It's like the Monkey says - "You need to hit down with your short irons and sweep your long irons."

Have you ever heard that before?  So the question is - If you hit down on your short irons and sweep your long irons - what do you do with your mid-irons?  Do you kind of hit down and kind of sweep them at the same time?  Should you hit more down on your 8-iron than you do on your 7-iron?  And if so, how much more?  And do you sweep your 3-iron more than you would with your 4-iron?  And again, if you do, how much more?  If you say yes to any of these questions - it's no wonder that you're struggling to break 90 on the golf course - even Tiger and Annika aren't thinking about being that precise!

So the question continues - What's the cut-off point that says you've moved from short irons to mid irons and mid irons to long irons?  Some Monkeys say that the short irons consist of the Sand Wedge, Pitching Wedge, 9-iron and 8-iron.  The mid-irons include the 7, 6, and 5.  The long irons are the 4 and 3.  And some other Monkeys consider the SW, PW and 9 to be short irons - the 8, 7 and 6 to be mid -  and the 5, 4 and 3 to be the long irons.

Now this is serious Monkey business because if you don't know which category the 5-iron goes in, how do you know if you're supposed to sweep it like a long iron or do that half and half thing that you're supposedly supposed to do with your mid-irons.

This is so confusing!

Yet, the Player doesn't put their clubs into the 'short iron', 'mid iron' and 'long iron' categories.  Maybe that's why they're less confused on the golf course and more composed than the Monkey.  The Player just swings them all the same way, so the Player says - "If I swing all my clubs the same way, why would I need to come up with categories such as short irons, mid irons and long irons?  I'm just trying to put the same swing on all my irons and just let the Loft Of The Club and the Length Of The Shaft determine the different distances the golf ball flies."

That's so refreshingly simple!

It's like the Golfer that came to see us to work exclusively on their 'long irons'.  When we didn't touch anything that resembled what he described as a 'Long Iron' on the 1st day he said he was disappointed that we hadn't worked on ball striking.  So we said - "Yes we did.  For the first 3-hours today we worked exclusively on your ball striking.  Everything we did was based on helping you hit the ball solid in the center of the club face."

But, they said, "we never touched our long irons all morning.  How could we have helped my problem of hitting my long irons better if we didn't practice them?"

"We did practice them!" we said.  "How could I have practiced my long irons if I never touched one of them today?" they answered.  "We practiced them because all your swings should be the same regardless of the club in your hands.  Your swing shouldn't change for any of your clubs."

"That's not what I've read or been told in the past.  I've been told I need to sweep the ball off the ground with my long irons to hit them correctly."

"Is this what you've been trying to do with your 'Long Irons'?"  "Yes, it has", they answered.  "How long have you been trying to learn this sweeping motion?" we inquired.  "Oh, probably for the last 2-years."  Which led us to say - "if you've been trying to sweep the ball for the last 2-years and it hasn't been working, why do you want to continue doing it.  It's like a car with no gas in it's gas tank - regardless of how many times you turn the key and push on the gas peddle, 2-years from now it's still not going to start working no matter how much you practice turning the key and pushing on the gas peddle in those 2-years.  Maybe what you're trying to do is not the best way of doing it?"

To which 9.8 times out of 10 we hear the same answer - "Well that's what everybody has told me I need to do."

Monkey See, Monkey Do!

Golf is so overanalyzed that it's messing up your golf game.  Yes, I mean you, yea you, the person reading this Golf Improvement Weekly!  Even if you're not an analytical person, the opinions of others on whether to sweep or hit down is going to affect the way you swing.  Why, because you're a Golfer and you want to find out the best ways for hitting the golf ball more consistent and even if you're not actively listening to others, you're still hearing what they have to say.

So the questions is - why would you need to hit down with a 'short iron' and sweep with a 'long iron'?  My best answer is - I have no earthly idea!  If the Monkeys understood what makes the ball go up in the air, they would understand that there is no difference in the way you swing or make contact with the golf ball with any of your irons.

As far as I know, the only differences between a 9-iron and a 3-iron is that the shaft of the 9-iron is only a few inches shorter in length and that the 9-iron has about 44 degrees of loft and the 3-iron has about 22 degrees of loft.  So do you still believe that just because one club is longer than the other and has less loft, you need to change your swing?  Why couldn't you do as the Player mentioned above - just swing the same way and let the Loft Of The Club and the Length Of The Shaft determine the difference in distances the ball flies.

And the same Monkeys that say you need to sweep the 'long irons' and hit down on the 'short irons' will tell you that when you use a lob wedge (60 degree wedge) that you need to slide the club underneath the golf ball.  Hey wait a minute!  Isn't sweeping and sliding the same thing?  Even if you say that they aren't exactly the same, they're pretty darn close.  So you Monkeys need to make up your minds because the lob wedge is closer to a 'short iron' like a 9 than it is to a 'long iron' like a 3.  Yet, you say that you should swing your lob wedge like you swing your 3-iron, and in the same sentence you say that you shouldn't swing your 9-iron like you swing your 3-iron.

I'm so confused!  And I'm the one writing this!

(It's now wonder the Monkeys are having so many problems!  Because if it's that difficult to read this, it's probably 100 times more difficult to do it.)

Repeat after me by reading this out loud - All my irons are swung the same way.  I do not swing my 'short irons' more upright and my 'long irons' more flat.  Keep repeating out loud, you're not done yet - If I try to change my swing according to the number on the bottom of my club, I will end up with 13-different swings for the 13-different irons and woods in my bag.  Stay with me, take a deep breath and keep repeating out loud - And if I want a consistent golf swing, I need to have one consistent swing for every club as opposed to the frustrated Monkey who has many different swings and besides worrying about all the bad places to hit the ball on the golf course like into the water or into the trees, the Monkey also has to make the decision if I'm going to hit down on the ball, sweep the ball, or do whatever I need to do with my so called 'mid irons'.  Which causes me to be a Thinker on the golf course.  And you know what Thinkers are?

Thinkers are Stinkers!

The Player on the other hand just plays and scores and 100% of the time takes the Monkeys money!  OK, you're done repeating - apologize to everyone around you for your outburst and then continue reading to yourself.

So the moral of the story - If you think that you need to practice hitting your long irons to find your long iron swing and you need to practice your mid irons to find your mid iron swing and that you need to practice your short irons to find your short iron swing - Please don't sign-up to come see us in Florida or California.  You won't enjoy your time with us and we won't enjoy our time with you.  We want Golfers that want to get away from the Monkeys.  We want golfers that want to learn to be Players by using principles that deal with Facts & Results as opposed to all the Theory's & Assumptions that you're constantly bombarded with like hitting down and sweeping.  Those thoughts are for the Monkeys that find a strange fascination in always being frustrated and confused and voicing their complaints about how bad they're playing to others on the golf course.  Stop being a Monkey - Become a Player!

Raise your hand if you don't want to be a Monkey anymore.

Raise both hands if you want to be a Player!

Regards,

Marc Solomon - Your Instructor For Life