Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.
If you want to make birdies, you’ve got to be able to hit quality shots with your irons. Without the ability to hit it tight from the fairway, the path to making birdies becomes extremely thin.
Striking the ball consistently with an iron is a task that can be quite tough for lots of recreational players. Without the benefit of a perfect lie, finding the center of the face becomes all but impossible for the weekend warrior.
This difficulty is typically the byproduct of poor technique. Hitting an iron requires a different technique than hitting a wood, yet many players try to employ the same strategy. This almost always results in poor contact and little chance for hitting it close.
Lee Trevino explains more in the video below.
Trevino’s secret for hitting solid irons
The secret to hitting solid shots with your irons is compressing the ball into the turf. This means you need to be hitting down on the ball at impact.
“The secret to playing is to push the ball in the ground,” Trevino says. “What makes a ball come up into the air is compressing the ball into the ground.”
When you hit down on the ball, it helps create spin which in turn lifts the ball into the air. Once it’s in the air, it can land softly on the green and stick near the hole.
Often time amateurs will try to help the ball in the air with a scooping motion when they come into impact. This is a poor idea as it will rob you of power and limit the amount of spin you can produce, meaning the ball will actually fly lower than if you hit down on the ball.
“What happens is people put what we call an overspin on it and the ball never gets in the air,” Trevino says. “Every shot you hit, your first intention is to compress the ball in the ground. That’s why all the pros take the big divots.”
