Thin irons shots occur when the golfer strikes the ball with the very bottom of the golf club also known as the leading edge. This makes it harder for the club to come in contact with the ground, resulting in lower shots and slices.
You will know when you hit a shot thin once you feel a strong jerk or vibration in your hands that is quite uncomfortable.
To avoid this, golfers must hit their irons pure by making a solid connection between the iron and the ball, thereby allowing for more distance.
In this article, we will discuss a few tips that will help you hit your irons pure and give you some precautions to take from hitting those thin golf shots. Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
3 Tips To Hitting Pure Irons
1. Ball Position
The first step in hitting your irons pure is to know the correct position of the golf ball in relation to your feet. Golfers who hit their irons thin often struggle in placing the ball correctly. For example, the ball position is too far away from their stance. This allows the bottom of the swing to take place behind the ball, resulting in either two scenarios:
- They hit the ground before the ball
- They alter their swing causing a thin strike as they hit up on the golf ball with the leading edge of the clubhead.
So how do you set the ball correctly?
In short, if you are hitting shorter irons like wedges and lofted golf clubs, you should position the ball in the middle of your stance.
But as you go up your set of clubs (7-6 mid irons), the ball position should be one ball closer to your left foot. In other words, one ball forward.
When you are hitting much longer irons, like your 5 and 4 irons, the ball position is 2x balls forward left of center. As you get to the longest clubs like your fairways woods the ball is positioned much more towards your left heel.
2. Weight Distribution
Besides ball position, golfers who thin their shot will often have too much weight on their backfoot in the downswing. They will lean back too much, almost as if they are trying to lift the golf ball up into the air.
As you lean backwards, the club will also lean backwards, causing you to hit the ground before the golf ball or you’ll end up thinning the strike as you hit up on the golf ball with the leading edge of the club.
To obtain the correct weight distribution of the golf swing, you should feel as though your feet are supporting your weight. The weight should be equally distributed along your two feet at address.
Once you get your ball position correct, push your chest slightly forward to the left hand side for right handed players. You should feel as though 65% weight is on your left foot. In other words, more of your weight should be on your lefthand side.
Now keep your chest centered in the backswing then make your downswing. As you swing through the shot, there is a greater chance that you’ll hit the ball first before the ground, resulting in a pure iron shot.
3. Shaft Angle At Impact
Players who thin or fat the golf ball have a tendency of scooping underneath the golf ball. Their wrist will bend and they will try to lift the golf ball up in the air.
What they fail to understand is that the club will do it’s job in getting the ball in the air, so you don’t have to worry about that.
What you should do is aim to have the shaft and grip of the golf club in front of the clubhead at contact. Your left arm, wrist angle and golf club should all be in one straight line.
You don’t want much of your weight on the right hand side nor should you cup your wrist behind the ball. If you do this, you’ll hit behind the golf ball and lose power.
A great tip to help you obtain the right shaft angle is to preset the position by having the handle in front of the clubhead at the setup position and recreate the same position at impact with the golf ball.
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Getting The Backswing Right
As you take the clubhead away from the golf ball, your body should not move sideways. Rather, it should stay fixed in position as you rotate and turn to the top of your golf swing. Do not move your head during the backswing phase.
Players with inconsistent golf strikes tend to move their body sideways. But when the time comes to strike the ball, they have to get back into position by making massive changes and adjustments.
All in all, you should rotate your body around the center position as opposed to moving to the side. By following this technique, you will hit the ball first before the ground.
Getting The Downswing Right
As you come down with the clubhead, you want it to strike the golf ball first and then the ground after.
To increase the chances of that happening, you should rotate your body around your left leg and keep your sternum in front of the golf ball. Most of your weight should move around the left leg if you are a right handed player.
Your hands should be kept in front of the golf ball and that will help you strike the ball first and then the ground after.
Final Verdict
A pure and solid golf shot not only increases distance but it also gets the ball to travel straight in the air. Moreover, a straight golf shot will get us closer to the target as opposed to a curved shot like a hook, fade or slice.
The techniques we’ve mentioned will help you hit your irons pure and also help with consistency, which is very important if we are to achieve lower golf scores.
You may also find that this is useful when you are dealing with difficult lies. If you can incorporate all the things we have discussed in this article from ball position, shaft angle to weight distribution, you will strike the ball unbelievably better!
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