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Overview Of Irons Vs Driver
While all the golf clubs look somewhat similar, they are actually different tools. While there is little difference between a 7 and 8 iron there are dramatic differences between a wedge and a driver.
In this video, we discuss the major differences between an ideal driver swing and an ideal iron swing. With a driver, your goal is to hit slightly up on the ball. With an iron, your goal is to hit slightly down. Since the driver swing never hits the ground, and since the iron swing does, it is logical that you need to have some variations for what you do with each club.
Yes, ideally with both clubs, you are going to have similar swings. You are going to transfer speed from your lower body, to your core, to your shoulders, and then to your arms. And the movements of the hands and arms are going to be quite similar. The biggest difference is what the upper body must do to direct the club differently. In both swings, the lower body is going to slide toward the target 4-5 inches, but the upper body is going to do something different during the downswing, specifically, during the release. With the driver, the upper body will tend to shift away from the target a couple inches, while with the iron, it will tend to shift more in front of the ball, or more toward the target.
While all the golf clubs look somewhat similar, they are actually different tools. While there is little difference between a 7 and 8 iron there are dramatic differences between a wedge and a driver.
In this video, we discuss the major differences between an ideal driver swing and an ideal iron swing. With a driver, your goal is to hit slightly up on the ball. With an iron, your goal is to hit slightly down. Since the driver swing never hits the ground, and since the iron swing does, it is logical that you need to have some variations for what you do with each club.
Yes, ideally with both clubs, you are going to have similar swings. You are going to transfer speed from your lower body, to your core, to your shoulders, and then to your arms. And the movements of the hands and arms are going to be quite similar. The biggest difference is what the upper body must do to direct the club differently. In both swings, the lower body is going to slide toward the target 4-5 inches, but the upper body is going to do something different during the downswing, specifically, during the release. With the driver, the upper body will tend to shift away from the target a couple inches, while with the iron, it will tend to shift more in front of the ball, or more toward the target.
Video Transcript
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.400
In this concept video, we're going to go over the overview of the difference
2
00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:08.700
between hitting an iron and hitting a driver. So you'll see that pieces of the
3
00:00:08.700 --> 00:00:12.500
stock full swing are going to be more applied when I'm hitting an iron and
4
00:00:12.500 --> 00:00:18.100
less applied when I'm hitting a driver or vice versa. So the the biggest
5
00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:23.390
difference is with an iron, I'm trying to hit a few degrees down, four, five,
6
00:00:23.390 --> 00:00:23.640
six
7
00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:28.080
degrees on the upper end. I'm trying to hit down on the golf ball. There are
8
00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:28.280
two
9
00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:31.880
major things that are going to adjust whether I'm hitting down or whether I'm
10
00:00:31.880 --> 00:00:35.530
hitting up. But with an iron, I'm trying to hit down with a driver. I'm trying
11
00:00:35.530 --> 00:00:35.680
to
12
00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:40.640
hit relatively flat or a little bit up. If I'm erring more towards I want extra
13
00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:45.920
distance, I'm trying to hit more up. So the things that are going to adjust
14
00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:46.280
where
15
00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:50.820
the bottom of my swing is, is where this bone, which is called your sternum,
16
00:00:50.820 --> 00:00:51.360
where
17
00:00:51.360 --> 00:00:57.880
that is located in space and what my arms and hands are doing. Okay. So with an
18
00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:02.710
iron, I want to make sure that I'm hitting down, which means that on average,
19
00:01:02.710 --> 00:01:03.080
the
20
00:01:03.080 --> 00:01:07.440
upper body, if I were to hang this right from here, right, if I was to take
21
00:01:07.440 --> 00:01:07.640
this
22
00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:12.360
stick, if I got to a good impact position and drop it straight down from my
23
00:01:12.360 --> 00:01:12.880
sternum,
24
00:01:12.880 --> 00:01:17.080
you would see that that would be a little bit ahead of the golf ball. The
25
00:01:17.080 --> 00:01:21.400
interesting thing that I see on 3D is there's about this four to five inch
26
00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:27.320
lateral shift in a full swing. With the upper body, the best drivers of the
27
00:01:27.320 --> 00:01:27.520
golf
28
00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:31.480
ball are going to have their upper body compared to where they start, go about
29
00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:37.320
two inches backwards to impact where irons, they're going to go an inch to two
30
00:01:37.320 --> 00:01:41.570
forwards. It'd be the difference as if I was throwing a ball with driver, I
31
00:01:41.570 --> 00:01:41.840
kind of
32
00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:48.840
plant and stop versus with an iron, it would be more of a plant and go with it.
