How to Stop Hitting Irons Too High

Hitting a Draw Step-by-Step Checklist:

Blog Post:

Sean is the co-founder of My Golf Tutor, the top golf instructional blog helping weekend golfers play better golf. He played on the Irish National team that produced major champions like Rory Mcllroy, Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington, and Darren Clarke before playing professionally for 5 years around the world.
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Do you find that you’re hitting your iron shots too high? Do you feel you’re losing a lot of distance as a result?

Doug, one of our readers, wrote in and asked a question on this topic:

Hey Sean, I’m having a lot of issues with my iron play. I’m hitting shots way too high. Do you have any techniques or suggestions to help me bring the height or trajectory of my shots down?

Ball Position

The first thing I would like you to check is your ball position.

If the ball is positioned too far forward, this could be a contributing factor as to why it’s gaining too much height.

I want you to get two alignment rods and place the first one along your intended target line. I want you to place the second one perpendicular to the alignment rod on the ground, and opposite of the golf ball.

If you are using a seven iron to a pitch wedge, I would like to see the ball in the center of your stance. Have both of your feet equally distanced from the rod on the ground.

Now, once you start hitting a 6 iron, 5 iron, and so on – the ball is going to start moving up in your stance, ending in the position for a driver, with the ball being placed opposite of your left heel.

Weight Distribution

The second thing I want you to check is your weight transfer in your golf swing.

More often than not, I see people “hanging back” on their trail leg, trying to help the golf ball up into the air.

Unfortunately, this places the club face in a very weak position, adding extra loft to the clubface at impact.

I want you to imagine you have an axe and are trying to chop down a tree. The natural instinct will be to put a lot of pressure on your lead leg and transfer weight onto your left side to maximize power. It’s going to be the same for the golf swing.

You’re not going to swing the axe off your back foot, you’re going to transfer your weight to your left side and swing the axe accordingly.

Grab a Bag of Sand

One thing I would like you to do is to get an impact bag. Hopefully, your course keeps one on the driving range with which you can practice.

I believe that using an impact bag is beneficial, as it helps to achieve a good sensation and feel for a powerful impact position. If you can imagine that you have an impact bag, you are not going to hit it this way (i.e. with your weight on your trail side and club head beating the handle to the impact position).

I want you to hit it by transferring your weight and pressure to your left side.

As you can see, the natural instinct is for the hands to beat the club head back to the bag.