PRACTICE DRIVING USING A 2 IRON

What makes this iron so special? Quite simply this: In addition to the obvious, namely that it can relatively easily hit long low, and extremely accurate shots from both fairway to green and off the tee as a short safety drive on tight fairways it also has a wonderful ancillary benefit:

Namely, it is long enough (in club length) to make it a serious training tool for extremely effective driver practice.

How then should it be used, and in particular what would one change about swinging a 2 iron if one were to imagine that one was swinging it as a driver?

I do exactly this in almost every driver practice session so I do speak from experience rather than from theory or from re-cycled golf articles:

First let's imagine than one was using a 2 iron to practice a 2 iron. Your ball placement / stance would be exactly as it should be for a 2 iron and coming into the ball one's hands would be clearly IN ADVANCE of the club head. Failure to so correctly place the hands in attack will cause the wrong ball flight, usually too high.

Using a 2 iron now as a driver training tool, one's stance will be a little wider, set the ball further forward in the stance (align with inside of left heel) on a 1" high tee. Push the club out into a longer take away / wider swing arc (transferring all or most weight onto the right foot), extending the left leg more. On the down swing, keep the right shoulder back as long as possible, (aiming to hit out right of target with a few yards of draw), with the hip space created - with everything out on the right foot - fire the right hip hard down at the ball. This is where swing speed comes from, not directly from the arms. Swing at the ball faster than one would with a 2 iron shot, with a full weight transfer onto the left foot on impact and the fullest follow through that one can manage. Always attack the ball (as with a driver) namely striking on the upstroke with one's hands way BEHIND the club head at impact. The ball should fly far too high simply because you are now using it as a driver, rather than as a 2 iron. But that's good, even better if you have created two or three yards of draw.

(Never think about how long your back swing is. Each of us has a natural back swing length which may or may not change with each club. My own philosophy is to work around that and make the length of one's natural back swing sound. Back swing length will naturally change as one adjusts key swing elements. On the whole it takes care of itself. I appreciate that this view may be contrary to the views of many.)

It may all seem very strange at first, but it really is worth the effort. You will soon find that you are able to work a ball just as easily with a 2 iron as with a wedge. You are then ready to move on in a practice session to driving with a driver. If the 2 iron is not working in practice then forget the driver as almost certainly it won't work either.

Yes, any shorter club can be so used as a driver training aid. A 2 iron is nice and long without being very long / difficult like say a 3 wood. I used to practice wedge, 7 iron, 2 iron, then driver if everything fell into place. Now, with experience, the wedge is so easy to always draw so I simply practice 7 iron - 2 iron - driver. Consistent driver play can be best gained by first putting in a lot of carefully structured iron practice. But do become aware of how to play any iron in the manner of a driver, and try not to let such a driver practice swing slip into your golf irons game.

On some driver practice days expect your driver never to come out of the bag. Perhaps on any particular day you lack the energy, or concentration, or maybe you choose to get your 2 iron (driver) practice really sharp. One can nevertheless still go home knowing that you've had a great driver training session.

(I don't discuss / debate. Please feel free to shred amongst yourselves).