Arnold Palmer explains the secrets to control your long irons

Golf instruction is always evolving, but the best advice is the test of time. In the new series from Golf.com, Timeless Tips, we emphasize some of the greatest advice that teachers and players have provided on the pages of Golf Magazine. Today we look back on our number of August 1969 for some tips about Long-Iron Mastery by Arnold Palmer.

Having consistent solid long -term irons is one of the most difficult things for recreational golfers to learn. When the number in the club says “4” or lower, pure shots for weekend fighters are little and far in between.

If you are someone who cannot make solid contact with your long irons, don’t worry – you are not alone. If long irons were easy to touch, hybrids would not exist! However, if you want to become a real Ball-Pitting Maestro, you will have to learn how to get your long irons pure.

Arnold Palmer joined in 1969 (long before the arrival of hybrids) Golf magazine To give his advice on this subject with our readers. View it below.

Palmer’s long -serties advice

Most golfers are easily depressed when they consistently fail to get off a good shot with the long irons. And I suppose that watching me is tearing a ball out of a heavy lie with a two-iron, she can further depress it! They think they might as well leave their long irons at home, for all the good they do.

Well, it just doesn’t have to be that bad. The long irons have little attic, it is true, but even the one-iron has just as much loft as the average three wood. And the two and three irones have relatively more. The long irons are also much shorter sticks than the forest, so that they should be easier – not more difficult – to check.

Most golfers are afraid of a long iron shot before they even start. Maybe they have hit a bad tee shot and they feel that they have to get away with their long iron. In any case, they will really destroy it! The result – one or more of these disastrous errors:

1. They rush their backswing, do not succeed in completing their pivot and get a weak, early hit with all their strength disappeared well before the impact.

2. They try to take a superhuman turn, resulting in a lost balance and probably lost the timing.

3. They loosen their grip on the top of the swing, which means that they have to be taken again on the Downswing-a unnecessary and dangerous movement that the club head often throws offline.

The way you have to play a long iron is just the opposite. Your grip must be sturdy, your posture protected and your swing the same as normal.

Set

I can’t emphasize the importance of a good grip too much. Probably the most important single element comes when touching a long iron from a grip that stays firmly from start to finish. Occasionally you may get away with looseness on the forest or short irons. However, you cannot expect that you would successfully hit the long irons unless you hold it.

The posture for the long irons should not be too wide – otherwise you limit the full turn of the body that is necessary to develop maximum force. I put my feet apart over shoulder width and have them in a square position, parallel to the escape line. I come up with the ball in a comfortable position but prepare to turn easily and smoothly.

I position the ball a little more in the direction of the middle of my position than for my wood shots. On the forest you want to touch the ball behind the bottom of the arch. With the irons you have to hit the ball with a downward blow, with the bottom of the bow somewhat for the ball in your divot. But my swing remains almost the same for both forests and irons.

Backswing

Getting the right start is half the battle. The hands start with the action and immediately take the club head back from the ball for about 12 centimeters. Keep your wrists firm, because the early breaking of the wrists is inclined to influence the smoothness of the backswing, moving the head. On the other hand, the Backswing keeps in one piece with the body that follows the lead of the hands in place. There should be no breaking of the wrists until the hands pass the right hip. “

Many people ask me: “How far do I have to bring the club back?” This is a difficult question, because it varies from individual to individual. If a further displacement ensures that you loosen your hold, your left arm loses or your balance, it is as far back as you should go. Every player has to discover that critical point for himself.

Downswing

Returning to the ball, I have a clear feeling to pull the club down with my left hand. At the same time there is a clear weight shift to the left. You should be able to feel the weight shift to the left before you think about beating the ball. This prevents the fast wrists from being known as ‘beating the top’. If you perform this essential first movement of the Downswing correctly, let the club head fly in all respects. While you pull down with the left hand, you will be set well so that you can apply the current at the right time in the right hand – when you enter: the battle area.

One of the things I think during my swing is: “Save the chin.” I turn the left shoulder under the chin on the backswing. When I get through the ball, I concentrate on moving the right shoulder under the chin. I do not allow my head to move until it is raised by the following. I like to feel that I keep the right side under the shot. So much has become a part of my life that I still have a high left shoulder and a low right shoulder when I get my wife out!

A long iron

Not every shot that I touched with the long irons is a simple simple full swing. Sometimes you are hampered by a tree to hit the green directly. This requires touching a deliberate hook or paste.

First let me advise you not to play these photos unless you are a low handicap golfer. It is much better to tear up the fairway and to sacrifice one stroke than to run the risk of getting deeper problems. But if you have a good, repeating swing, these photos must be in your bag.

For the deliberate slice, open your posture and waves from the outside. Start the club outside the line and bring it back to the ball in the same plane and get as hard as possible with the left hand. For a hook, do the opposite. Close your attitude and start the club head in the line. Let your right hand dominate this shot in the impact area. I don’t believe in changing the grip because you can use a “hook” or “stick” grip if you want a straight recording.

If you can’t go around or under the problems? To play a low shot, I play the ball back in my posture and keep my hands in front of the clubhead during the swing. Make an extra attempt to swing smoothly on this, because the tendency is to pull the shot and only get half the ball. Try to stay on your left during the swing.

Sometimes you can’t make a complete shot in these circumstances. You have to go under the trees, but the green is just 150-170 meters away. It is clear that a full, low three-iron will transfer the green. What you do is choke a few centimeters on the handle, take half a swing and get firm in the ball with a “punching” promotion, limiting your next. This will produce a low route and the desired distance.

In this situation, the distance can be controlled by the length of your backswing and the amount that you suffocate. As your skill becomes in controlling the club, you can vary the length of the shot as desired.

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