How you finish says a lot about the swing you just made.
If you look at the heads of most game-improvement and super-game-improvement irons, you’ll probably notice they look like they’ll make it easier to hit the ball higher and straighter. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, but even with those features, you still have to make a swing that capitalises on their design. Many poorer iron players swing down into the ball too steeply, and that creates a lower, clunkier shot.
Your emphasis with these clubs should be to make a shallower swing into impact, which will promote better contact and get the ball up. You don’t want to feel bunched up; you want a feeling of extension. One way to better understand this approach is to think about something I call the “tree of trust”. If you visualise and then make a swing that gets you into a high finish [above] – standing tall like a tree – you’ve likely made a swing that allowed the club and your arms to extend in the downswing while your body created space for the club to swing through on a shallower path. Why does this work? Every action has a reaction. When your body drives up, it creates an opposing force through your arms and club. The trust part comes from knowing that getting into this tree-like finish creates the dynamic reaction needed for good contact and a higher flight.
Megan Padua Buzza, Golf Digest Best Young Teacher, Buzza Golf Coaching, Frisco, Texas
