A Question regarding fairway iron shots

Alright fellas,

just after a bit of advice really, I currently suffer from the syndrome of "Good drive, bad 2nd (fairway) shot, good 3rd (fairway shot)". This happens on so many holes where I hit a cracking drive, and end up with a 2nd shot which looks like a nice iron into the green from xxx yards. The amount of times I do this and then my initial fairway iron shot duffs and goes like I am using a cricket bat bobbling along the ground is unreal. I then tend to lose my head a bit, regain composure, walk xx feet to the ball, and hit a nice high/long/straight shot.

I lose so many shots like this, my scores could be so much better and it really irritates me.

Is it that I swing too hard, try thump the hell out of it? My playing partners often say "jeez did you try and murder that golf ball?" and normally its them I mess up. When I hit a more casual shot it tends to be better.

Annoying though as it not only affects score but makes me more frustrated as I go round.

/semi rant over lol. Any advice would be appreciated

Cheers, thats what one of my 4ball group says, instead of trying to hit all the GIRs, play to the number of stokes you have per hole, anything else is a bonus.

More practice is definitely required, thanks for the reply

Well I had a round this morning at Tydd St Giles and shot 116, had 2 10s. Hit some cracking drives, and a few good irons from the fairway. Again this aspect crept in though several times when attempting to hit the ball towards the green off the deck, 1 of which I hit the top of the ball and most other bad shots were complete scuffs.

 Maybe i'm subconciously standing more up or something when I am on the backswing I don't know, but it is so frustrating. I know I can shoot under 100 as I have before. They do say practice makes perfect though, so i'll keep going.

Thanks for the replies above, yes on long par 4s or par 5s I normally try and get a good drive, it its a good line to the green I normally take a 6 as I tend to hit that a good distance when I do, and normally end up with a pendulum swing pitch onto the green

The course I thought was great, and I am pretty sure I will be joining the club soon.

Nope reason being for some reason all the pics I wanted to use as a display picture it wouldn't upload so i spam clicked in my pics folder and that worked lol.

Thanks I hope the luck rubs off on me

Patrick,

One question. When you hit these fairway shots are you trying to swing the club through the ball, or hit the back of the ball?

TheLyth

To be honest David a lot of the time it feels like I just hit the back of the ball, although I am trying to get good height and distance on it. My stance feels fine, I take the swing, come down and it just doesnt seem to connect properly. Either veering off as a shank or duffing along the ground like I either hit too much top or too much ground.

Patrick,

OK here is the reason I asked that question.

A lot of people when they start are told 'swing the club and let the ball get in the way'. This is fine for most shots but it can also cause problems like you describe when trying to hit Long Irons off the fairway.

I think your problem may be that you are attempting to hit a shot that is at your limit and so you are out of Sync. A good way to see if this is the case, choose a longer Club than you think and make sure you stay down through the shot and don't look for the result until you can see that the ball has gone. Hope that makes sense to you.

TheLyth

Yes that kind of makes sense and I will try it, probably go for a round on my own on Friday morning. Or at least to the range so I can try and pin point whats happening.

Cheers Steve, will be at the range tomorrow most likely so will test some stuff out.

Had a round today at Tydd St Giles and again 75% of my mid-game shots were poor, took a few divots, well more than a few. I did hit some sweet irons though which made me think why the hell wasn't I doing that before. I must be stooping too low or something.

Anyone who coaches situated in the East lol?