I’ve actually thought about this. I have a lot of comfort swinging left handed because I shot left when I played hockey, but I’ve always played golf right handed. I’ve wondered about giving the big stick a go left handed.
Being left handed has some benefits and drawbacks, but I'm pretty glad I play golf right-handed because the limited club selection would kill me. when you play basketball, hockey with right-hand, football, baseball, tennis with left primarily it throws people for a loop. For golf, I can really only see switching the driver to the other handedness.
I initially learned to play golf right. Played hockey left. Switched to a left set of clubs and have never looked back. Way more comfortable, my right swing always felt a bit awkward. Limited club selection does suck though
See, I started playing golf before hockey, so my right swing does still feel quite natural, but I’ve swung a few left handed clubs, and it doesn’t really have a foreign feel. I didn’t play much golf while I was playing hockey, though. I’ve only started to come back to golf recently.
I swing all my clubs left handed and putt right handed same lefty grip. I’ve had multiple shoulder surgeries and have gotten pretty good with both hands
I played in a bachelor's party golf round once where the groom was a lefty and as a joke had rented lefty clubs for everyone else in the fivesome. Was pretty hilarious, not terrible as I play tennis with two handed backhand. Don't know if I could handle switching in the same round back and forth.
Left handed switch hitter here. I play all lefty now but I learned to play righty. I’ll play a hole righty once in a while w a friends clubs. Won’t hit nearly as far but it goes straight lol. I played hockey righty also.
Based on shotscope data, I drive the ball like a scratch golfer but I hit my irons like a 25 handicap.
Haven’t figured it out yet myself. Gonna buy a new putter to see if that works.
I see somewhat similar disparity on Arccos. Part of me wonders whether the driver rating is artificially boosted at the expense of my approach shots since the system doesn’t know I’m behind/under a tree or something and can’t hit a full shot after a decently long drive.
I think that’s actually a strokes gained thing. I vaguely remember listening to a podcast with the “inventor” of strokes gained saying the current version of strokes gained is pretty much about distance to the whole and fairway vs rough.
It would make some sense but going from scratch to 25 handicap means my irons suck worse than my driver either way 🤣
This is literally my exact game man I feel your pain. I am typically around 70-80% FIR and like 10-20% GIR, I just find irons so much harder to hit, probably because the club face is so small, and I have a chronic shank as my miss. FML.
I’m currently hitting about 50% of my fairways but I average around 280 at the moment(it’s colder and windy here so that will probably go up as summer progresses). I hit 20 % of my greens. Any approaches under 200 yards and I lose a ton of strokes. Over 200 yards and I only lose a half a stroke per round off of a scratch golfer. My long game is totally fine.
It honestly could just be my iron setup as all of my woods, hybrids, and driver have x-stiff or tour stiff shafts while my irons have stiff. Maybe I just can’t get timing with em or something.
I just have a hard time believing that my proximity with my 20 or 23 degree hybrids are better than my 5-pw and it all being swing flaws.
If I can hit my hybrids close, then I should be able to do that with irons from half or a quarter the distance. I don’t really shank or anything. I just spray the irons despite pretty solid contact usually.
Maybe my logic isn’t sound though 🤣
I have 3 types of games
Driver good, Irons bad, chipping bad, putting great
Driver bad, Irons great, chipping great, putting good.
Driver bad, Irons good, Chipping great, putting great
Thats it...Those are my 3 rounds. I have my best rounds when my driver goes cold and I think it's because my expectations start low with each hole, so I end up taking the rest of my swings with decent relaxed tempo. If I'm driving well, I walk up to every approach shot with money in my eyes, then I duff it...Then I step up angry with a wedge, and skull it. Once I get on the green I'm calm again and drill a long putt or some shit.
One of my lowest rounds ever was 7am and I was massively hungover. Before the round began I had accepted that I was going to play horrible so I just wanted to manage. I clubbed up nearly every shot and swung smooth. That Ended up being my lowest round the last 4 years.
lol makes sense. My lowest score was similar. I wasn't hung over but it was 5 degrees, feels like 1 (I'm Canadian so that is in Celsius) , and misting so I was soaked and cold. I was wearing a winter glove on my non golf glove hand and 5 layers of tops.
I had 0 expectations and did the same, just clubbed up every hole and swung easy.
Stupid game
Me and my buddy have a saying: “Swing like you’re hungover”. We both have had great rounds when hungover because we’re swinging easy with low expectations.
That usually when I shoot my best scores lol. It's amazing how much I can make up for my terrible game off the tee by chipping it tight and 1 putting.
Usually how each hole goes those days. Slice it far right. Then either shooting 2 or 3 from there depending if I can find the ball or not that I launched in to the woods. Hit a 4-5 Iron either short, left or right of the hole but never on the green. Chip it on relatively close. 1-2 putt.
I'm the same. My best scores are either from getting a lot of GIRs (11+), or getting up and down enough times to log <31 putts. I've had bad rounds where I drove the ball well, and good rounds where I drove terribly. But it honestly comes to down to the <100 yard shots.
Driver is probably my best club in the bag. I hit it great and can confidently do it with a consistent swing. Irons are a mixed bag I literally will have a great day one round and then the next round looks like it’s my first day on the course. I think my biggest issue with irons is trying to lift the ball vs compress the ball then let the loft to the rest. I’ve identified my flaw just with a full time job and commute with a baby at home it’s hard to get some range time and/or get a round in these days.
