Best Way to Do Full Golf Swing with Short Irons

The short irons (the Nos 7, 8 and 9 irons) are used when accuracy is at a premium. The ball should be struck just before the bottom of the swing arc, with a steeply descending club head. The line that the club head follows in the forward swing is down from the inside to along (where contact takes place) to inside, and up at the finish.

Due to the fact that the short irons are shorter-shafted and more lofted, play them with a different stance and posture than you adopt when playing the longer clubs. Standing nearer the ball creates a more upright plane, with less body movement and with the feeling that it is mostly the arms and hands that are employed during the swing. This type of swing produces an air of great authority and crispness. The ball is struck first, and then the ground, taking turf.

The full swing movement with the short irons is still primarily a precision shot because the amount of back-spin helps to keep the ball on line. The pitching wedge should never be used for a full swing (greater accuracy can be achieved more easily with the No. 9 iron and a three-quarter swing). The short irons are fairly easy to use and are therefore popular with all golfers.

Grip

The grip used for the full swing with the short irons is the normal one, but the club is never held at the extreme end of the shaft. Depending on the lie and the height required, the clubs are held lower down on the shaft.

Stance

Since the arm movement is now a full swing, which turns the shoulders, bringing your weight more on to the inside edge of the right foot during the backswing, the feet must be far enough apart and slightly open to allow for all this extra movement and to give you balance. But you must not have too wide a stance, as this would inhibit the free swinging of the arms. I myself have about 20 in (50 cm) between my feet when playing this kind of shot, but every player must work out the optimum distance that is suitable for his or her own size, swing, etc.

Note that on the backswing the weight is transferred to the inside edge of the right foot, never to the outside edge!

Posture

When you address the ball, bend forwards from the waist with your weight on the soles of the feet and the arms hanging freely from the shoulders. The ball posi­tion is in the centre of the stance. The right side of your body (shoulder and elbow) is lower than your left, putting about 60% of your body mass and weight to the right of the ball. The club shaft points at the left groin and the hands are in front of the ball. There is a distinct angle between the hanging arms and the plane of the shaft.

Your stance and posture will produce an upright swing plane; this encourages a steep return of the club head to the ball, giving the ball a high trajectory.

Provided that the shoulders are free of tension, the upright swing plane will turn them enough to allow the lower body to trigger off the downswing automatically. This allows you to swing the club head freely through the ball to a perfectly balanced finish, with the hands high and the club allowed to continue until the shaft points upwards. In the finish position, the waist is turned fully towards the target, but the head and shoulders are still behind where the ball was at address, and you look at the ball flight from ‘underneath’. In the finish position, your body weight has transferred to the left heel and right toe.

Take turf with the short irons when you use the full swing movement. Because the swing plane is upright and the ball is in the centre of the stance, it will be struck a descending blow and turf should be taken after impact.