Two-time Tour winner Rock demonstrates a great drill to control the clubface more and stop flipping those irons.
Stop flipping your irons
This is a great drill if you are one of those players who builds up everything nicely in the swing and, as you come in just before impact, you then you let the clubhead freewheel through the ball.
You probably don’t get any pressure into the ground or take divots properly, and you can’t control the face as much. Does this sound familiar?
Take a tour stick and hold it in your grip. Now rehearse the backswing with the stick in place and make a slow swing through impact to get the feeling of where the hands, arms and body should be.
We want the hands to be forward and the club swinging to the left.
Find the ideal impact position
To avoid the hands flicking around the impact area this drill should introduce a little bit of extra arm movement and body turn through the hitting area. What we don’t want it the clubhead taking over and releasing too early.
When done correctly, with your arms and body speed working together, you can keep the right wrist bend for long enough to keep some shaft lean at impact. You will then be able to keep the arms swinging around to the left and keep the clubhead moving down the line.
If you can perfect this you will really improve your control of the clubface as the right wrist hasn’t fully released. When you flip it most people hit it too high or can’t hit it low and most hookers of the ball also do this as their arms come away from the body too much.
This will add more control over your clubhead speed so you can hit irons not only the right trajectory but also the right distance. Most great iron players do this, they have some bend in the right wrist at impact and the clubhead and the hands work together in similar arcs around the body rather than chasing down the line too much.
When you get used to this try three-quarter shots at half speed.