Feel the squeeze

Focus on your hand position to create a more compressing impact

Focus on your hand position to create a more compressing impact.

Fault: Flicking at your irons, caused by hard range mats Fix: Rehearse a hands-ahead impact

Practice can sometimes hurt your game instead of helping it, and hitting irons at the range is a notorious example. Often the mats we hit off create a nasty jarring impact for the descending, compressing strike we need with irons. We’ll instinctively avoid it, adopting more of a weak, flicking action that compromises performance. Moving forward, either find a range with advanced, giving mats or ideally hit balls off turf. But as you do, remind yourself where you need to be at impact with your irons.