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The Impact Position and Lie Angle (Toe Down Effect)
Lie angle is the angle between the shaft and the clubhead (sole). It can sometimes determine your ball flight.
If the lie angle of your iron was too upright, the toe of the clubhead is off the ground at impact. You tend to hook the ball with the clubs that's too upright.
If the lie angle is too flat, the heel of the clubhead is off the ground at impact causing you to slice the ball.
Lots of golfers think that the correct lie angle is determined when they sole the club at address. But that won't tell you much about correct lie angle.
To find out if you have the right lie angle, you are going to have to hit the ball. I will talk more about it later on.
Toe down Effect
If all parts of the sole of your clubhead were sitting on the ground at address, the heel might come off the ground at impact.
Let me tell you why.
In the downswing, because of the centrifugal force, the toe of the clubhead tends to drop down a little through impact.
Even Tiger Woods can't fight against centrifugal force. When you see the golf swing sequence of the pros, you will find the tiny difference in the shaft angle (between the shaft and the ground) at address and at impact.
For instance, if the shat angle was 40 degrees at address, this angle becomes something like 42 degrees. (Those numbers are not correct. I came up with those numbers just to give you an example)
So you are going to have to compensate for this difference.
It's ok if the toe is a little off the ground at address, because the toe will drop down through impact.
So try to grip the club so that the toe of your clubs is a little bit off the ground. This will make it easier to turn the clubface over through impact.
But this lie angle really depends on your height, arm length and so on. If you are much taller than the average person, you might want to make your clubs more upright.
If you are much shorter than the average, you might want to make your club more flat.
But usually, the ball flight will tell you what you need to do. If the ball is going straight, don't worry about your lie angle.
If you try to change the way you grip the club but didn't get any results, you might want to check your lie angle.
I'm a draw hitter. But when I hit the balls with clubs that were too flat for me, I was fading the shots. That's how much lie angle affects your shots.