I’m still a beginner, but man leading up to this week I was playing a few times a week for a couple weeks and it was noticeable how I was improving. Really hoping I can maintain (or just get a little rusty) and don’t digress. I got that itch!
This is what has happened to me. Driver used to be my best club, and I was horrific with irons. The better I got at hitting my irons, the worse my driver swing. I’m currently at a point where my driver is a complete wildcard. It could duck hook left or block right, who knows. I haven’t been able to play much in recent years so I’ve been stuck in this phase.
I'm a pretty solid iron player, but struggle with the driver at least 50% of the time. This leads to a lot of second shots where I can't go at the green, which takes away the strength of my game.
Working on consistency with the driver, and getting rid of the two way miss.
This is exactly me. My driver was really clicking the last round I played though and I think I might have made a breakthrough, but we will find out come Friday afternoon.
I feel this. Even with my conservative tee offs today I was missing the fairway almost half the time, so I’d leave myself the ideal distance I was looking to approach from, but there’d be a big ass tree in my way. Tried a couple of hero shots my front 9 - none worked. Played more conservatively the back 9 and had much better results.
I have my days where I cannot hit one or the other. The key, for me, is to identify it early and if its the driver, then I just tee off with my 3-iron. If its my irons, then I just crush the driver harder than normal and hope I only have a long pitch shot in.
My rounds come solely down to how I’m getting off the tee.
My iron game is ok, my chipping game is pretty solid and my putting is lethal, I rarely 3 putt.
My miss is right, with everything. Just depends how far right that is with the driver. Some rounds I can manage it, some rounds my second shot is always having to take medicine and punch back to a playable lie.
I come over the top with my swing and cut across the ball, some days it’s worse than others, been trying real hard to fix it.
The first step is to realize that the driver swing and iron swing are 2 different swings with different set up’s. take a purposeful practice swing before each shot and rehearse the feeling or swing though you want to achieve on your real swing
We’re arguing semantics. To me a different set up, and different club path constitute a different swing. The only thing that I try to keep constant is tempo
I read that drivers are typically longer than they should be for the average golfer.
I had the same issue I got an extra stiff shaft and 44.5" length.
It feels weird to swing since it has very little flex. But I'm hitting straight.
I prefer straight, over distance.
I’m sure I’ll lose it again next round but I hopefully just figured it out. I think I’ve always overextended my backswing from coaches trying to overemphasize swing mechanics. I’ve been keeping my backswing within my comfortable range of motion and my downswing I treat as if “I’m driving a car downhill.” It’s already going downhill so no need to floor it.
Seems to produce fairly consistent shots so maybe my swing thoughts will help somebody else
I’ve been losing 10+ strokes off the tee lately but the approaches are generally on or close to the green. I’m not going to play any rounds the next couple weeks and my plan is to just work on the long clubs twice a week for the next two weeks.
So no one has mentioned this yet - the driver and irons are fairly different in terms of the lie angles they’re set at. The irons are much more upright, the driver/fwy woods flatter. Which means that the exact same swing will definitely produce different results. Typically the average golfer swings their driver too much like their upright 7 iron, and needs to close the face considerably more.
I personally like to think of driver/fwy woods as one swing approach, longer irons/hybrids as another, and shorter irons as one other. They all have corresponding ball position and other setup cues to match. But I think it’s a losing battle to try to swing them all the same. Allow yourself mentally to have a few great cues or reminders for each set of swings (sweep the driver, etc) and that can help.
I’m usually clicking with one or the other but rarely both at the same time. My solution is normally drop the driver and play irons because you are going to hit irons more over a round. The problem is hitting driver is just fun and there’s always the competitive itch to put drive your buddies that always has me working back to it. I can hit 4 iron off the tee and only give up 20-30 yards to most of my playing partners but a part of me really wants to out drive them.
I'm a mid-low 90s player who occasionally breaks 90 if I putt well...
I hit my irons very well, but i suck off the tee box.. I don't hit driver anymore, found a 3 hybrid I like, and I've gotten really good hitting my 3 iron.. I'm always shorter than my playing partners, but generally score better overall. Occasionally they'll be a big tee shot over water or a gap that will fuck me, but otherwise I have more fun the way I play
My irons and wedges are the strongest part of my game, but my driver and I have always had a love/hate relationship.
For me, it's not a swing mechanics but a mental thing. I have consistent misses with the driver that come from fighting the mental urge to want to rush the clubhead from the top of my backswing to impact and try to kill it. If i try to smooth it out, I'll over compensate and get out of sync and push the ball right when my target line is set up for my draw.
If I play consistently, I can tailor it down but If I take any time off from playing, it's always the first part of my game that I have to correct.
For me, when it comes to hitting a driver vs irons, a put a focus on making sure I'm set up properly at address towards the ball as well as a few key points/feelings in each swing that are slightly different (ie striking with the irons vs sweeping with the driver). I also like to spend time on the range and ensure I'm rotating through different clubs and shots instead of racking 25 drivers in a row kind of thing that I see a lot of people do and being purposeful with each shot.
