Shot Trainer
The most common complaint at the range — "I hit the driver fine but the 7-iron's terrible." Or the opposite — "Irons are great, the driver slices every time." Same person, same swing, different results. Why?
Simple answer: different club length, lie angle, and loft demand different swings. A driver swing and a 9-iron swing are basically two different motions. If one works and the other doesn't, that's not luck — it's a signal that one specific pattern only fits one of them.
The four most common cases.
Case 1: Driver Good, Irons Slice
The most common pattern. Driver flies straight or slightly drawing, but irons drift right.
Why:
- The driver is hit on the upswing — head behind the ball, shoulders slightly closed. Inside-out path comes naturally.
- Irons are hit on the downswing — square setup, more weight on the lead side. That's what produces a compressed strike.
- Use a driver setup on an iron and you'll hit with the face slightly open → slice.
Fix:
- Check iron setup — ball position center to slightly forward
- Weight 60% on lead foot
- Feel "press the ball down" — descending blow
Case 2: Irons Good, Driver Slices or Hooks
Reverse pattern. Short clubs precise, driver all over the place.
Why:
- Use an iron setup (ball center, shoulders square) on the driver and impact happens at the equator of the face, not above it — face stays open.
- Or you unconsciously try to swing harder with the driver. Backswing speeds up, body unwinds before the arms.
Fix:
- Tee the ball higher — half the ball above the top of the driver
- Move ball position forward, off your lead heel
- Slightly close your shoulders (lead shoulder a touch back)
- Slow your tempo deliberately — "slow start" cue
Case 3: Wedges Don't Dial In
Full-swing PW and SW are fine, but partial distances (50m, 70m) miss everywhere.
Why:
- Full swing is a familiar motion. Partial swings (3/4, 1/2) need distance control from hands and body together.
- Most people only control with the hands → wrist gets active → face control gone.
Fix:
- Control distance with backswing length. Clock analogy: full = 12, 3/4 = 10, 1/2 = 9.
- Keep wrist action the same across all sizes
- Memorize club + backswing combos (SW at 9 = 50m, PW at 10 = 80m)
Case 4: Long Irons (4I, 5I, Hybrids) Don't Work
7-iron is fine but anything longer produces thin shots or chunks.
Why:
- Long irons have low loft, so your instinct kicks in to lift the ball.
- You scoop at impact → club passes over the ball → thin. Or you try to force the club down → chunk.
Fix:
- Long irons still hit down — sweeping it like a fairway wood = more misses.
- Ball position one ball-width forward of your 7-iron position
- Honestly consider replacing 4I and 5I with hybrids. They're the hardest clubs in the bag for average golfers.
How to Actually Diagnose Your Pattern
The four cases above are hypotheses. You can't know which one is yours without data. What you need:
- At least 10–20 shots per club, with results
- Direction of the miss (left/right/short/long)
- How it changed through the session (start vs end)
Don't try to do this manually. You'll quit in a week. Shot Trainer does it automatically — video, 7-direction classification, per-club stats. End of a session and you get "Driver 70% center, 7-iron 60% slice" broken out, ready to use.
Accurate diagnosis → accurate fix. Instead of the vague "I need to fix my swing," you get a specific job: "look at my 7-iron setup."