I have been out for a total of 3 full rounds of golf in my life. The first round i shot in the 140s and it was kind of a dick around thing with a buddy.
But I fell in love with it and started trying to figure out hos to play. Second round was in the 120 range with a lucky birdy that will never happen again.

My last round I shot a 106 and didnt go over a 7 which felt pretty good. I know its terrible but my goal for the end of this year is to break 100.

My problem is I cant hit my irons to save my life. I dont use a driver but I just bought some nike vrs fairway woods and I really like them so I use them off the tee
I could lie like most people and say they go 325 - 350 to try to sound cool but they dont. My 3 carries about 225 - 250 and about 80 percent of the time it goes straight.

My irons are a stiff flex graphite +1 set of confidence clubs (cheap set on some website) and my 3 iron only carries about 165-175 and goes straight maybe 50 percent of the time. ..

So after all that shit my question is is there something beginners do with their irons that makes them fall so short?

It takes lots of practice. Don't freak out about not hitting as far as others. I hit my 7 iron from 150 and most people can hit a much higher club. What is important is learning to be consistent and knowing how far you hit each club.

You may just not be a long hitter which is perfectly fine, what you want is accuracy.

Get out to a driving range and work your irons (you seem comfortable with your fW woods). Remember that you will set up differently (closer to the ball and more of a centered placement than your woods).

Work on a smooth swing, don't worry about distance. Straighten out the shots first and making good contact.

YouTube some proper swings or watch some golf and see how their swings vary.

This post was edited by iRTB on Jul 25 2013 07:05am

I actually did those thing to improve my swing. Youtube helped wonders. And I try not to worry about distance but I hate the fact I have to drive par 3s that are over 170.
The course by my house is only like 10 bucks to walk 9 and 7 bucks for a bucket of balls at the range so which is a better idea?

And is the fact I hit them less accurately most likely caused by where I position the ball in my stance?

Also are a few lessons with a "pro" worth for the money?

It can be a factor of it yes. Irons should be played more in the middle...

Don't worry about using a wood on par 3s like that..My buddy and I can use like a 7-6 iron on something like that but another buddy of mine will use his hybrid or 3-5 wood...we will all end up in the same spot.

What do your hits look like when you don't hit it straight?

Almost always about 50-75 yards to the left of where I aim but still like a straight ball.
I used to have a pretty bad slice but after I watched the videos that went away.

But for some reason when I really put my hips and back into my drives it starts left and ends up center fairway and way further than my calm swing.
I dont do that often cause it makes me to nervous

A lot to cover here with no 100% answers that I can give without seeing your swing.


First and foremost,



That is bull shit. You have to think every shot is going to be perfect otherwise you're fucked (kind of like every other sport). I read this book by Ben Hogan titled "Ben Hogan's Five Lessons" and in it he says (and I'm paraphrasing) "Golf isn't about hitting a good shot every time. Golf is all about having good misses. You hit 100 balls and maybe 5-10 of them will do what you want them to do. The key is to get those other 90 balls to only miss a little."

That made so much sense to me and was kind of mind blowing all at the same time. I'd never thought of it that way before. Anyway, end rant on that one lol.



There are a lot of things you could be doing wrong here. First thing is, after stalking your profile real quick, you're not an old guy. You're 24, soon to be 25 right? You can probably swing pretty hard yet you're hitting graphite shafts. They may be stiff but you're most likely in need of some steel shafted irons. The problem with graphite shafts when you don't need them is that you're body is already through the shot while the head of the club is still making the shot. This causes a severe loss in power (distance) and control.

If that's not the case, then honestly, it's just a lack of practice. What I recommend is going out to the range and hitting at least 50 balls with each club. Start with your favorite iron out of your 8, 7 or 6 and just hit away. Hit and hit and hit and hit until you know with 100% certainty how far that one particular club is going to go.

For me, that's my 8 iron. I know that I could go and hit my 8 iron 160 yards, straight, every single time so the rest of my numbers are based off of that. You find that one club that you know for sure and then you can add or subtract roughly 10 yards per club in each direction. So say you're 8 is going 160 for you but your 7 is going 165 instead of 170. That means a few things could be going on but most likely it's just a lack of strength to be honest. The average person has a 10 yard gap between their irons so if you're not hitting that mark, it's lack of experience and skill (which is simply because you're new to the sport) or lack of strength.

Solutions for that are getting weighted clubs/swing aids to help develop the muscles used while swinging (not a bad investment at all) or to continue to practice with each club. If you can, try and get out to the range a few times a week (if not every night) and go through a bucket of balls on just one club. Hit that same club over and over and over and over again. It's all about consistency and making your misses a little more controlled.



While I know playing is more fun, if you want to get better, I say hit the bucket of balls for now, doing what I said above. Toss in a round of 9 here and there so you can get more situational shots, but work on that consistency on the range.



I believe I addressed that above. Could be your clubs more than you. Could be 100% you, idk without knowing some of your stats. If you have a GolfSmith, GolfTown (Canada), PGA Super Store or anything with some sort of golf stat analyzer to use, I say go there and find out your swing speed with your irons. If you're above about 75-80 with a 7 iron, you should probably look into investing into a set of clubs with steel shafts if you plan on getting serious.



Yes it can be. If you go to a course and use their pro, you're usually overpaying like fuck though. I work for GolfSmith and we have a company affiliated with us called GolfTec and they are absolutely fantastic. Very good prices, great atmosphere and incredibly knowledge coaches. They have improved my game immensely since I've been working there (get free lessons of course though haha). I know PGA Superstore has lessons too but idk how good they are. Won't talk bad about the competition but I haven't heard great things.



What's most likely happening is you're popping your hips at the proper time but you're aimed farther left than you think and then when you come through the shot, you're not turning your hands over quick enough so when the ball releases off the face of the club, you've pushed it left due to your stance and line up but put a shit ton of side spin on it causing it to slice from the face of your club being open.


That's the best I can do without seeing your shot. From the sounds of it you're on the right track, you're just new. You'll get better, like with anything, it's just practice practice practice.