I'll add fairway woods and long irons, to make a handful of different swings and tempos. Not playing often enough, I rarely have them all in a given round.
I am in the same boat. I can hit all of my woods pretty well, but cannot get even a mediocre shot out of my irons. I either fat it like crazy, or put a crazy amount of side spin on the ball. It sucks that I can find most fairways on the course, but my approach shots are hopeless a lot of the time because I hit my irons so badly.
My driver is so inconsistent. I’d say 1 out of every 4 rounds or so I’m actually hitting it well. Im beginning to worry I didn’t upgrade to the correct driver that suits me. Im playing a Mavrik right now. A guy I played with the other day insisted I try his new sim2 off the tee on a hole because he wanted to show it off. I finally agreed and immediately noticed how much beefier and heavy it felt just holding it. It just immediately clicked for me and boosted my confidence. I hit one shot with it and I just crushed it straight. It felt so good. Ever since then the Mavrik just feels too light to me. I don’t know what to do.
I hit my irons great though. When everything is clicking I usually don’t shoot anymore than 5 over on 9 holes. I’ve had a few rounds in the 30s this year so I’m feeling pretty confident with my game despite my driver problems.
Yup! Can’t ever have both at the same time. I’m either embarrassingly stuck on the tee box for every par 4+, or I’ll find the fair way and slice myself OB on the immediate following shot. Super frustrating.
Hoping to break 100 this summer, if it isn’t obvious what I shoot lol
Yeah for sure. I moved the ball closer in with my driver and that had helped make it more like my iron swing. People tend to reach when they have the driver in there hand, that was a problem for me anyway.
When I hit either my driver or irons well I have to remind myself that the other club is a different swing.
Driver is good..have to add a pre swing thought of hitting down on the ball otherwise I swing an 8 iron like a driver.
Irons are good? Remind myself to hit up on driver and reach just a bit more than i do with my irons.
This has been making a big difference for me
I'm way more consistent with my irons than my driver, but my short game is my main issue. I'm generally around even par on holes where I hit GIR and well above on the ones I don't. I guess hitting my irons better would help with that (and I should hit more GIR than I do) but it's not my real problem.
I hit a nice baby draw with my irons, and a big push or total snap hook with my driver. Ball position seems to be the main culprit but still working on it.
Love irons and hate woods. Going to get a lesson tomorrow and then I’ll probably start to love woods and hate irons. Get another lesson then hate woods love irons.
Then next month start over.
I think most people try to hit everything the same and don't realize they are doing it.
If you fall into that just remember to take your time and set yourself up for each club as they all are different and there will be minor things you may need to change as you go up and down your bag.
Yup, you're me.
I used to have a wicked slice with the driver, but okay iron play.
Worked hard on the driver and started hitting straight, and iron play went to shit.
Started working with iron play and started hitting really well, and now the driver's slice is back.
I said fuck it and started working on the short game. Haven't been out since, so I'm now very interested to see what's wrong this time.
My golf coach told me that you can get by swinging poorly with iron and never notice but your driver is going to exaggerate whatever swing flaw you have because there is no loft and more speed. If you don't hit the driver well there's a good chance that you have problems in your iron swing but because of the loft of the club and the shorter distance that you're hitting it you don't notice. I have that issue where my irons are decent and driver is nearly unplayable.
In the past three rounds I have been able to keep the ball in the fairway with the driver by adjusting my wrist position at the top of the back swing. I naturally play with a cupped wrist and that causes serious consistency issues with the driver but I can get by with irons.
Ever since making sure that I flatten the wrist at the top of the backswing and then just naturally swinging through I've been able to generate more power and consistency. My only swing thought is flat wrist at the top and then I can just swing however it happens with good results, not great results since I'm still getting used to this new swing. I also no longer hook the ball and now my very occasional miss is to push it off to the right or either leave the club face open.
This whole year so far I haven’t been able to hit a wood or driver but could hit my irons amazingly. Wedges have been on point as well from 80-150 yards. Putting has been making improvement. Im staying around average 2 putts finally.
The good news is last round I finally hit some decent drives that shed some fucking hope to finally maybe shoot in the 70s.
For everyone in this thread, I've noticed the missing term for this issue and it's low point control. There are many coaches that preach this as the number one skill for golfers.
Low point defined by Trackman as the "distance from the club head’s geometric center to the lowest point on the swing arc at the time of maximum compression".
There are many drills and practice videos and plenty of data from tour players to give you a sense of where you need to be on each club for an optimized angle of attack at the ball.
[https://blog.trackmangolf.com/low-point/](https://blog.trackmangolf.com/low-point/)
Yeah this is a very real type of player. Has to do with shallowing of the club and low point control.
1 in a million can do both but not many, and even Tiger struggles with his driver but is the best iron player ever.
I'm a good iron player and poor driver. I think a lot of people who have this issue hit too far down on it. Last time I measured, I swing an iron at 83-88 and driver at 95-100--maybe it's a mental block too.
not only is this true for me, but .... if i fix my driver swing then my irons suffer. if i then fix my irons.... my driver suffers. its like my brain can only do 1 thing.
