TGOH

So, yesterday I played a round at Cherry Island, a relatively nice course in the Sacramento area. I played pretty well, by my standards, and shot an 88. This was only the second time I've broken 90, so, naturally, I'm happy with that.

What I noticed was that I was striking the ball well with my irons. It seemed like anything I pulled out of my bag I hit well...Except my 4 iron. I used it once, and sliced a weak shot in to the water, and ended up doubling the hole. This wasn't a rarity either. I only had to use it once yesterday, but that weak slice is a common occurance whenever I pull it out of the bag.

What gets me is that this is the only club I hit poorly consistently. Any suggestions as to why this might be and how I could remedy it?

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Driver: Taylormade R7 Draw 10.5*, R flex, Re Ax 55 gram tip soft shaft.
3 wood: Tommy armour 845FS Silver Scot 15*
3 hybrid: Taylormade Rescue Mid 19*
Irons: 4-PW Taylormade R7
GW/SW: Taylormade RAC 50*/56*
LW: Nike Forged 60*
Putter: Ping Zing 2, 34", Green dot

Surtees

Fristly let me say congrats on breaking 90. Have you tried good to the range and hitting with your 5 for a while until your happy with your swing and tempo go to your 3. Then go to your 4 just focusing on your swing and tempo not focusing on your distance and see how you go.

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"Hey, is this room out of bounds?" - After hitting his ball through a clubhouse window.

TGOH

I haven't yet. I'm guessing that will be my first course of action. Thanks for the advice.

__________________
Driver: Taylormade R7 Draw 10.5*, R flex, Re Ax 55 gram tip soft shaft.
3 wood: Tommy armour 845FS Silver Scot 15*
3 hybrid: Taylormade Rescue Mid 19*
Irons: 4-PW Taylormade R7
GW/SW: Taylormade RAC 50*/56*
LW: Nike Forged 60*
Putter: Ping Zing 2, 34", Green dot

cbwheeler

Here is what is happening. When you have a longer club in your hand, you subconsciously want to swing it harder. This is something we as golfers all fight against. It happens to absolutely everyone. Most golfers, when they swing harder, do it with their arms which causing a casting effect that results in an open clubface and a glancing blow that causes a slice.

The solution? Head to the range and choke down about 3/4 of an inch on your 4 iron to groove the feel of hitting it nice and smooth. This will help to control it and will build your confidence. This will also help to instill in your mind that a 4 iron can be swung smoothly and still fly the same distance.

Once you've got it down, gradually go back to normal length. Honestly if you want to, you can leave it choked down. You'll notice a lot of tour players choke down on their irons quite a bit, Sergio Garcia being one of them, one of the world's best ball strikers (although a head case of a short game).

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Cody Wheeler
PGTAA Class A Master Instructor
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TGOH

I'll definitely give that a try on Monday when I get to the range. Thanks for the tip.

__________________
Driver: Taylormade R7 Draw 10.5*, R flex, Re Ax 55 gram tip soft shaft.
3 wood: Tommy armour 845FS Silver Scot 15*
3 hybrid: Taylormade Rescue Mid 19*
Irons: 4-PW Taylormade R7
GW/SW: Taylormade RAC 50*/56*
LW: Nike Forged 60*
Putter: Ping Zing 2, 34", Green dot

white_tiger_137

It's all in your head!

The truth is that it takes long hours of practice to get comfortable with any given club. If you don't have an unshakable confidence in a club and you hit a few crappy shots with it, naturally you'll expect that the next time you pull it out something atrocious will happen. Self-fulfilling prophecy.

I have the same mental block with my 5 and 6 irons. I rarely use them, which leads to second thoughts when I do have to use them, which leads to bad shots, which leads to me rarely using them.

Take your 4 iron to the range and hit a few buckets. Break the cycle!

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broken tee

[quote=white_tiger_137;22144]It's all in your head!

you're correct it is all in your head...50% THINKING AND 50% MENTAL

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Best Game I ever swore at

BoilerGTI

just relax and focus on the tempo of your swing. generally, when golfers get to their long irons, they try so hard to hit the ball, that it gets in the way of a good shot. let the club work for you....just go out to the range and have a specific goal in mind, pick out a target like it were on the course.
best of luck

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In The Bag:

9.5 Cleveland Comp with Stiff Graffalloy Blue
15* Cleveland Launcher Ti 3-wood
22* Cleveland Halo hybrid
4-P Cleveland TA-7 Tour Irons
54* & 56* Taylormade RAC TP wedges
Scotty Cameron Newport 2 35"

broken tee

I've done that many times, its a hard habit for me to break over swinging
one of these days I'm going to learn.

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Best Game I ever swore at

BrianMcG

This reminds me of a funny story. Quite a few years ago in "Golf Digest" I believe, they decided to take an old set of Bobby Jone's clubs and test them to see what the flex, swingweight, etc. of his irons were and to compare them with a modern set of clubs.

They found to their surprise that he had a perfectly matched set, swing weights, shaft stiffness, lengths, lie angles and lofts, except for his 5 iron (a surprise given to the fact that it took hundreds of clubs and thousands of shag balls to get a set to perform properly since all clubs were made by hand then).

The 5-iron they found to have a shaft that was much stiffer than the rest of his set. They asked Mr. Jones about this, thinking that this had been done on purpose, to which he replied "I never could hit that damn 5-iron right."

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What's In the Bag:
Driver: Titleist 975 J-VS 8.5'
3-Wood: Titleist 14.5', EI-70 Stiff
4-Wood: Titleist 18.5, EI-70 Stiff
Irons: 3-PW Titleist 990, Dynamic Gold Lite Stiff
SW,GW,LW:Ping Tour Grind
Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport
Ball: Titleist Pro-V1
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