..... its all coming back.

OAP2, yeah their paying, its nice that they turned around given its the same pro i was questioning. there were a pretty basic astroturf matt, friday im gonna have another slap with the 4i and if all goes well it may make an appearence in the bag on sunday...
 
i love my 4 iron and would never drop it out the bag i just need to change the grip on my 3 iron and that will be in the bag for the season aswel ill never be a hybrid man for the distant future anyway
 
I've had some of those special range days where everything just flies off the sweetspot, they're normally followed by 364 days when they don't :)
 
its interesting that you find your hybrid easier to hit than your woods, im finding exactly the same. Although my 5w isnt bad or inconsistent by any means, the strike and feel of the hybrid just feels so much better.

i really need to get to a open proactice ground where i can gps the distances of both and see which is more consistent and confirm the lengths of 3h/4h/5w
 
Nice one Oddsocks, a well struck long iron is one of the best feelings in golf. I really like my 4 iron and can usually hit it pretty well although I don't usually carry a 3i (I'm only a humble 11 h/capper after all!).

I don't know what your magic forumla was when you were hitting those lovely 4is at the range but I have found 2 swing thoughts helpful when hitting longer irons.

Keep the swing smooth. You have to commit to the shot but not force it. There's plenty of power in the club.

The second thing I focus on and try to feel is getting the face square at impact. That may sound obvious but a slightly open or closed face has a much more pronounced effect with straighter faced clubs and I feel that thought helps me concentrate on making a good contact.

What worked for you?

Hope it goes well at the weekend.
 
the the two main changes from when i couldnt hit a 4i are:

A neutral grip, i used to have a very strong left hand and this used to cause me to turn over the ball.

A steeper take away with a flatter down swing. i suppose in stead of hitting in to out across the ball its now more up and down giving less to go wrong ive always had a slightly flat swing anyway,

really looking forward to sunday,
 
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