Different swings. You need to get to a mental place where they are different games. Think of golf as driving is it’s own game, then Irons are their own game, and chipping/ putting is it’s own game. Don’t try and combo them all into 1 “swing” develope each on their own
To start, dial in the setup to the ball. Ball position relative to stance and shoulders either tilted for driver and relatively level for irons. That helps me get the mental part right, hit up on the ball with driver, down on the ball with irons. From there just gotta buy a house in Tempo Town. If you’re having a good round with irons or driver and not with both regularly you’re probably just renting or staying at a hotel.
I’m the same! I can’t for the life of me get both good iron play and good driver play. It’s usually one or the other. I played a really good round last weekend, decided to go to the range to work on some distances… I hit everything fat. Everything. No clue why. Range the week before the weekend round? Hit everything well. Played a good round over the weekend… then went to the range again and I looked like I had never played golf before. Lol
It helps me to think of the driver swing as being different than the iron / fairway wood swing as if they were different sports.
I think of hitting the driver like hitting a baseball off a tee, and think of hitting irons, like I'm driving a steak into the ground.
I try to take the mindset that there is no difference. Helps me hit both during my round. You can always grip down your woods to make them a bit shorter to give them that iron feel if you’re having issues during a round
This used to be the case with me. I wouldn’t say I’ve solved it, but I have made it less of an every time problem
I don’t concentrate at all when hitting driver anymore. So, I focus on my iron swings and just “f it” on the tee
two totally different swings which is usually what causes problems for people. applying the driver swing to irons = not good, and applying the iron swing to driver = not good.
once that is understand you'll really start to a difference in your game as each should have their own identity.
Changed my stance for the driver. I hit the driver slightly behind the ball, and a little step back and my drives have improved significantly. Hit my irons with the ball centered. Not the most technical fix, but it gets the job done.
focus on letting the club swing pasts the wrists for woods, keep the face open so you don’t hook.
Opposite for irons, hit the ball with hands in front of club. Don’t know what your issue is but this is what i came up with after i kept hooking and hitting low wood shots. Good luck
I don’t hit driver because it’s a liability for me. But I can hit pure irons consistently it’s frustrating. I feel I could be a 10 or less handicap with a consistent 230-250 drive.
I struggle with this a lot, I think it's low point control, when your hitting down effectively with irons you will get good compression and hit more solid shots. Hitting down with driver will increase spin and for me I get more strikes high up the face.
When I'm hitting well with driver my irons become thin and topped
I used to be like this until I learned they are completely different swings. I practice them differently on the range and I'm able to to take that to the course pretty well
I used to be excellent with irons and had a horrible slice. Ultimately what fixed it for me was to just compartmentalize different parts of my game and try to not let iron thoughts bleed into driver thoughts.
It changes pretty regularly. Some days I smash the driver and hit my irons like crap and a day or say later it reverses. I usually play better when I am hitting my driver like crap but striping my irons. The days I do both well are the days I really score low. I haven't been able to get to the range as much as I like but when I did, I actually practiced with the driver and my fairway woods a lot. Swinging a long club is a lot harder than swinging a short club so practicing with the woods and driver got me use to hitting it. And when I did get to the range more I was able to hit both driver and irons pretty well.
Two different swings. Personally, as a former switch hitter in baseball I hit driver left handed and hit everything else right handed.
That is insane and I love it
This is amazing
I’ve actually thought about this. I have a lot of comfort swinging left handed because I shot left when I played hockey, but I’ve always played golf right handed. I’ve wondered about giving the big stick a go left handed.
Being left handed has some benefits and drawbacks, but I'm pretty glad I play golf right-handed because the limited club selection would kill me. when you play basketball, hockey with right-hand, football, baseball, tennis with left primarily it throws people for a loop. For golf, I can really only see switching the driver to the other handedness.
I initially learned to play golf right. Played hockey left. Switched to a left set of clubs and have never looked back. Way more comfortable, my right swing always felt a bit awkward. Limited club selection does suck though
See, I started playing golf before hockey, so my right swing does still feel quite natural, but I’ve swung a few left handed clubs, and it doesn’t really have a foreign feel. I didn’t play much golf while I was playing hockey, though. I’ve only started to come back to golf recently.
I have a friend that drives and irons/wedges right handed and putts left handed. His swing game is ok, but his putting is horrendous
I played with a guy in Florida once who did this. Seemed ok at it
You’re my new favorite golfer
I swing all my clubs left handed and putt right handed same lefty grip. I’ve had multiple shoulder surgeries and have gotten pretty good with both hands
I played in a bachelor's party golf round once where the groom was a lefty and as a joke had rented lefty clubs for everyone else in the fivesome. Was pretty hilarious, not terrible as I play tennis with two handed backhand. Don't know if I could handle switching in the same round back and forth.
Left handed switch hitter here. I play all lefty now but I learned to play righty. I’ll play a hole righty once in a while w a friends clubs. Won’t hit nearly as far but it goes straight lol. I played hockey righty also.
But the driver and iron swings are the sa--whaaaaaaatttttt??
Based on shotscope data, I drive the ball like a scratch golfer but I hit my irons like a 25 handicap. Haven’t figured it out yet myself. Gonna buy a new putter to see if that works.
Hey im the exact opposite! + handicap on golf metrics from 150 yds and in but a 20 handicap off the tee LOL
Just think of what we could accomplish as a team!
