It’s no secret that improving your consistency, specifically with irons, is one of the most effective ways to improve your handicap and your overall enjoyment of the game of golf. It’s simple, really: once you start offensively attacking pins opposed to defensively trying to avoid danger and just trying to hit greens, you automatically improve your chances at shaving putting strokes. This is most easily seen during PGA tour TV broadcasts when they pop up on the screen the chances a player will make a putt based (mostly) on the distance the ball is away from the hole.
It’s also no secret that the less consistent we are with our irons, the less confident we are using those irons, which directly correlates with a self-fulfilling prophecy of not being consistent with those irons. This creates a downward spiral of our mental state with our approach shots, which seems to increase the gravitational pull on our ball of the water and bunkers!
Self-Fulfilling Bogeys
Personally, I suffered from this horribly a few years ago when my longer irons “weren’t cooperating.” If I had a 4 iron in my hand for my approach shot, I was pretty much praying for a chance at staying in bounds, and the icing on the cake would be a decent chance at getting up and down for bogey. During that same time, if I had an 8 or 9 iron in my hand, I had on average a 90% chance of two-putting or less.
During this period of my golfing career, I had spent countless hours and thousands of dollars on every “technique” and “quick fix” I could find on YouTube and the rest of the social media channels. None of them worked and I ultimately succumbed to consistently laying up for a quality chance at getting up and down. The breaking point for me was when my good buddy called me out when teeing off on a 210-yard par 3 when I walked up with an 8 iron in my hand.
The Simple Rules for Consistency
I finally had my team video me and analyze the difference between my swings with a short iron vs a long iron. Once I saw for myself what they were seeing, I was even more frustrated because I was breaking one of the most fundamental rules that I actually created! The rule is simple yet so hard to follow, especially when you add the need for more distance into the equation. The rule is this: “The slower you initiate the backswing, the farther the ball will go.”
To put it as simply as possible, when you start your backswing with a quicker, jerky movement, your brain focuses on your hands and arms as the primary movers of the golf club. It should be no surprise that your arms and hands create way more variable motion of your club head than your body does. Variable motion is not consistent motion, and if your motion is not consistent, you by definition cannot have consistency. After working with thousands of golfers of every level of handicap, I’ve found that this is by far the number-one cause of inconsistency!
Next, I’ve found that the second most common cause of inconsistency is due to improper loading of the back leg during the backswing. Out of all the golfers I’ve worked with in SWFL, 99% think that shifting their weight onto the back leg is synonymous with “loading” your back leg. This couldn’t be further from the truth – especially for us mere mortal amateur golfers. We are not the pros playing on TV, so we should not try to mirror what their swing “looks” like.
The easiest way to know if you are truly loading your back leg at the top of your backswing is to first confirm your head did not sway with your movement into the backswing and then attempt to quickly lift your front lead foot on and off the ground. If you can’t do this without shifting your weight even more to your back leg then you have not completely loaded your back leg and you are guilty of primarily weight shifting. Weight shifting without loading always causes at least slight swaying, and it’s close to impossible to have a consistent swing once you introduce swaying into the equation.
Three Simple Tips
All that back story is necessary to make my three simple tips for improving consistency with your long irons clear and actionable.
- Tip 1: Initiate the backswing with your belt buckle, not your hands. Mainly for reasons stated above.
- Tip 2: Make sure you are loading your back leg and not just shifting your weight on it (there is a MAJOR difference!).
- Tip 3: Initiate the movement into your backswing as slowly and smoothly as possible. Exaggerate it. Make it mentally painful because you are initiating the movement so slowly. I can just about guarantee that you will see an objective improvement in your consistency when done properly.
For way more information on this topic, visit BermanGolf.com or search Berman Golf on all the social media out there. Or if you’re ready for some different and way more effective coaching right now call or text me at 239.431.0232 today!
Dr. Jake Berman, PT, DPT, is a physical therapist and owner of Berman Golf, where they focus on helping aging golfers increase distance off the tee, shoot more consistently, and play more frequently. If you’re not ready to accept “getting old” as an excuse for a poor golf game, call Dr. Berman at 239.431.0232 to take advantage of a FREE 30-minute taster session!