The Silly Reason Why 90% Of Golfers Can't Strike Their Irons

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Transcript Summary -

How to Strike Your Irons Effortlessly and Start Smiling on the Course Again 

Yesterday, I played a golf day with Jack, who was having a nightmare with his irons—topping, thinning, slicing, hooking. By the 9th hole, he was ready to quit. His frustration was growing because he was trying too hard and falling into common traps, like forcing a downward strike on the ball.

I gave Jack three simple tips that transformed his game by the back nine. Here’s how:

Tip 1: Let the Club Swing Freely 

Jack was trying to control every shot, gripping tight and steering the club. I told him, “Stop trying.” A golf swing should flow effortlessly, with the body guiding the club—not forcing it. I encouraged him to embrace his natural shot shape (a hook in his case) and focus on making smooth, free swings. The result? His first solid shot of the day and a smile returning to his face.

Tip 2: Move Your Pelvis Forward 

Jack had been told to strike the ball, then the ground—but he was chopping down on the ball, finishing awkwardly. I showed him a better way: as the club swings freely, move your tailbone or lead hip pocket toward the target during the downswing. This naturally shifts your pelvis forward, helping the club strike the ball cleanly. The key is rhythm—not force.

Tip 3: Work Up Through Impact 

Most golfers think they need to keep driving down through the ball. Instead, I explained that while the club head moves down, your body (lead shoulder and hands) should work up and around through impact. This upward motion creates effortless power and rhythm, helping you compress the ball without losing speed.

By the end of the round, Jack was striking his irons solidly and enjoying the game again.

If you’re struggling with your irons, follow these steps:

 1. Swing the club freely—don’t steer or force it.

 2. Move your pelvis forward for consistent ball-striking.

 3. Work up through impact to add effortless power.

If this helps, share it with someone who might need it. For more tips, subscribe and check out my video on how this applies to your driver. Until next week, have a fantastic golfing week!

