How Do You Compress Your Irons?

The short answer: you compress your irons by striking the ball before the ground, with the shaft leaning towards the target at impact, so the bottom of your swing arc sits about four inches in front of the ball. That forward shaft lean should come from your body rotating and your pressure moving into your lead foot, not from pushing your hands forward. Get your low point in front of the ball and compression takes care of itself.

What compression actually is

Compression gets talked about like a mystery feeling that only good players have. It isn't. It is a set of impact conditions, and you can learn them.

When a good player strikes a 7-iron, three things happen at the same time:

• The club is still travelling down when it meets the ball. That is a negative attack angle.
• The shaft is leaning forward, so the face delivers less loft than the club had at address. That delivered loft is called dynamic loft.
• Ball first, then turf. The divot starts in front of where the ball was sitting, never behind it.

The ball gets squeezed between the clubface and the ground. You get a strike out of the centre, a flight that bores through the wind, and enough spin to stop it on the green.

The amateur version is the opposite. The club has already bottomed out and is travelling up by the time it reaches the ball, the shaft leans back and loft gets added. That gives you thin shots, fat shots, weak shots that balloon, and a 6-iron and an 8-iron that seem to go the same distance.

Low point is the real skill

Every golf swing has a bottom. The club descends, reaches the lowest point of its arc, then rises again. Where that bottom sits relative to the ball decides almost everything about your strike.

With good iron players, the low point sits roughly four inches in front of the ball. TrackMan's tour averages put the attack angle with a 7-iron at around minus four degrees, so the club is still clearly descending at impact. Most amateurs I coach have their low point at the ball or behind it.

So the first question isn't "how do I get more shaft lean?" It's "where is the bottom of my swing?" Fix that and the shaft lean starts to appear on its own.

Why shaft lean has to come from the body

This is where most golfers go wrong. They see a photo of a tour player at impact, hands well ahead of the ball, and they try to copy it by shoving their hands towards the target.

It doesn't work. If your body stops and your hands push forward, the face is left open and you hit a weak push, or worse, a shank. And a hand move made at full speed is almost impossible to repeat.

Look at what is really happening in a good impact position:

• The hips are forward and rotated open towards the target.
• Around 80 per cent of the pressure is on the lead foot.
• The lead shoulder sits higher than at address.
• The handle has moved forward and slightly up.
• The lead arm and the shaft form close to one line.

The shaft lean is the result of all of that. The body has carried the handle forward and the hands have simply held on. When you rotate through with your pressure moving into your lead foot, your low point moves forward with you. When you stall and hang back on your trail side, the low point moves back and your hands have to flip the club to find the ball.

Check your setup first

Compression starts before you swing. Three quick checks:

1. Ball position. For a mid-iron, place the ball just forward of the centre of your stance. Too far forward and the ball sits at or beyond your low point, so you catch it thin or on the way up.
2. Handle position. With the face square, the end of the grip should point at your lead belt loop. That presets a little forward lean and matches how the club is designed to sit.
3. Pressure. Start fairly even, or a touch towards your lead side. Loading your trail side with an iron makes a forward low point much harder.

Drill: the low point line drill

This is the drill I give almost every golfer who tells me they can't compress the ball.

1. Make a line. On grass, use a line of spray paint or foot powder. On a mat, use a strip of tape or the edge of a towel. Set it up in the centre of your stance.
2. Swing with no ball. Make small swings, allowing your wrists to hinge, and focus on brushing the ground in front of the line every time.
3. Feel the body do it. As you swing through, feel your pressure move into your lead foot and your chest turn towards the target. Don't push your hands forward.
4. Add a ball. Once you can hit in front of the line five times in a row, place a ball with its front edge touching the line. The divot should start at the line, not behind it.
5. Build it up. Start with half swings, then three-quarter swings, then full swings. Score yourself out of ten each session.

It will feel like you're hitting the ground too far in front at first. That exaggeration is exactly what most golfers need, and the ball simply gets collected on the way.

Add this: hit it hard and stop quick. Make a half swing, put all your effort into the space just after the ball, then stop the club straight after impact. Check that your lead arm and shaft form one line, your handle is ahead of the clubhead and your chest is open. That is the structured impact you're looking for.

Common mistakes I see

• Pushing the hands forward instead of rotating. Open face, pushed shots, shanks.
• Trying to help the ball up. The loft on the club does that. Your job is to hit down.
• Hanging back on the trail foot, which moves your low point behind the ball.
• Being scared of the ground. It's okay to hit the ground, that's why it's there. A divot after the ball is the goal.
• Tense arms and a tight grip. If your wrists can't hinge, the club can't descend into the ball.
• Ball too far forward with the irons, copying the driver setup.

Clean iron contact is also one of the fastest ways to take shots off your score. If that is your goal, read how to break 90 next.

Want to strike your irons like a better player?

My Iron Play Blueprint takes you through low point, setup and impact step by step, with drills you can take straight to the range. Start at perform.golf.

Kerrod Gray is a PGA of Australia Professional, Advanced in Coaching, and the founder of Perform Golf.