Iron play This weeks tip is about iron play and in particular making sure you strike your iron shots well from tight/bare lies that we have on the fairways currently. The common fault when the ball is on a bare lie is to try and lift the ball up in the air. When a player does this, there weight moves onto their back foot on the downswing. This results in the club hitting the ground before the ball or thinning the golf ball. In order to avoid this, follow these simple steps below. Setup: The most important element with the setup is ball position. With irons from sand wedge to 7 iron, play the ball in the middle of your stance. With the longer iron, move the ball slightly further forward. Another important thing to check you have correct in the set up is the position of the handle. Ideally we want the handle to be in line with the golf ball or slightly ahead of it. If the handle is behind the golf ball, this will make it difficult to hit down on the golf ball. Weight Transfer: During the golf swing, your weight should move in the direction the club is travelling. Therefore for a right handed golfer, during your backswing your weight should move onto your right foot. As you swing down to the golf ball and through to your follow through, your weight should move through to your left foot. This is not a large sway with your body, more a movement of pressure from one foot to the other. The movement onto your left foot on the downswing is what will give you the downward strike on the golf ball and ensure it gets nicely up in the air. A good drill to help you with the feeling of your weight transferring onto your left side through impact is the step drill. To do this start off with both feet together and make a backswing. For this drill have a pause at the top of your backswing. To start the downswing, step with your left foot towards the target and then swing down and through. This gives you the feeling of your weight moving towards the target through impact, improving strike and distance the ball will travel. It is important to rememeber that golf is a game of opposites, and in order to get the ball up in the air, you must hit the golf ball with a slight descending blow. I hope you find this tip helpful, and for more information or to book a lesson please contact the Porfessional Shop staff. Get in touch here.
Coaching dates The Junior Academy is now up and running with 6 juniors taking part with PGA Professional Peter Horner. The sessions take place on a Sunday from 1.30pm – 2.30pm. For more information about joining the remaining 4 sessions please contact Peter by email on pete-91@live.com. The first Vets group coaching session is available for sign up. The session will cover bunker and takes place on Thursday 11th October from 10am – 11am. There is a signup sheet for this in the Gents Locker Room. For more information on any of the above or on individual lessons please visit the Professional Shop and any of the staff will be happy to help. | 
