PGA pro Keegan Bradley hits memorable iron shots. That’s because he spends hours honing his swing with coach Jim McLean. Keegan’s most memorable iron shot came in his PGA Championship last August when he beat Jason Dufner on the second playoff hole of a three-hole playoff when he hit a 6-iron 197 yards over a lake to within 18 feet of the hole. This helped secure his first major victory. His 8-iron to within four feet of the hole on the first playoff hole wasn’t shabby either.
Hitting irons is a strength for Bradley, who some like to call Iron Man. In fact, he’s known through out the Tour for hitting great iron shots. He shared some of his keys to hitting solid irons in a recent article for a major golf magazine. Below we discuss five of the most important keys he talked about in the article. These keys could help anyone’s swing. Incorporating them into your game could help slice strokes off your scores and your golf handicap.
- 1. Commitment Is Critical
If there’s a master key to hitting solid irons, according to Keegan, it’s commitment. It’s a key in our golf lessons as well. Hitting great irons shots comes from swinging without hesitation. You can’t try to guide the ball to the hole. You can’t worry about going over water. And you can’t worry about clearing bunkers. You need to pick the right club, visualize the shot, and then focus on hitting that shot. Once you’re committed, go for it. Hesitating only hurts you.
- 2. Get Off To A Good Start
Another key to hitting irons, says Keegan is ball position. He positions the ball slightly forward in his stance and never farther back than the center. Precise ball position is something weekend players seldom think much about. Maybe they should. To find your ball position dangle a club from the left side of your chest (right side for left-handers), just left of the shirt buttons. Position the ball directly below that. While we don’t recommend the same ball position for every shot in our golf lessons, we do recognize that positioning the ball in the same spot for the same club each time is critical.
- 3. Move Back In Unison
Keegan says he tries to start everything—club, arms, hands, and body—back in unison. Moving back in unison helps keep the club on a good path. Hands are often a downfall with irons for weekend golfers. We see a lot of players in our golf instruction sessions try to flip the club back. Let your arms and your body move the club back, not your hands. Initially, they should remain passive.
- 4. Be Aggressive
A fourth key for Keegan is to swing hard. He tries to hit the ball as hard as he can without losing his balance. Don’t worry about mis-hitting the shot, says Keegan. Instead, swing hard. While we don’t recommend swinging as hard as you can in the golf instruction sessions we hold, we do emphasize being aggressive with one’s swing. You’d be surprised how much better your iron swing becomes by being aggressive and relying on your natural athletic ability.
- 5. Avoid Swing Path Errors
Swing path errors are costly—really costly. They’re also among the most common mistakes weekend golfers make with their irons. Keegan used to swing the club so far inside on the backswing, he’d have to loop it to the outside coming back down. This caused problems for him. Now, he uses a swing path that stays inside the target line everywhere except at impact. Below is a master drill we use in our golf instruction sessions that corrects swing path errors:
Take a headcover and stuff it under your left armpit (right armpit, if you’re left-handed). Now hit some balls with your 7-iron. Try to keep the glove in place as long as you can. To do that everything must move together as you swing. If not, the head cover drops. Eventually, it drops. But try to keep in place until well after impact.
This drill ingrains an inside-to-inside swing path that’s ideal for hitting for power and control. It also ingrains the feeling of unity between your club, head, arms, and body when swinging. Retaining this feeling on the course enables you to not only hit great iron shots like Keegan Bradley, but also chop strokes from your scores and your golf handicap.