To stop pushing golf balls off iron shots, it is important to pay attention to the positioning of the ball and the clubface. Begin by ensuring that the ball is positioned correctly in relation to your stance – for right-handed golfers, the ball should be slight to the left of the center of your stance.
Make sure that the clubface is square at impact to avoid pushing the ball to the right of the target. To strike the ball right, focus on your body alignment and keep your clubface open and square throughout the swing. It is also crucial to maintain a consistent tempo and follow through to ensure a clean strike.
By paying attention to these details and making the necessary adjustments. You can effectively eliminate the push shot from your iron shots and see improvement in your overall accuracy and control on the course.
How To Stop Pushing Iron Shots
To stop pushing iron shots, it is important to analyze a few key factors in your setup and swing.
First, check your stance and ensure that the ball is not too far back in your stance. Placing the ball too far back can cause the clubface to be open at impact, leading to shots that push to the right of your target. Instead, position the ball slightly forward in your stance to allow for a cleaner strike and better control of the clubface. During the downswing, focus on shifting your weight onto your left side and using your lower body to rotate through the shot, rather than relying solely on your arms and hands.
By using your lower body to power the swing, you can ensure that the clubface remains square at impact, preventing pushes to the right. Paying attention to the position of the clubface at impact and ensuring it is square to your target line can help eliminate the tendency to push iron shots. By addressing these key factors in your setup and swing, you can work towards eliminating the push and achieving more accurate iron shots.
Check Your Set Up and Alignment
As a golfer, it is important to pay close attention to your setup and alignment in order to achieve a successful and accurate swing. Many golfers encounter frustrating issues such as pushed or blocked shots, which can be a result of being too far from the inside at the setup. It is important for right-handed golfers to ensure that their clubface is square to the target and that their body is properly aligned to the ball. One way to fix a push is to adjust the set up by moving the ball slightly back in the stance and ensuring that the body is not too far from the inside. This will help in promoting a more accurate swing and prevent pushed shots.
One of the most common causes of pushed shots is an improper setup and poor alignment. Some key things to check:
Grip
Make sure your grip isn’t too strong, with the V formed by your right thumb and forefinger pointing more toward your right shoulder rather than your right ear. This promotes a shut clubface through impact and leftward starting direction.
Stance
Avoid standing too close to the ball. This makes it hard to make a full shoulder turn and shift your weight properly, usually resulting in an “over the top” swing path from outside to inside.
Ball Position
Be sure the ball is positioned properly for each iron, closer to your front foot with shorter irons and more centered with longer irons. Balls positioned too far forward lead to pushes.
Alignment
Align your body and clubface several feet left of your target line. This helps counteract the natural tendency to push shots to the right. Don’t aim too far left though.
Work on Your Swing Path
In order to improve your golf swing, it is important to work on your swing path. An open clubface at impact can often lead to pushed or blocked shots, causing the ball to drift to the right of your intended target. This problem is often a result of the feet and shoulders being open to the target, causing the swing to come far from the inside.
Working to correct this issue and properly aligning your feet and shoulders can help to stop pushing golf shots and eliminate blocked shots. Understanding and addressing the root cause of these issues, such as an open clubface at impact, is crucial in improving your overall golf game.
The most frequent swing fault that causes pushed shots is an overly outside-to-inside path, known as coming “over the top.” Here’s how to shallow out your swing:
Feel a Wide Takeaway
To feel a wide takeaway, it is important to focus on how to stop pushing iron shots and instead ensure that they find the fairways and greens in regulation. One common mistake is to have a position that is too far for right-handed players. It is essential to keep the clubface square to the target in order to achieve a successful wide takeaway. Commence your backswing by sensing that your hands and club are moving away from the ball on a wide and shallow path. This will establish the correct plane for an inside approach.
Maintaining Spine Angle
Maintaining a proper spine angle is essential for a successful right-handed iron shot. To avoid blocking and pushing your shots, keep your spine angle consistent throughout the swing. When the spine angle is compromised, the club can make contact with the ball well to the right of the target. Golfers can improve the accuracy and distance of their iron shots by focusing on maintaining proper spine angle.
Maintain your spine angle during the backswing by tilting your upper body instead of swaying or straightening up. This keeps the swing bottoms from becoming too steep.
Start the Downswing with Your Lower Body
It is essential to begin the downswing with the lower body to avoid pushing iron shots. This means beginning the movement with the hips and lower body rather than the arms and hands. Golfers can generate more power and consistency in their shots by engaging the lower body properly, leading to improved ball striking. Fire your hips toward the target to begin the downswing rather than just unwinding your shoulders. This shallows the swing plane through impact.
Delay Wrist Uncocking
To prevent pushing iron shots, it is important to address delayed wrist uncocking in the golf swing. When the wrists uncock too late during the downswing, it can result in an open clubface at impact, leading to the ball being pushed to the right for a right-handed golfer. One effective way to stop pushing iron shots is to work on properly timing and releasing the wrists in the downswing, ensuring the clubface is square at impact. Try to delay releasing your wrists until well into the downswing. Holding off on tilting the clubface promotes a flatter, more inside-out path.
Don’t Release the Clubhead Too Early
Releasing the clubhead too soon through impact is another mis-hit that causes pushed shots for many players. Here’s how to hold off the release:
Lag the Clubhead
Try to keep the clubhead lagging behind your hands as long as possible during the downswing. This retains clubhead speed.