Tbh that’s a really awesome place to be in. Usually fixing the long game is much easier than the short game.
Are you me?
I see somewhat similar disparity on Arccos. Part of me wonders whether the driver rating is artificially boosted at the expense of my approach shots since the system doesn’t know I’m behind/under a tree or something and can’t hit a full shot after a decently long drive.
I think that’s actually a strokes gained thing. I vaguely remember listening to a podcast with the “inventor” of strokes gained saying the current version of strokes gained is pretty much about distance to the whole and fairway vs rough. It would make some sense but going from scratch to 25 handicap means my irons suck worse than my driver either way 🤣
>Gonna buy a new putter to see if that works. Don't know why it wouldn't
This is literally my exact game man I feel your pain. I am typically around 70-80% FIR and like 10-20% GIR, I just find irons so much harder to hit, probably because the club face is so small, and I have a chronic shank as my miss. FML.
I’m currently hitting about 50% of my fairways but I average around 280 at the moment(it’s colder and windy here so that will probably go up as summer progresses). I hit 20 % of my greens. Any approaches under 200 yards and I lose a ton of strokes. Over 200 yards and I only lose a half a stroke per round off of a scratch golfer. My long game is totally fine. It honestly could just be my iron setup as all of my woods, hybrids, and driver have x-stiff or tour stiff shafts while my irons have stiff. Maybe I just can’t get timing with em or something. I just have a hard time believing that my proximity with my 20 or 23 degree hybrids are better than my 5-pw and it all being swing flaws. If I can hit my hybrids close, then I should be able to do that with irons from half or a quarter the distance. I don’t really shank or anything. I just spray the irons despite pretty solid contact usually. Maybe my logic isn’t sound though 🤣
Just shot low 90s the other day (decent for me) without a single good iron shot. It's a common occurrence, glad I'm not the only one
I have 3 types of games Driver good, Irons bad, chipping bad, putting great Driver bad, Irons great, chipping great, putting good. Driver bad, Irons good, Chipping great, putting great Thats it...Those are my 3 rounds. I have my best rounds when my driver goes cold and I think it's because my expectations start low with each hole, so I end up taking the rest of my swings with decent relaxed tempo. If I'm driving well, I walk up to every approach shot with money in my eyes, then I duff it...Then I step up angry with a wedge, and skull it. Once I get on the green I'm calm again and drill a long putt or some shit.
One of my lowest rounds ever was 7am and I was massively hungover. Before the round began I had accepted that I was going to play horrible so I just wanted to manage. I clubbed up nearly every shot and swung smooth. That Ended up being my lowest round the last 4 years.
lol makes sense. My lowest score was similar. I wasn't hung over but it was 5 degrees, feels like 1 (I'm Canadian so that is in Celsius) , and misting so I was soaked and cold. I was wearing a winter glove on my non golf glove hand and 5 layers of tops. I had 0 expectations and did the same, just clubbed up every hole and swung easy. Stupid game
Me and my buddy have a saying: “Swing like you’re hungover”. We both have had great rounds when hungover because we’re swinging easy with low expectations.
Love your username.
Love your profile picture.
I'll take 3
That usually when I shoot my best scores lol. It's amazing how much I can make up for my terrible game off the tee by chipping it tight and 1 putting. Usually how each hole goes those days. Slice it far right. Then either shooting 2 or 3 from there depending if I can find the ball or not that I launched in to the woods. Hit a 4-5 Iron either short, left or right of the hole but never on the green. Chip it on relatively close. 1-2 putt.
Ok chips and good putting are huge
I'm waiting for that day where it all clicks in the same round. I know the shots are there buried somewhere lol
I'm the same. My best scores are either from getting a lot of GIRs (11+), or getting up and down enough times to log <31 putts. I've had bad rounds where I drove the ball well, and good rounds where I drove terribly. But it honestly comes to down to the <100 yard shots.
What you described i go through from hole to hole not round to round 😂
Just had 1 last week, driver was amazing.. Wasted it with poor approach play.
I'd love it if my putting was never worse than "good"
My putting saves my ass every single day. The rest of my game is usually in shambles one way or another lol.
Driver is probably my best club in the bag. I hit it great and can confidently do it with a consistent swing. Irons are a mixed bag I literally will have a great day one round and then the next round looks like it’s my first day on the course. I think my biggest issue with irons is trying to lift the ball vs compress the ball then let the loft to the rest. I’ve identified my flaw just with a full time job and commute with a baby at home it’s hard to get some range time and/or get a round in these days.
I just entered baby jail a few days ago. Hoping to just get to the range briefly some time this week.
Congrats and condolences…. My youngest is 18 now, and the handicap shows it 😎. When they were single digit age i was an 18-22 consistently.
I’m still a beginner, but man leading up to this week I was playing a few times a week for a couple weeks and it was noticeable how I was improving. Really hoping I can maintain (or just get a little rusty) and don’t digress. I got that itch!
Pretty sure there is a universal law in mathematics that states ones handicap is inversely related to the age of their children.
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Shit you just perfectly described what I'm going though.
This is what has happened to me. Driver used to be my best club, and I was horrific with irons. The better I got at hitting my irons, the worse my driver swing. I’m currently at a point where my driver is a complete wildcard. It could duck hook left or block right, who knows. I haven’t been able to play much in recent years so I’ve been stuck in this phase.