33
00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:55.240
So one of the things that, one of the first things that I check when someone
34
00:01:55.240 --> 00:01:58.200
is struggling with either hitting their irons or hitting the driver is the
35
00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:03.000
location of where that upper body is. With the driver, I'll show you in a
36
00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:03.320
second,
37
00:02:03.320 --> 00:02:07.520
so with an iron, you'll see that as I come down, my upper body is going to be
38
00:02:07.520 --> 00:02:11.000
more ahead of the golf ball so that when I make contact, the bottom of the
39
00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:15.600
swing is basically extending out in front of my sternum. Because my arms are
40
00:02:15.600 --> 00:02:20.520
going to be being pulled by this really heavy object, the golf club's moving a
41
00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:25.720
hundred miles an hour and has a significant amount of inertia at that
42
00:02:25.720 --> 00:02:29.080
point. So my arms are just going to get pulled out in front of my body like so.
43
00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:34.000
So they're roughly going to get pulled out in front of where this is. When I
44
00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:34.240
take
45
00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:45.840
a driver, if I was to tee that ball up, the impact position is going to be much
46
00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:52.000
more with my upper body behind where my lower body or behind the golf ball.
47
00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:52.880
With
48
00:02:52.880 --> 00:02:55.760
the iron, it would be more like this. With the driver, it's more like that. So
49
00:02:55.760 --> 00:02:59.560
there's a lot more of this Jackson 5 side bend and there's going to be a lot
50
00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:03.600
more of this elbow staying in towards my side with a driver. We'll go into the
51
00:03:03.600 --> 00:03:09.240
specifics of those in the iron video, in the driver video, but just as a
52
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:09.680
general
53
00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:13.640
overview, making sure you understand where this upper body is is going to help
54
00:03:13.640 --> 00:03:18.320
control that low point. So if you're struggling with the driver, make sure that
55
00:03:18.320 --> 00:03:21.720
your upper body is not drifting forward. That's going to give you too much of
56
00:03:21.720 --> 00:03:21.800
an
57
00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:26.340
angle of attack down, which is going to be a kiss of death. An easy way to tell
58
00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:26.560
is
59
00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:30.120
if your upper body is getting forward, you're going to tend to have the option
60
00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:36.840
of either hitting low pulls or kind of a low kind of push fade. If you flip
61
00:03:36.840 --> 00:03:37.040
your
62
00:03:37.040 --> 00:03:40.980
wrist, then you'll hit it really high, but it'll be weak. But it could be
63
00:03:40.980 --> 00:03:41.240
mostly
64
00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:43.240
because of this upper body drifting forward.
Have questions?
Ask Mulligan for helpOverview Of Irons Vs Driver
While all the golf clubs look somewhat similar, they are actually different tools. While there is little difference between a 7 and 8 iron there are dramatic differences between a wedge and a driver.
In this video, we discuss the major differences between an ideal driver swing and an ideal iron swing. With a driver, your goal is to hit slightly up on the ball. With an iron, your goal is to hit slightly down. Since the driver swing never hits the ground, and since the iron swing does, it is logical that you need to have some variations for what you do with each club.
Yes, ideally with both clubs, you are going to have similar swings. You are going to transfer speed from your lower body, to your core, to your shoulders, and then to your arms. And the movements of the hands and arms are going to be quite similar. The biggest difference is what the upper body must do to direct the club differently. In both swings, the lower body is going to slide toward the target 4-5 inches, but the upper body is going to do something different during the downswing, specifically, during the release. With the driver, the upper body will tend to shift away from the target a couple inches, while with the iron, it will tend to shift more in front of the ball, or more toward the target.
While all the golf clubs look somewhat similar, they are actually different tools. While there is little difference between a 7 and 8 iron there are dramatic differences between a wedge and a driver.
In this video, we discuss the major differences between an ideal driver swing and an ideal iron swing. With a driver, your goal is to hit slightly up on the ball. With an iron, your goal is to hit slightly down. Since the driver swing never hits the ground, and since the iron swing does, it is logical that you need to have some variations for what you do with each club.
Yes, ideally with both clubs, you are going to have similar swings. You are going to transfer speed from your lower body, to your core, to your shoulders, and then to your arms. And the movements of the hands and arms are going to be quite similar. The biggest difference is what the upper body must do to direct the club differently. In both swings, the lower body is going to slide toward the target 4-5 inches, but the upper body is going to do something different during the downswing, specifically, during the release. With the driver, the upper body will tend to shift away from the target a couple inches, while with the iron, it will tend to shift more in front of the ball, or more toward the target.
