WEBVTT

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In this concept video, we're going to go over the specifics of hitting an iron.

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So there's a few things that are going to be really critical if we want to make

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solid contact and hit a relatively straight shot with an iron.

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The first thing and the most obvious is controlling the low point.

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If you remember from the solid contact video, the center of the club is roughly

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the fourth groove up, which is where the sweet spot is.

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The only way we can get that on the back of the golf ball, if it's in the fair

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way, is if we have a little bit of shaft lean.

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The only way we can have a little bit of shaft lean is if the upper body is in

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the right place so that the hands can be applying this force on the golf ball

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in the proper way.

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So the things that I think are the most critical for hitting an iron is the

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location of the sternum and what you're doing with your hands.

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So what I tend to see with good drivers of the golf ball is that sequencing can

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be a really big thing.

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There are a lot of really good iron players who don't have the best sequencing

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of the parts of the lower body, but they have an outstanding release and they

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're really good at controlling how the hands are applying the golf ball or the

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golf club onto the golf ball.

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So when we're checking this sternum piece, which is going to happen before the

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arms, we want to make sure of two things.

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One, we want to make sure that that Ironman movement is pointing out in front

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of the golf ball, but we also want to make sure that our power source didn't

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cause this upper body to start pointing away from the golf ball compared to my

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body.

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If it starts pointing out there, then what will happen is the only way that I

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can get my arms down to the golf ball is if they're fully straightened and that

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will leave no more slack or no more give for my arms to extend and straighten

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through the golf shot.

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So pay attention to where this is, and you can use drills like the merry-go-

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round or the Ironman movements to get used to that upper body being closer to

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the ground.

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Because the closer the upper body gets to the ground, the more that my arms

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have slack to get out ahead.

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The more that they stand up, these lines up, or the club in my arms form a

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straight line, and I no longer have any margin of error of getting my arms to

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straighten through the shot.

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The other thing that will help make sure that I can get my hands ahead is going

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to be that motorcycle move or the bowing of the left wrist or the flattening of

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the left wrist.

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This is a critical move for hitting irons. As you'll see in the driver video,

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you can get away with scooping a little bit with the driver because it's teed

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up.

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With the Iron in order to have the leading edge coming in the golf ball, with

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my hands ahead, the club face will be slightly closed compared to the grip,

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which means I have to have done a little bit of this motorcycle move.

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Now the last thing as far as a critical factor is you can't have your path

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coming too much from the inside.

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If you're a really good driver of the golf ball but struggle more with the

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short irons, there's a very good chance that your upper body is getting left

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behind and the club is coming too much from the inside.

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If you remember from the shot shaping video, since the club is hitting the golf

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ball on the way down, the path is inherently out to the right.

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So if I wanted to have a true straight path or close to a straight path, that

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means that on video, the appearance of the path is going to be a little bit

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more outside to end.

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The other important piece of information to understand with the Iron is not

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necessarily what's best but what can you get away with.

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So what might you be doing in your stock swing that allows you to hit an iron

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well but prevents you from hitting a driver well?

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Things that you can get away with with an iron are going to be having your arms

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straighten too soon.

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So if I have a little bit of a cast movement, that will let the club come from

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the outside in, which because I'm hitting down doesn't make a huge difference.

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And as long as I get my lower body ahead and keep my upper body down, I can

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still take a little bit of a divot and hit relatively solid pretty good iron

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shots.

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The other piece that kind of goes ahead, goes with this arm straightening is I

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'm going to be able to have more of an upper body dominant swing.

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So if I'm working on the Jackson 5 with my driver, I'm working on getting a

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little bit more pushed through the ground with the trail leg push drill.

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I may not need to use those and I can get all my speed kind of from my arms and

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from my upper body.

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You'll see that my tendency is always to use my legs so it's hard for me to

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demonstrate this one.

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But those last ones where I'm just using my arms would probably be an okay or

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at least a solid iron shot.

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Those wouldn't work too well for the driver.

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So the big ones are the upper body spin, the arm straightening too soon, and

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what can go with that is what we call a forward lunge.

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Where if you go to the top of the swing and that upper body tends to drift with

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the lower body, now these two are lined up but I'm ahead of the golf ball.

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Not a problem with an iron where I have loft and I'm trying to hit down.

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So there's a few things that you can kind of get away with with the irons, but

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they'll kill you with your driver if you were to try to do them.

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So let's talk about a few of the pieces that you can get away with with your

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driver and what you would struggle with if you did with an iron swing.

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They're actually just the opposite of everything that we've talked about.

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So if I were to have too much lower body, this can cause me to create too much

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of an axis tilt, which is great for hitting a long drive but moves the bottom

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of my swing back and gives me some contact issues where I'll tend to hit a

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little bit more fat or thin shot.

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And I will tend to hit more of a hook with my iron compared to the driver.

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The other one that you can get away with with your driver that is a lot of

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trouble with the iron is that scoop or letting the left wrist break down or the

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right wrist flex, right, so the left wrist, right wrist coming towards you.

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So where you'll see that show up, if I were to get down like so and then flip,

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that flip is going to cause the bottom of my swing to move backward and with

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the iron it's more important to have the bottom of the swing forward.

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So if you get lost, if you start struggling with your irons, just review the

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pieces that I've talked about and you should be able to figure out and troubles

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hoot which one is causing you the most trouble by paying attention to what

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feedback you're getting when you take your full swing.