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Tips and drills to Hit Long Irons
When it was not so common to use hybrid clubs, every golfer was carrying long irons. Nowadays, most golfers replace long irons with hybrids.
I recommend using hybrids. But you can control the ball better with your long irons if you can hit them well.
How to Hit it
Long irons have longer shafts. But the less loft on the club will make it harder to hit.
To hit it solid with your long irons, you need to sweep the ball off the turf. If you hit it with steep angle of approach into impact, you will deloft your long irons and lose distance.
There are few keys to making solid contact using long irons.
1) Face angle
2) Angle of approach into impact
3) Swing path
4) Hitting it on the sweet spot
Notice that I didn't mention swing speed. You don't need faster swing speed for solid contact. Most average golfers start to swing harder with long irons, and that's the reason why they can't hit it solid.
Face Angle
Face angle has a lot to do with solid contact as well. It the face is open at impact, you can't hit it solid. So you need to have the clubface pointing at the target or slightly left of target at impact.
When you swing your long iron, try to feel like your clubface is pointing well left of target at impact. Because of the centrifugal force, you should exaggerate things a bit.
Swing Path
For solid contact, you need to swing from the inside the target line.
One of the keys to swinging from the inside is to lower your right shoulder at address.
Your spine should be tilted slightly to the right as you lower your right shoulder.
When your right shoulder is high at address, you tend to drop your right shoulder coming into impact causing the clubface to open.
The ball will slice so players start to swing to the left to compensate.
This is how players start coming over the top. They are just trying hard to stop the ball from going right. But this won't solve the root of the problem. It actually makes things worse.