Is there a fundamental difference between a stroke made with an iron vs one with a wood?
My motivation for asking this question is that I have the wood/hybrid game of a solid single digit handicapper. And the iron game of a nervous 25 handicapper.
What struck me a few weeks back was TV commentary at The Players that David Toms was a "sweeper" of the ball. Is that comment based on anything real/demonstrable or just convenient colour commentary? I have always seen myself as a "sweeper" - rarely break a tee, generally shallow divots, etc. I'd like to explore if this characterization is legitimate or if I am simply rationalizing what is really a faulty pattern or execution with my irons.
I think that there is ideally what Homer termed a "Sameness" amongst wood and iron swings , amongst all swings really , speaking very generally. The differences primarily attributable to the relative lever length and corresponding changes to ball location vis a vis low point. That said iron swings are typically a little shorter and there are specialty shots or procedures typical for some clubs more than others. Teeing a ball in front of low point for a long ball or holding off a little punched approach for instance. Machine adjustments to your bread and butter , everyday , basic motion.
The answers to your questions can be explained nicely via the Geometry of the Circle. Balls played further back of low point will tend to have a steeper Angle of Attack. Homer defined Snap , Random Sweep and Full Sweep Release types which also effect the Angle of Attack when employed intentionally or otherwise. Your shallow angle of attack is without doubt a (geometric) result of your procedure.
Shorter levers switch ends easier than long ones. A short iron will square up quicker , easer than a long iron. Manufacturers adjust for this fact by designing shorter clubs to sit square further back of low point , what Homer termed "hooked face". With their built in back of low point address position and the associated steeper Angle of Attack, shorter irons really like to be hit down on. Some current drivers are designed to square up for balls played forward of low point ....."slice face" I guess you could call it. With a designed in negative Angle of Attack if thats the right terminology. These "straight away" positions are unique to each manufacturer or each model of club and can only be determined through trial and error.
A player using the Aiming Point Procedure can move his Aiming Point back and forward along the Arc of Approach to alter the manner in which his club switches ends. YOu can aim at a point several inches prior to contact along the Arc to trick yourself into squaring the face of a driver up faster, for instance.
There's a lot that can go into the geometry of a shot but put plainly an iron is designed to be played back of low point and therefor its arc or clubhead path is still Down and Out to low point through and after Imact. Disparity between Path and FAce determining ball curvature. But this is a learned thing and contrary to the "seems as if" false logic of Steering the iron's Clubhead towards the hole through Impact ......which'll give you those divots that point left of the hole, if you make a divot.
Sorta difficult to answer because your interpretation of 'fundamental difference' may be different from mine. I do think there are fundamental differences..but again, that's my interpretation of what a 'fundamental difference' is.
We hit down with irons for the most part. Perhaps if you're hitting a 2-iron teed up pretty high you can hit upwards on the ball and strike it well. But, that's very rare. So with irons...we hit the ball first and continue to have the clubhead go down further until it reaches the low point. In essence, with irons we want the ball *behind* the low point...pretty much always (there's always an exception to the rule, but I wouldn't worry about it much).
With the driver, because it's teed up, we can hit down, hit up or hit 'flat.' In fact, I think with the modern titanium driver...because the hot spot is up so high on the club compared to the old persimmon and metal drivers...we probably shouldn't hit much more than -2* down or it starts to become counterproductive and hard to gain consistency. I think hitting up on the ball isn't easy to do time after time either. So, 'somewhere around flat' is probably a decent rule of thumb to live by. The PGA Tour average is -1.3* with the driver, so that is 'somewhere around flat.'
So with that, the ball position with the driver can be behind the low point, in front of the low point or right at the low point.
Typically the driver backswing will be longer than say a 7-iron swing. There are some other tendencies as well.
does anyone know if lynns dvd is a must have, Thank you
There are other options. You can view all his free videos (several times). You can read the book 5-10 times and all the threads in the forum. You can book a lesson with an AI or Yoda himself. But the dvd would also help.
Hybrid Mode