Quiet Lower Body
Avoid starting the downswing by swaying your hips laterally toward the target. Keep them quiet to delay release.
Release at Impact
Time the full release of the club so that maximum clubhead speed is achieved at the moment of impact with the ball.
Choose a Club with Less Offset
When selecting a golf club with less offset, it is important to focus on keeping the clubface square at impact. One way to achieve this is to check your grip and make sure it is not too weak, as a weak grip can result in an open clubface at impact. Instead, consider strengthening your grip slightly to better control the clubface angle at impact.
Focus on keeping your body and clubface open at impact to prevent pushing iron shots. By maintaining a more open body and clubface, you can improve your chances of hitting the ball straighter and more accurately.
Selecting a club with less offset can be beneficial for golfers who struggle with pushing iron shots, but it is equally important to consider and address other factors such as grip, body positioning, and clubface angle to achieve the desired results on the course.
Offset is the space between the hosel and the clubface on irons and woods. More offset helps a golfer close the face, while less offset makes it easier to keep the face open. To stop pushing shots, try switching to an iron with less offset for more of a natural release.
Swing Easier with Your Body
Trying to muscle shots with your arms and hands leads to inconsistencies in face control through impact. Commit to making smoother, easier swings by focusing on body motion:
Turn Back with Shoulders
Feel like you start the backswing by turning your shoulders and torso away from the target, not just your arms.
Transition Laterally
Swing down by feeling like your upper body shifts laterally toward the target, keeping your arms relaxed.
Clear Hips
Time your hip and torso rotation to pull your arms through contact so the face isn’t released too early.
This takes the tension out of the hands and makes solid contact more automatic. Avoid tense, jerky motions.
Keep the Clubface Open Longer
The clubface should be closing just as it reaches the ball at impact. However, players who push shots typically release the face too soon on the downswing. Here’s how to hold it open a fraction longer:
Align Clubface Left
At the address, aim the clubface a few degrees left of your target line. This feels closed but compensates for early release. When addressing the ball, make sure the clubface is aimed slightly to the left of your target line. This may feel like the clubface is closed, but it will compensate for any early release of the club during your swing. This adjustment can help you hit the ball straighter and avoid slicing it to the right. Remember to practice this adjustment and see how it improves your ball striking.
Weaken Grip
As mentioned before, a more neutral left-hand grip makes it easier to keep the face open. This is because a neutral left hand grip allows for a more natural and relaxed wrist position, which makes it easier to control the clubface and prevent it from closing during the swing. It also helps promote a more consistent and repeatable swing, as there is less manipulation of the clubface through impact. Overall, a neutral left hand grip can lead to better ball striking and more accurate shots.
Bow Left Wrist
Try keeping your left wrist bowed slightly away from the ball during the swing. This retains loft and face angle. Keeping your left wrist bowed slightly away from the ball during the swing can help you maintain loft and face angle, thus resulting in better contact with the ball. This position also helps to prevent the clubface from closing too soon, resulting in a more consistent and accurate shot. Focus on maintaining this position throughout your swing to improve your ball striking. Practice this move at the driving range before taking it out on the course.
FAQs
How do I stop pulling iron shots?
To stop pulling iron shots (balls that start left and continue left), focus on squaring your clubface at impact. Grip down to reduce the chance of an open clubface, weaken your left hand grip slightly, and align your body and clubface a few degrees right of target. Also avoid swaying back or sliding your hips toward the target during the downswing.
Why am I hitting a push slice?
A push slice starts right off the target and continues slicing further right. This is often caused by clubface alignment that is open relative to the swing path. Try strengthening your left hand grip slightly, aligning your clubface closer to the target at the address, and delaying wrist release until impact.
How do you prevent fat iron shots?
To prevent fat shots, make sure you don’t sway laterally on the downswing. Maintain spine angle and let the club shallow naturally. Tee the ball up slightly to make solid contact easier. Also, try playing the ball back in your stance a bit more to avoid catching the ground first.
How do you stop hitting chips off the toe?
To stop chipping off the toe, position the ball slightly forward or center in your stance. Make sure your weight is favoring the lead side and handle the club lightly to avoid flipping. Maintaining spine angle and letting the arms hang down naturally will also help strike the ball first.
Why are my divots toe deep?
Divots too deep toward the toe indicate an overly steep, downward angle of attack with irons. Focus on shallowing the shaft on the downswing, maintaining spine angle at address, and releasing the clubhead through impact. This levels out the swing plane and divots. Weakening the grip can also help diminish the toe-digging release.
Conclusion: How to stop pushing iron shots
To stop pushing iron shots, it is crucial to pay attention to the positioning and movement of the club face. When addressing the ball, ensure that the club face is square to the target line at impact. This is especially important for right-handed golfers, as a closed club face can easily result in the ball flying to the right of the target. Additionally, focus on your body positioning and alignment to the target line at impact. A misaligned body can also lead to pushing the golf ball right.
Practice your swing and ensure that your club face is square throughout the swing and that you are delivering the club to the ball on the correct path. It may be helpful to work with a golf instructor to identify any specific issues in your swing that may be causing the push. By making these adjustments to your technique and being mindful of the club face and target line at impact, you can effectively stop pushing iron shots and improve your overall game.
