Tip From the Archives

Two Clubs

Problem

You need to improve controlling the ball and gain better touch and feel for your swing.

Cure

Try playing the course or practicing with only two clubs. Several professional golfers learned how to play using only a couple of clubs and they credit their ability to play because of this fact. It helps you really visualize and understand how important it is to open or close the clubface in order to gain the distance you need.

Therapy

Select two irons, preferably one of your longest and shortest. Select a target and try to hit it with the shorter iron you selected. Then try to hit it with the longer iron. Find a different target and repeat. Even when the shot is a lot further away than you would normally use the short iron for, still use it. You might be surprised how well do. As long as you can normally reach the distance easily with one of the two clubs, all you need to do is adjust your loft and you should be able to reach the same distance with the other. If you want more loft, place the ball forward in your stance, aim a little left, and open the clubface. Close the clubface if you need to reduce the loft of the club. When you do this, try to make a shallower swing but still apply a downward blow at impact.

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8 votes

 
Michael Henry | 11 months ago

Many of us stick slavishly to the same clubs even though we can't use them well. Further to the above which is an excellent summation.Think outside the box, play to your strengths not your weaknesses, ie If your favourite club is, say a PW then try and leave yourself that distance shot on every par 4 and 5 on the course.Too often we try for length over accuracy, leaving ourselves with a hugely tricky short shot over a bunker with no room to stop the ball on the green.Instead playing a shot with a confidence club can reap dividends and lower your scores..

Cameron Larsen | 8 months ago

This opening of the club face technique does not work off the ground with the larger bounce on some of these game improvement irons. I own the Nike OSS irons which I love but, the shape of the club head will not allow this. There are also similar new irons with the same issue. Concider this when purchasing new irons.



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