How to Hit Irons for Real: 3 Myths Ruining Seniors’ Shots

If you’ve ever sought advice on how to hit irons, you’ve almost definitely heard these three tips:

Keep your head down
Keep your lead arm perfectly straight
Restrict your hip turn

This advice is revered as infallible golf wisdom. But it couldn’t be more harmful to your game, especially if you’re a senior golfer.

If you really want to know how to hit crisp iron shots, you’ve got to ditch those tips. Stick with me, and I’ll explain why. More importantly, I’ll tell you what you should do instead and leave you with an easy drill for instant improvement.

How to Hit Irons: Key Takeaways

Here’s the short version of everything we’re about to cover:

Traditional advice for how to hit irons fails senior golfers because it’s loaded with tips based on a young, flexible player’s skill set—tips that create tension in the body and limit your range of motion.
Instead of keeping your head down, you should lift your chin, relax your shoulders, and allow your head to move.
Instead of keeping your lead arm perfectly straight, you should soften it and allow a slight, natural bend at the top of your swing.
Instead of restricting your hip turn, you should allow your hips to turn freely, promoting a longer swing and more clubhead speed.
To find more freedom of movement in the body, drill practice shots stepping back with your trail foot on the backswing.
The best way to learn how to hit irons is to find instruction that aligns with your abilities.

What Traditional Golf Advice Gets Wrong

Traditional golf instruction tends to assume that what works for professional golfers should work for the rest of us.

It doesn’t. Their techniques rely on extreme flexibility and a precision that can only be honed through hours upon hours of dedicated practice time. And when they push their bodies to the limit, they’ve got physical therapists and massage therapists on call to make it right.

So when you’re taught their strategies, you often end up fighting with your own body to accomplish a goal that never made sense for you in the first place.

All three of the swing myths we’re about to cover have one thing in common: They create tension in the body.

Maybe that’s not a big deal for a professional golfer with all the advantages we just talked about. But it certainly creates a challenge for the everyday golfer, especially more “experienced” players.

We’re going to replace these not-so-helpful tips with senior-friendly techniques that promote ease and athletic movement. We’ll start with the advice you’ve definitely heard if you have trouble with topping the golf ball.

Myth #1: You Should Keep Your Head Down

This is probably one of the most prevalent golf tips out there. And you’ve got to stop following it.

Keeping your head down restricts your turn, forcing a much shorter backswing than you’re actually capable of. And you know what that means. Less distance.

But it’s not just about the lost yards. When you tuck your chin and focus on keeping your head still, it creates tension in your entire swing. That actually makes your contact worse, and it may even cause pain.

Do This Instead

When you take your swing, go ahead and lift your chin a bit. Relax your shoulders. And don’t be afraid to let your head move off the ball a little.

That movement isn’t the contact-killer people say it is. It allows for more turn and a more athletic swing.

Myth #2: You Should Keep Your Lead Arm Perfectly Straight

If you keep your lead arm perfectly straight on your backswing, you’re getting way less swing speed than you’re capable of.

“Perfectly straight” usually means you’ve got your elbow locked. And a locked elbow means tension. That’s going to restrict the length of your backswing and slow your speed..

Do This Instead

Let your lead arm relax. Let your elbow be soft. A little bend is a good thing. It’ll open up your range of motion, allowing you to turn deeper for a more energized iron shot.

If you could use a point of reference, let your arms fall naturally to your sides. You’ll probably notice a slight bend. That’s about how you want your lead arm to be at the top of your golf swing.

Myth #3: You Should Restrict Your Hip Turn

This one drives me crazy, especially when it’s suggested to experienced golfers. They tell you to restrict your hip turn and keep your trail knee flexed, but how is that going to help? When you’ve already lost some of your natural flexibility, why would you limit your range of motion even more?

You can stop following this advice. It’s creating tension and shortening your backswing. It’s probably not doing your lower back any favors, either.

Do This Instead

As you swing back, let your trail knee release and allow your hips to turn. This drastically increases your range of motion, it’s a lot easier on your body.

If you do this while also keeping your lead arm soft and allowing your head to move, you’re gonna find a lot more freedom and speed in your swing.

And while some might warn you that this technique will make you hit behind the golf ball, my experience after 30 years of coaching is that this easier, more athletic swing leads to significantly better contact.

The Quick Fix: My Favorite Drill for Iron Shots

Now, if you want a really effortless way to improve your iron shots, I’ve got a drill you’re gonna love.

I learned this one from Jonathan Moore, a tremendous coach, golfer, and former National Champion. Here’s how it works:

Take your setup without a golf ball.
Take a practice swing, stepping back with your trail foot as you swing the club back. Let your trail foot pivot as you turn so it’s perpendicular to your lead foot.
Step your trail foot back to its regular position as you swing down. (You don’t have to swing all the way through.)
Do a three-setter, repeating this motion three times.
Step up to the ball and hit a shot.

This motion naturally promotes rotation in the hips and allows for freer movement in the body overall. It's a great way to tap into a wider range of motion that will serve you very well in your golf game.

Bottom Line: If It Doesn’t Work, Don’t Do It

As we discussed at the beginning of this article, traditional guidance on how to hit irons is largely informed by the techniques of professional golfers. Now, these strategies can be effective. After all, they're used by the best players on the planet.

But they’re only effective for you if you can pull them off, and a lot of those “tried and true” golf tips work best for young, elite athletes.

If you’ve been struggling to succeed with the same trusted advice for years, I give you permission to give up the struggle. If the instruction doesn’t work for you, it’s probably because it wasn’t made for you.

You’ll see a lot more progress with the Vertical Line Swing System, a complete tee-to-green method I created based on the everyday senior golfer’s skill set. It’s body-friendly, easy to execute, and gets quick results. In fact, the advice you learned today is rooted in the VLS System.

Discover the system for yourself in my complete video course and in my bestselling book, The Bad Lie: Why Traditional Golf Instruction Is Failing You (And What To Do Instead).

You’re capable of better iron shots and a better golf game. It’s just a matter of unlocking your true potential with a system that was built for you.

About the Author

PGA Teaching Professional Todd Kolb is a five-time Golf Digest Best-in-State Instructor, Amazon Best-selling Author, and Minnesota PGA Teacher of the Year. In over 30 years of coaching, he’s worked with from newbies to an LPGA major champion. He’s currently the Director of Instruction for VLS Golf and USGolfTV and dedicates his efforts to helping the everyday golfer cut through overcomplicated traditional instruction to find solutions that actually work for them.