14. Aggression kills coordination which results in the loss of timing and the very thing aggressive players are looking for, namely distance

A lot of people I see ask the question as to why it is that they hit their short irons well but find things gradually deteriorate as they move toward the longer clubs. Here are a few ideas that you may be able to relate to and thereby see a way to remedy the problem.

It is an interesting exercise to first of all see where your game really begins to break down and to find out, ask yourself, starting with the pitching wedge, how confident you feel about hitting the green and then ask the same question with the 9 iron and so on. With most players, they begin to feel doubts with the 7 and most definitely the 6 iron.

It is no coincidence that when players take out a mid- iron or longer, greater effort becomes more noticeable in the swing. It seems to be the case that the further away the target becomes, the more we fall into the trap of thinking we have to force to get the distance rather than allowing the club to do the work. This aggression kills co-ordination, which results in the loss of timing and the very thing we are looking for which is distance.

Very seldom do you see a club golfer swing a long iron or wood easily; you need to watch the top players to actually witness it. The top player knows that the extra distance he wants is sourced from the club, not by extra effort from himself. It is the wrongly held belief that you swing harder and harder as you progress to the longer clubs that keeps the club player frustrated. It is also worth noting that when we pick an iron out of the bag, it is chosen with a limit to how far we want it to go even though this limit is rarely achieved with the longer irons. But when we take the driver out, there is no limit to how far we want the ball to go because it is what I call an “open ended shot”, in other words, the horizon becomes the limit.

We have covered the problem; let’s now look at how you can remedy it. The next time you go to the driving range, take your 3 wood out and with a full swing, try to play the ball no further than the 100 yd marker. Impossible and pointless you may think but don’t be put off. It is actually a great move in the right direction. You will have to swing with only about 35% of your normal effort to do it but remember, you must go through the full range of movement of your swing. When you can demonstrate this self control, then experiment with applying 45% then 75% and so on but as you do this remember that playing at 100% will cause the swing to breakdown so your actual playing percentage wants to be no more than 85%. This exercise in softer swinging will give a more fluid feel to your swing, encourage better timing and give you the best deal you could ever wish for, good distance for less effort.