(1) Functional Grip
It is important to have a functional grip to hit good shots. The functional grip creates flexible wrists in order to hit the ground. Therefore, your wrists should have the ability to bend.
Let’s find your own functional grip:
Grip diagonal from hand into fingers
Not functional – in Hands
Functional with Short Thumb
Not functional – with Long Thumb
Bottom hand from the side on the shaft for Speed
Don’t turn your bottom hand on top it prevents Speed
Good Set-Up with low hands, left wrist can hinge
Wrist can easily move the club up
Hold your club in front of you
Club should be gripped in a way that you can easily do this motion with your wrists
This motion is important since you want to create a steep attack angle to make good ground contact.
Check out what Padraig Harrington says on his YouTube channel about:
A proper Grip
(2) Ability to make ground contact
It is important to hit your iron in a downwards motion: First ball contact and second ground contact. Using your functional grip with low hands.
We will learn a method where you can get away with a certain inconsistency and also don’t feel any pain when you contact the ground.
Let’s test your ability to make ground contact:
Set-Up with low hands to use your functional Grip
Non Functional Set-Up with high hands
The GOAL is to hit a shallow divot after the ball. Imagine to brush the grass with your club.
What I see very often, is that the leading edge of the clubface digs into the ground.
What happens when you hit with the leading edge first?
Either an early and too deep ground contact with no energy transferred into the ball. A Fat Shot.
Or no divot, because it hurts to hit the ground. A Thin Shot.
Let’s learn a method, where the bottom of the club glides through the ground.
Bottom of the club should make contact with the ground. Why is sliding of the club important?
It is important, because you can get away with fat shots. The club will slide to the ball without digging. Let’s learn sliding of the club!
This is to get a feeling how the club can slide on the bottom. Try the illustrated position in your backswing and hit practice swings.
Try different hand positions at the top of your backswing. Leaving your hand flat, your leading edge will dig into the ground.
Try the different positions and get a feeling, how you can let the club glide through the grass with a shallow divot.
Try this exercise: Do a couple of practice swings with a flat wrist and see that the club digs into the ground.
If you do the wrist motion too much, be prepared to hit higher and more to the right.
The sensation of hitting irons like this, should be first learned before any other steps.
In the end, your hand can be in your individual position. After these drills you should have a feeling, how to slide the club on the ground. You don’t have to be in this position in your swing. You can hit a shallow divot from any wrist position.