How To Compress Your Irons

Striping it. Trapping it. Hitting lasers. Puring your irons. Whatever you call it, we all know what it means. Hitting a solid iron shot is one of the best feelings in the world for a golfer. It’s a sensation we all chase like an elusive drug, keeping us coming back for more with no promise of delivery.

 
 

Almost every golfer has hit a pure iron shot, but very few know how to do it on command. This article uncovers the mystery of the iron game and lays out a step-by-step progression to hitting better iron shots. Not only will you be able to strike the ball better, you’ll know how you did it.

The science

Step one in improving any skill is understanding the task. In this case, how the swing works and what is required of the golfer to achieve success.

The compression that you hear and feel from the golf club stems from the speed of the golf ball leaving the club face, paired with the descent of the club through the ground. The ball speeds seen are higher on the PGA Tour than on the local muni because of two factors; the speed the club is traveling, and the loft being presented to the golf ball.

Below I have posted the 2024 Trackman data averages for the PGA Tour.

 

Trackman averages for the PGA TOUR in 2023.

Take, for example, the data for the 6-iron. The club moves at 94 mph on average, creating 130 mph of ball speed. The piece of data I want you to notice more than anything is the launch angle value. This is a calculation of the angle the ball launches at from the club face. PGA Tour players launch their 6-iron at just 14 degrees on average. Why is this so important?

A 14 degree launch angle means much more when you put into context that the common loft of the 6-iron is 30 degrees. This means that PGA Tour players are essentially turning their 6-iron into a strong-lofted 3-wood at impact (standard loft for a 3-wood is 15 degrees). Well, now we’re getting somewhere.

To show that this isn’t just a “guys” thing, I’ll post the LPGA Tour Trackman averages below.

Trackman averages for the LPGA TOUR in 2023.

You can see above that even the LPGA Tour players are taking their 30 degree 6-irons and launching the ball at 16.7 degrees.

Launch Angle is calculated from two values; the loft being delivered to the ball at impact (referred to as Dynamic Loft), and the ascent/descent of the club through impact (Angle of Attack). Launch Angle is 85% Dynamic Loft and 15% Angle of Attack.

So from the above information, we can agree that the best players in the world are hitting the golf ball with less loft than is built into their club and presenting that loft to the golf ball at a descending angle. Next, I’m going to talk about how they do this.

THE TECHNIQUE

So, if we know that the best players in the world are hitting down on the golf ball, and delivering the club with less loft than it is built with, what are they doing in their swings to accomplish this? If we look at the best iron player of all time, we can see some key attributes.

Tiger Woods at impact.

Tiger Woods, long considered to be one of the best iron players of all time, is seen above on the range at his home course of Medalist in Jupiter, FL. The two things I want you to notice in this picture are where his weight is located at the time of impact and where the club head is in relation to his hands.

This technique is nothing he developed on his own, in fact if we take a look at the most famous golf instruction book of all time, Five Lessons by Ben Hogan, we can see an illustration from the book that looks identical to Mr. Woods.

Illustration of Ben Hogan at impact from the book Five Lessons.

Again, we can see the same two elements between Woods and Hogan in the location of the weight and the relationship of the hands to the club head. Is it any coincidence that the two best iron players of all time looked identical at the moment of impact?

What if we looked at the top 5 players in the world at the time of this being published?

Official World Golf Rankings accurate as of September 18, 2024

Much like the examples of Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan, we see the same elements at impact with all top five players in the world. Their weight is more on the lead leg than on their trail leg and each player has their hands forward of the club head.

APPLICATION

Now the question you’re asking yourself is, “how do I apply this to my OWN game?” To make things very simple, we’re going to boil this down to two separate two-word phrases.

The first phrases is, “weight forward” which refers to the majority of your body weight being on your target-side foot in the downswing. The majority of golfers that struggle to compress the golf ball do so because they are trying to lift the ball in the air, keeping their weight on their trail foot.

The second phrase is, “flying wedge.” This refers to the angle formed between the trail forearm and the shaft of the club when you move your hands forward at address. The goal is to maintain that angle throughout the swing and deliver it back to the ball. This move lowers the loft of the club and increases the speed of the ball off the club face.

When working on incorporating these pieces into your swing, it is advisable to start with short swings at a slower tempo. One of the most important facets to improving any part of your game is having feedback. Whether that’s a training aid, video of your swing or a practice station you can build, there needs to be a measurement of your success or failure on a given piece of the swing.

The best practice station you can devise for improving your contact is simply a line on the ground. Set up to the line so that it’s in the middle of your stance, similar to where the ball would be with a mid-iron. The goal in this practice station is to make divots (shallow divots, not steep holes!) that start on the line and then move in front of it.

Start without a golf ball and then add it in when you feel more comfortable. If you are hitting the ground behind the line(ball), then chances are your weight is too far back or your club is passing your hands before impact.

conclusion

As golfers, we all want to own that sensation of a perfect shot. We want to bottle it up and unleash it on command. We all know the sound, we all know the feeling, and now, you know the science behind it. Take the pieces I’ve outlined above and work on them diligently. I promise it will be worth it!

Have you tried these drills and are still struggling? I work with golfers all over the world just like yourself remotely through the Skillest app. As an introductory offer, I’m offering you 20% off your first lesson or monthly subscription with the code ADCOCK20. Click the link below to learn more!

 
Full SwingNick Adcock