Improve Your Iron Game with Paul Waring's Expert Golf Drills: Uncover His Top 4 Training Techniques for Consistent Strikes
Honing your iron play is one of the quickest ways to improve your golf game and lower your handicap, but far too often, amateur golfers get bogged down by obsessing over distance instead of focusing on technique.
Take a cue from Paul Waring, who recently claimed victory at the 2018 Nordea Masters as part of a scorching hot run at the end of the 2024 DP World Tour season. Waring, an Englishman, ranks 16th on tour for Strokes Gained: Approach this season, making him a prime player to learn from as he shares four of his top drills to elevate your ball striking with an iron in hand...
1. Shaft Plane
Let's kick off with a simple drill that will immediately show you if your shaft is on plane at the halfway stage in the backswing. We'll be using an alignment stick for this one, placing it in the ground just behind you to mirror the angle of the shaft at address.
Take the club back until your arms are parallel to the ground, and check the angle of the shaft in relation to the alignment stick. This will instantly reveal whether your swing is too steep or shallow. If the angle matches, you're off to a great start.
If your swing is too steep, you'll likely end up getting stuck and potentially gouge the ball at impact. Conversely, if you're too shallow, you might flick at the ball through impact instead of making proper contact.
2. Hide the Stick
Remember, irons are designed to be hit down on to make the ball ascend, but many amateurs try to help the ball lift off.
This drill, employing an alignment stick clamped to the club with your hands, will help you determine if you're guilty of flicking through impact. If you are, the upper part of the stick will collide with your body as you release the club.
You can also witness whether you're driving at the ball too much instead of releasing properly - if you are, the upper part of the stick will become too far from your body through impact.
In an ideal world, the club, arm, and shoulder will all match through impact with the stick hidden behind them.
3. Miss the Ball
Another fantastic drill to develop a downward angle of attack is to establish a ball a length behind the one you're about to hit. Your goal is simply to miss that second ball.
Don't worry; you'll never hit it! This is used as a visual prompt that will assist in cultivating a feeling of delivering the club on a downward path, as opposed to flicking or scooping it.
If you employ these parameters, the tolerances are tight enough to work visually, but not so tight that you should ever make contact with the additional ball.
4. Two Tees
Here's another drill that reinforces the need for a downward attack angle, which might serve as a progression after the 'miss the ball' drill, as we delve deeper into the intricacies of iron striking.
Place two tee pegs in the ground, one in front of the other, as demonstrated in the image below.
Now put your ball on the front one. Your objective is to leave the rear tee peg unscathed and generate your divots starting beyond the front tee peg for the desired ball-then-turf contact you need.
You may simply clip the front tee or drive it into the ground a bit if you get it right, but your divot will start beyond that. You can only achieve this by delivering the club on a downward angle of attack—any hint of hitting up, and you're likely to strike the rear tee peg.
Ready To Elevate Your Game?
Waring's exceptional ball striking tips were first shared in the August 2019 issue of Golf Monthly Magazine, where he graced the cover.
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- Paul Waring, known for his top-notch approach play and rankings in Strokes Gained: Approach, shares four golf drills to improve your iron striking, which is crucial for lowering your handicap in sports like golf.
- The 'Two Tees' drill, one of Waring's top drills, reinforces the need for a downward attack angle, an essential technique in improving your ball-then-turf contact – a fundamental aspect of golf tips that can significantly enhance one's golf game.