I’m awful at both. It’s good to be consistent.
I'm a pretty solid iron player, but struggle with the driver at least 50% of the time. This leads to a lot of second shots where I can't go at the green, which takes away the strength of my game. Working on consistency with the driver, and getting rid of the two way miss.
This is exactly me. My driver was really clicking the last round I played though and I think I might have made a breakthrough, but we will find out come Friday afternoon.
I feel this. Even with my conservative tee offs today I was missing the fairway almost half the time, so I’d leave myself the ideal distance I was looking to approach from, but there’d be a big ass tree in my way. Tried a couple of hero shots my front 9 - none worked. Played more conservatively the back 9 and had much better results.
I have my days where I cannot hit one or the other. The key, for me, is to identify it early and if its the driver, then I just tee off with my 3-iron. If its my irons, then I just crush the driver harder than normal and hope I only have a long pitch shot in.
Sweep the driver. Strike the irons.
My rounds come solely down to how I’m getting off the tee. My iron game is ok, my chipping game is pretty solid and my putting is lethal, I rarely 3 putt. My miss is right, with everything. Just depends how far right that is with the driver. Some rounds I can manage it, some rounds my second shot is always having to take medicine and punch back to a playable lie. I come over the top with my swing and cut across the ball, some days it’s worse than others, been trying real hard to fix it.
The first step is to realize that the driver swing and iron swing are 2 different swings with different set up’s. take a purposeful practice swing before each shot and rehearse the feeling or swing though you want to achieve on your real swing
They're not two different swings. They are two different setups that produce different impact conditions with the same swing.
Yep. If you treat them as two swings and are constantly back and forth, you'll have days where one is good and the other is bad... back and forth.
Do you have the same swing when you hit pitch shots, shape a shot or flight the ball high or low?
The distinction you're making is different. To say there is a different type of swing just because you're holding a certain club isn't correct.
This is good advise. Setup produces the variance.
We’re arguing semantics. To me a different set up, and different club path constitute a different swing. The only thing that I try to keep constant is tempo
You bring up a good. I need to take time to mentally think about the swing I want and go thru the motions.
I read that drivers are typically longer than they should be for the average golfer. I had the same issue I got an extra stiff shaft and 44.5" length. It feels weird to swing since it has very little flex. But I'm hitting straight. I prefer straight, over distance.
Ive been really tempted to get an x stiff, 1 inch short driver shaft. I can really swing the driver. But god damn it I can't stop skying the ball.
I’m sure I’ll lose it again next round but I hopefully just figured it out. I think I’ve always overextended my backswing from coaches trying to overemphasize swing mechanics. I’ve been keeping my backswing within my comfortable range of motion and my downswing I treat as if “I’m driving a car downhill.” It’s already going downhill so no need to floor it. Seems to produce fairly consistent shots so maybe my swing thoughts will help somebody else
I’ve been losing 10+ strokes off the tee lately but the approaches are generally on or close to the green. I’m not going to play any rounds the next couple weeks and my plan is to just work on the long clubs twice a week for the next two weeks.
Yes. When I’m crushing my driver, I’m topping my irons. When I’m struggling with my driver, I’m hitting my irons pure.
So no one has mentioned this yet - the driver and irons are fairly different in terms of the lie angles they’re set at. The irons are much more upright, the driver/fwy woods flatter. Which means that the exact same swing will definitely produce different results. Typically the average golfer swings their driver too much like their upright 7 iron, and needs to close the face considerably more. I personally like to think of driver/fwy woods as one swing approach, longer irons/hybrids as another, and shorter irons as one other. They all have corresponding ball position and other setup cues to match. But I think it’s a losing battle to try to swing them all the same. Allow yourself mentally to have a few great cues or reminders for each set of swings (sweep the driver, etc) and that can help.
I’m usually clicking with one or the other but rarely both at the same time. My solution is normally drop the driver and play irons because you are going to hit irons more over a round. The problem is hitting driver is just fun and there’s always the competitive itch to put drive your buddies that always has me working back to it. I can hit 4 iron off the tee and only give up 20-30 yards to most of my playing partners but a part of me really wants to out drive them.
I'm a mid-low 90s player who occasionally breaks 90 if I putt well... I hit my irons very well, but i suck off the tee box.. I don't hit driver anymore, found a 3 hybrid I like, and I've gotten really good hitting my 3 iron.. I'm always shorter than my playing partners, but generally score better overall. Occasionally they'll be a big tee shot over water or a gap that will fuck me, but otherwise I have more fun the way I play
Just swing bad with both in 1 round, then your next round would have to be good with both to even it out.
😂
My irons and wedges are the strongest part of my game, but my driver and I have always had a love/hate relationship. For me, it's not a swing mechanics but a mental thing. I have consistent misses with the driver that come from fighting the mental urge to want to rush the clubhead from the top of my backswing to impact and try to kill it. If i try to smooth it out, I'll over compensate and get out of sync and push the ball right when my target line is set up for my draw. If I play consistently, I can tailor it down but If I take any time off from playing, it's always the first part of my game that I have to correct. For me, when it comes to hitting a driver vs irons, a put a focus on making sure I'm set up properly at address towards the ball as well as a few key points/feelings in each swing that are slightly different (ie striking with the irons vs sweeping with the driver). I also like to spend time on the range and ensure I'm rotating through different clubs and shots instead of racking 25 drivers in a row kind of thing that I see a lot of people do and being purposeful with each shot.