Video Transcript
1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.400
In this concept video, we're going to go over the overview of the difference
2
00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:08.700
between hitting an iron and hitting a driver. So you'll see that pieces of the
3
00:00:08.700 --> 00:00:12.500
stock full swing are going to be more applied when I'm hitting an iron and
4
00:00:12.500 --> 00:00:18.100
less applied when I'm hitting a driver or vice versa. So the the biggest
5
00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:23.390
difference is with an iron, I'm trying to hit a few degrees down, four, five,
6
00:00:23.390 --> 00:00:23.640
six
7
00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:28.080
degrees on the upper end. I'm trying to hit down on the golf ball. There are
8
00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:28.280
two
9
00:00:28.280 --> 00:00:31.880
major things that are going to adjust whether I'm hitting down or whether I'm
10
00:00:31.880 --> 00:00:35.530
hitting up. But with an iron, I'm trying to hit down with a driver. I'm trying
11
00:00:35.530 --> 00:00:35.680
to
12
00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:40.640
hit relatively flat or a little bit up. If I'm erring more towards I want extra
13
00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:45.920
distance, I'm trying to hit more up. So the things that are going to adjust
14
00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:46.280
where
15
00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:50.820
the bottom of my swing is, is where this bone, which is called your sternum,
16
00:00:50.820 --> 00:00:51.360
where
17
00:00:51.360 --> 00:00:57.880
that is located in space and what my arms and hands are doing. Okay. So with an
18
00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:02.710
iron, I want to make sure that I'm hitting down, which means that on average,
19
00:01:02.710 --> 00:01:03.080
the
20
00:01:03.080 --> 00:01:07.440
upper body, if I were to hang this right from here, right, if I was to take
21
00:01:07.440 --> 00:01:07.640
this
22
00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:12.360
stick, if I got to a good impact position and drop it straight down from my
23
00:01:12.360 --> 00:01:12.880
sternum,
24
00:01:12.880 --> 00:01:17.080
you would see that that would be a little bit ahead of the golf ball. The
25
00:01:17.080 --> 00:01:21.400
interesting thing that I see on 3D is there's about this four to five inch
26
00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:27.320
lateral shift in a full swing. With the upper body, the best drivers of the
27
00:01:27.320 --> 00:01:27.520
golf
28
00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:31.480
ball are going to have their upper body compared to where they start, go about
29
00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:37.320
two inches backwards to impact where irons, they're going to go an inch to two
30
00:01:37.320 --> 00:01:41.570
forwards. It'd be the difference as if I was throwing a ball with driver, I
31
00:01:41.570 --> 00:01:41.840
kind of
32
00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:48.840
plant and stop versus with an iron, it would be more of a plant and go with it.
33
00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:55.240
So one of the things that, one of the first things that I check when someone
34
00:01:55.240 --> 00:01:58.200
is struggling with either hitting their irons or hitting the driver is the
35
00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:03.000
location of where that upper body is. With the driver, I'll show you in a
36
00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:03.320
second,
37
00:02:03.320 --> 00:02:07.520
so with an iron, you'll see that as I come down, my upper body is going to be
38
00:02:07.520 --> 00:02:11.000
more ahead of the golf ball so that when I make contact, the bottom of the
39
00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:15.600
swing is basically extending out in front of my sternum. Because my arms are
40
00:02:15.600 --> 00:02:20.520
going to be being pulled by this really heavy object, the golf club's moving a
41
00:02:20.520 --> 00:02:25.720
hundred miles an hour and has a significant amount of inertia at that
42
00:02:25.720 --> 00:02:29.080
point. So my arms are just going to get pulled out in front of my body like so.
43
00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:34.000
So they're roughly going to get pulled out in front of where this is. When I
44
00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:34.240
take
45
00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:45.840
a driver, if I was to tee that ball up, the impact position is going to be much
46
00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:52.000
more with my upper body behind where my lower body or behind the golf ball.
47
00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:52.880
With
48
00:02:52.880 --> 00:02:55.760
the iron, it would be more like this. With the driver, it's more like that. So
49
00:02:55.760 --> 00:02:59.560
there's a lot more of this Jackson 5 side bend and there's going to be a lot
50
00:02:59.560 --> 00:03:03.600
more of this elbow staying in towards my side with a driver. We'll go into the
51
00:03:03.600 --> 00:03:09.240
specifics of those in the iron video, in the driver video, but just as a
52
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:09.680
general
53
00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:13.640
overview, making sure you understand where this upper body is is going to help
54
00:03:13.640 --> 00:03:18.320
control that low point. So if you're struggling with the driver, make sure that
55
00:03:18.320 --> 00:03:21.720
your upper body is not drifting forward. That's going to give you too much of
56
00:03:21.720 --> 00:03:21.800
an
57
00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:26.340
angle of attack down, which is going to be a kiss of death. An easy way to tell
58
00:03:26.340 --> 00:03:26.560
is
59
00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:30.120
if your upper body is getting forward, you're going to tend to have the option
60
00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:36.840
of either hitting low pulls or kind of a low kind of push fade. If you flip
61
00:03:36.840 --> 00:03:37.040
your
62
00:03:37.040 --> 00:03:40.980
wrist, then you'll hit it really high, but it'll be weak. But it could be
63
00:03:40.980 --> 00:03:41.240
mostly
64
00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:43.240
because of this upper body drifting forward.
Have questions about this video?
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