Full Transcript- so yesterday I played in a golf day and one of my playing Partners Jack was having an absolute nightmare with his iron shots off the Fairway he'd be topping them he'd be thinning him hitting him right hitting him left and as the first few holes went on his frustration got more and more and more and basically I think more frustrated because he was trying so so hard he'd been trying all the things you may be heard of like strike down on the golf ball or make sure I've got to St ball in the ground but none of it was working mainly because he was falling for the same trap as so many golfers do time and time again now by the time we got to the ninth hole he almost quit I could see him almost thinking I don't want to play this anymore so I need to help now for the back nine the smile returned I gave him three tips and I'd love to share with you these tips because step by step they really really helped him get his game back start striking his eyes solid so let me start now with just tip number one so if you can relate to Jack in any shape or form do this the first thing I gave Jack was Jack stop trying start to get some swing back what he'd been doing is he'd been trying to hit down on the golf ball because his balls were going off in different directions he'd been tensing up and desperately trying to hit the ball straight and the first thing you've got to do is this there are two parts of the Swing you have a the golf club head right and then you have your body the golf club head should always be swinging beautifully freely it should never be controlled what moves it or controls it is what you do with the body right so if your body's not working effectively that's fine you need to kind of sort that out but what you don't do is what Jack and I see so many other golfers doing which is trying to hang on or stare oh it's gone left oh I got to go over here so the very first thing I did with Jack is this Jack suffers sometimes with a bit of a hook so I said Jack we're going to play it let's play your hook just let it go right so what we did is I said look make some swings and what I want do is is a golf swing is this it's a free flowing motion right I'm letting the club swing we do not direct it in any shape or form so I said to him the way I helped him allow um the club to throw free wasn't by the way holding it Loosely which a lot of people think you need to do it's not that in fact your arms want to be loose and and pliable but you you want a nice firm grip what I got him to do was I said we're going to not going to worry about where the ball finishes I want you to make some swings and your ball if it curves right to left we're going to let it happen in fact we're going to aim to do that make that club swing as freely as you can once we've got this club swing freely then we'll sort out tip two and tip three which is the how the body moves and we'll help you control it now you can imagine it's a little bit nervous but the first shot he did on that first hway driver he hadn't come in in his was like a team competition he hadn't come in at all and he actually scored on that hole and he helped the team out and the first thing we did was literally let him swing the club as freely as he could and I said Jack allow that draw naturally to happen his own words he said D it that feels effortless yes that's the starting point that is where you build your foundation from create a free swinging club and now it gives us time to Now work on your ball striking and your direction which moves us into tip number two so tip number two and let me put this into cont text I didn't give him tip number two straight away I needed him to kind of really get the feel of his swinging Golf Club so we we left it a couple of HS so you got used to it and it was lovely the smile was returning it just because it just feels so good this it feels effortless but obviously just doing that alone won't necessarily transform the consistency you're still going to have to understand how to work the body effectively and unfortunately for Jack he'd been given a little bit of bad advice he'd been told that he's got to strike the ball than the ground but how he was doing it was what I see the fault I see with so many other the golfers in that they're trying to strike the ball then the ground but he was doing it by chopping down on the golf ball and what you notice here about my torso it's quite forward and ahead so he would also finish quite low sometimes it was not functional he would strike the ball then the ground but it's not really a goal swing okay it's certainly not effortless the simplest way to strike the ball then the ground is just to understand where your pelvis is so look at this if you have a beautifully flowing golf swing so we keep this and I move my P center of my pelvis eventually through it through impa over the heel of my My Lead Foot watch where the club strikes the ground much more over here so ball than the ground right but it's functional now if I have my pelvis too far back which is what I see with people who don't strike it very well where's the strike point now I'm still swinging the club freely backwards and forwards now it's over here notice this am I trying to force the club to strike the ground am I trying to actively do something to get compression absolutely not I have a free flowing golf swing where all I'm doing is making sure my pelvis is far enough forward so the club naturally strikes the ball then the ground and that's what I mentioned to Jack so what I gave him that made it very very easy I said right jack we're going to keep this club head swinging nice and freely and what's going to really help you get that tailbone much more towards the target look and not like you were doing over here chopping down on it is when you make a back swing take your tailbone or this pocket here and start to move it towards the target as you do this as you're swinging the club freely and this pocket now moves towards the target what you're going to find is is you're already giving yourself a head start cuz the body now wants to fall this way so what's happened to the pelvis it's gone forward you now immediately increasing likelihood you're going to strike the ball then the ground if this pocket doesn't move which I see with so many golfers this hip stays here I'm too much over this side I've got too much to do to get forward most people now will just hit from the top this pocket now goes over here and you start striking the ground behind the golf ball fatting it then you name it so simply put keep the club head swinging backwards and forwards move the tail uh the the pocket to towards the Target and just get that simple rhythm in your golf swing and you'll notice as I'm doing this at no stage am I trying to hit down on the golf barall by moving this bit over here the upper upper Center over here this bit still staying forward while this bit of my body stays nice and centered it's not moving around too much this is swinging freely it's my lower body that moves look towards the target this was huge for Jack he kept the Rhythm he starts to strike the ball then the ground now the third and final thing I mentioned to him which kind of really starts to enhance this Rhythm but really started to add the power to his game back back into his game was making him realize that again we're not trying to hit down in fact when the club gets to the last parallel in the down swing here the only thing that moves down towards the golf ball here is the actual Club head the hands here and this Lee shoulder everything now the hands here at their lowest point this is going to work upwards around and the only thing that comes down to the golf ball is the head this is a really important point because most players who are struggling with power struggling with strike the hands and the body are still working down towards impact you lose all speed because the handle and the club are going at the same speed I want you to catapult the club so you've got a free flowing swing look at this here as a club comes down my lead shoulder works up and around up and back basically notice this motion I am working naturally upwards it's rhythmical it's what catapults the club if I do this what you notice all the speed goes there we go right so all matching this just feels effortless and like with all my students it's nothing more satisfying than seeing a student at the end of a game of golf start to smile and have that encouragement to go again go and practice but now practice the right things so striking the ball in the ground is not that difficult simply make sure you start off like this make sure you've got a beautifully flowing golf swing make sure the pelvis is far enough forward on the way down that doesn't mean this goes forward the pelvis is far enough forward on the way down that's going to increase the likelihood that you're going to strike the ground and then just remember we aren't going down through impacts the body is actually starting to work upwards through the shot the only thing that works down is your Club head and you're going to start to feel that effortless golf swing it'll feel rhythmical and hopefully you will start to have some more Smiles on that golf course if you enjoy the video give it a thumbs up maybe share it with somebody who may be struggling to strike their irons and the hybrids off the ground look if you want to know how this kind of applies maybe to your driver check this video out right here if you enjoy the video subscribe to the channel but until next week have a wonderful golfing week.