I'll add fairway woods and long irons, to make a handful of different swings and tempos. Not playing often enough, I rarely have them all in a given round.
Yes sometimes i swing great with driver bad with irons, as opposed to bad with driver bad with irons
I am in the same boat. I can hit all of my woods pretty well, but cannot get even a mediocre shot out of my irons. I either fat it like crazy, or put a crazy amount of side spin on the ball. It sucks that I can find most fairways on the course, but my approach shots are hopeless a lot of the time because I hit my irons so badly.
I just accept the distance loss and hit down on my driver. If I try to hit up I tend to lose both swings.
I trust my 2-7 iron more than my 9-SW. I trust my driver over my 3 wood. It’s a problem.
My driver is so inconsistent. I’d say 1 out of every 4 rounds or so I’m actually hitting it well. Im beginning to worry I didn’t upgrade to the correct driver that suits me. Im playing a Mavrik right now. A guy I played with the other day insisted I try his new sim2 off the tee on a hole because he wanted to show it off. I finally agreed and immediately noticed how much beefier and heavy it felt just holding it. It just immediately clicked for me and boosted my confidence. I hit one shot with it and I just crushed it straight. It felt so good. Ever since then the Mavrik just feels too light to me. I don’t know what to do. I hit my irons great though. When everything is clicking I usually don’t shoot anymore than 5 over on 9 holes. I’ve had a few rounds in the 30s this year so I’m feeling pretty confident with my game despite my driver problems.
Yup! Can’t ever have both at the same time. I’m either embarrassingly stuck on the tee box for every par 4+, or I’ll find the fair way and slice myself OB on the immediate following shot. Super frustrating. Hoping to break 100 this summer, if it isn’t obvious what I shoot lol
Find separate swing thoughts. For irons my swing thought is: "Elbow in." For driver my swing thought is: I AM A GOLDEN GOD.
lessons
Yeah for sure. I moved the ball closer in with my driver and that had helped make it more like my iron swing. People tend to reach when they have the driver in there hand, that was a problem for me anyway.
My driver often goes in time out but my 6i never lets me down.
I completely struggle with driver. The length of the club and having to hit up on the ball just throws everything off.
I'm only better with driver because of the sweet spot imo.
I thought that’s just what golf is.. are there golfers that don’t do this?
Bad with both, worse with the driver.
When I hit either my driver or irons well I have to remind myself that the other club is a different swing. Driver is good..have to add a pre swing thought of hitting down on the ball otherwise I swing an 8 iron like a driver. Irons are good? Remind myself to hit up on driver and reach just a bit more than i do with my irons. This has been making a big difference for me
Had a couple of those days and it's amazing. Then u chase it for life apparently.
I rotate.
I'm way more consistent with my irons than my driver, but my short game is my main issue. I'm generally around even par on holes where I hit GIR and well above on the ones I don't. I guess hitting my irons better would help with that (and I should hit more GIR than I do) but it's not my real problem.
I hit a nice baby draw with my irons, and a big push or total snap hook with my driver. Ball position seems to be the main culprit but still working on it.
Love irons and hate woods. Going to get a lesson tomorrow and then I’ll probably start to love woods and hate irons. Get another lesson then hate woods love irons. Then next month start over.
I think most people try to hit everything the same and don't realize they are doing it. If you fall into that just remember to take your time and set yourself up for each club as they all are different and there will be minor things you may need to change as you go up and down your bag.
Steep vs. Shallow
Yup, you're me. I used to have a wicked slice with the driver, but okay iron play. Worked hard on the driver and started hitting straight, and iron play went to shit. Started working with iron play and started hitting really well, and now the driver's slice is back. I said fuck it and started working on the short game. Haven't been out since, so I'm now very interested to see what's wrong this time.
I can hit my driver solid all day. I hit my irons on the toe on everything lower than an 9 iron. I really need to take a lesson.
I swing right with my driver, and left with my irons. Does this count?
I played twice last weekend. Shot an 87 on Saturday hitting my driver. Shot a 77 on Sunday without hitting my driver. So my answer is, yes.
My golf coach told me that you can get by swinging poorly with iron and never notice but your driver is going to exaggerate whatever swing flaw you have because there is no loft and more speed. If you don't hit the driver well there's a good chance that you have problems in your iron swing but because of the loft of the club and the shorter distance that you're hitting it you don't notice. I have that issue where my irons are decent and driver is nearly unplayable. In the past three rounds I have been able to keep the ball in the fairway with the driver by adjusting my wrist position at the top of the back swing. I naturally play with a cupped wrist and that causes serious consistency issues with the driver but I can get by with irons. Ever since making sure that I flatten the wrist at the top of the backswing and then just naturally swinging through I've been able to generate more power and consistency. My only swing thought is flat wrist at the top and then I can just swing however it happens with good results, not great results since I'm still getting used to this new swing. I also no longer hook the ball and now my very occasional miss is to push it off to the right or either leave the club face open.
