Need help with my swing plane and club face with different clubs.?

Question

How is it that when I use a long iron or driver I can swing on plane and square my clubface w/o a problem with a swing speed of about 95, and with a short iron I'm dramatically inside out with an open clubface and swing speed of about 55? I feel like I'm doing everything the same, but obviously that's not the case.

Answer 1

Try to visualize the swing plane for the driver, fairway wood and long iron. Since each has a longer shaft , the set up is to reach for the ball resulting  in a flatter swing plane. As the length of the shaft  decrease, the lie angle of the shorter irons results in a more upright swing plane. You still have to set the club in the same finish position on the backswing as you did on the driver and long irons. Are you making the same turn of the torso on the short irons as you did on the driver? From your description, apparently not.  Are you swinging with the arms only? This could result in the 55mph swing speed. May I suggest that you pick up a copy of the June,2008 issue of Golf Digest and read the Phil Michelson and Tiger Woods articles regarding the swings for various clubs. The solution is there for you to try.

Answer 2

The swing plane for the short irons is dramatically different than the plane for the long irons and certainly different from the driver. It is a much more vertical plane on the short irons. So naturally it is a little different swing.

If you use the swing plane of the driver for a short iron you will have to make a lot of correction on the downswing and you will have inconsistency because of it. Watch some of the pros on TV and how different their swing plane is when using the short irons vs the driver.