13 Ways to Fix Your Game: Iron Play

Time your release

You need a well-timed release to produce accurate power, but nailing that timing can be difficult. Any time the clubhead starts to outpace your hands, you'll be in a scooping position at impact, and that means plenty of ballflight misery.

Yes	No
Neil Beckerman	Neil Beckerman
To hit more greens in regulation, keep your hands ahead of the clubhead through impact.	Don't let your clubhead lead the hands.

From the top, think about crushing a soda can under your right armpit. This will help you retain the angle between the shaft and your left forearm. Keep that angle intact until impact. Your club will then release at the bottom of your swing without you having to give it a thought.

Being choosy about which pins to attack has paid off handsomely for Steve Stricker. Wire Image

If you want to make piles of birdies you have to hit piles of greens, and no one improved more in that category than Steve Stricker, who moved up 155 spots in the greens-in-regulation ranking.

"I knew I was hitting more greens this year! I have more confidence because I'm doing everything a little better. I'm playing smarter, going after the pins I feel comfortable going after and leaving the others alone. I put in a lot of time last winter at the indoor driving range my father-in-law owns in Madison, Wisc., and I started to work on a lot of little things in my swing. Plus, I'm getting it in the fairway more—my fairway percentage is up quite a bitfrom last year, and those two (fairways hit and GIR) kind of go hand-in-hand."
-Steve Stricker