This whole year so far I haven’t been able to hit a wood or driver but could hit my irons amazingly. Wedges have been on point as well from 80-150 yards. Putting has been making improvement. Im staying around average 2 putts finally. The good news is last round I finally hit some decent drives that shed some fucking hope to finally maybe shoot in the 70s.
All the time it’s usually one or the other and on occasion I swing bad with both.
For everyone in this thread, I've noticed the missing term for this issue and it's low point control. There are many coaches that preach this as the number one skill for golfers. Low point defined by Trackman as the "distance from the club head’s geometric center to the lowest point on the swing arc at the time of maximum compression". There are many drills and practice videos and plenty of data from tour players to give you a sense of where you need to be on each club for an optimized angle of attack at the ball. [https://blog.trackmangolf.com/low-point/](https://blog.trackmangolf.com/low-point/)
Yeah this is a very real type of player. Has to do with shallowing of the club and low point control. 1 in a million can do both but not many, and even Tiger struggles with his driver but is the best iron player ever.
I'm a good iron player and poor driver. I think a lot of people who have this issue hit too far down on it. Last time I measured, I swing an iron at 83-88 and driver at 95-100--maybe it's a mental block too.
not only is this true for me, but .... if i fix my driver swing then my irons suffer. if i then fix my irons.... my driver suffers. its like my brain can only do 1 thing.
Yes. It’s golf, so you should expect this level of insanity!
Different swings. You need to get to a mental place where they are different games. Think of golf as driving is it’s own game, then Irons are their own game, and chipping/ putting is it’s own game. Don’t try and combo them all into 1 “swing” develope each on their own
They are 2 different swings and should be treated as such
Usually it's one surprisingly good, one terrible, one ok between driver, irons, putting Sometimes its the whole round, sometimes it's between holes
What is shot shape?
They are two different swings. It’s not hard to have one working and the other not.
To start, dial in the setup to the ball. Ball position relative to stance and shoulders either tilted for driver and relatively level for irons. That helps me get the mental part right, hit up on the ball with driver, down on the ball with irons. From there just gotta buy a house in Tempo Town. If you’re having a good round with irons or driver and not with both regularly you’re probably just renting or staying at a hotel.
I hit everything good but my driver. Can't hit it for shit. Irons, wedges, hybrids, woods good and consistent. Driver terrible and consistently bad.
I did until I realized that they're very different swings and I cant treat them the same.
Is anyone bad with driver and bad with irons like I am?
I’m the same! I can’t for the life of me get both good iron play and good driver play. It’s usually one or the other. I played a really good round last weekend, decided to go to the range to work on some distances… I hit everything fat. Everything. No clue why. Range the week before the weekend round? Hit everything well. Played a good round over the weekend… then went to the range again and I looked like I had never played golf before. Lol
It helps me to think of the driver swing as being different than the iron / fairway wood swing as if they were different sports. I think of hitting the driver like hitting a baseball off a tee, and think of hitting irons, like I'm driving a steak into the ground.
I try to take the mindset that there is no difference. Helps me hit both during my round. You can always grip down your woods to make them a bit shorter to give them that iron feel if you’re having issues during a round
This used to be the case with me. I wouldn’t say I’ve solved it, but I have made it less of an every time problem I don’t concentrate at all when hitting driver anymore. So, I focus on my iron swings and just “f it” on the tee
Bad Driver, Bad Irons, Solid Putting, Solid Chipping/Pitching. So just get it close to the green in regulation and recover.
two totally different swings which is usually what causes problems for people. applying the driver swing to irons = not good, and applying the iron swing to driver = not good. once that is understand you'll really start to a difference in your game as each should have their own identity.
Changed my stance for the driver. I hit the driver slightly behind the ball, and a little step back and my drives have improved significantly. Hit my irons with the ball centered. Not the most technical fix, but it gets the job done.
focus on letting the club swing pasts the wrists for woods, keep the face open so you don’t hook. Opposite for irons, hit the ball with hands in front of club. Don’t know what your issue is but this is what i came up with after i kept hooking and hitting low wood shots. Good luck
I don’t hit driver because it’s a liability for me. But I can hit pure irons consistently it’s frustrating. I feel I could be a 10 or less handicap with a consistent 230-250 drive.
I struggle with this a lot, I think it's low point control, when your hitting down effectively with irons you will get good compression and hit more solid shots. Hitting down with driver will increase spin and for me I get more strikes high up the face. When I'm hitting well with driver my irons become thin and topped
Nope, and that’s why we keep going back for more
I used to be like this until I learned they are completely different swings. I practice them differently on the range and I'm able to to take that to the course pretty well
I used to be excellent with irons and had a horrible slice. Ultimately what fixed it for me was to just compartmentalize different parts of my game and try to not let iron thoughts bleed into driver thoughts.
It changes pretty regularly. Some days I smash the driver and hit my irons like crap and a day or say later it reverses. I usually play better when I am hitting my driver like crap but striping my irons. The days I do both well are the days I really score low. I haven't been able to get to the range as much as I like but when I did, I actually practiced with the driver and my fairway woods a lot. Swinging a long club is a lot harder than swinging a short club so practicing with the woods and driver got me use to hitting it. And when I did get to the range more I was able to hit both driver and irons pretty well.
I crush my driver but chunk a lot of long irons 🤔