Sergio Garcia’s ‘trick’ to help amateur golfers hit towering long iron shots

The cornerstone of Garcia’s success throughout his career has been his ability to strike the ball better than most of his rivals.

And now any amateur golfers who wish to start hitting better golf shot more consistently with their long irons may be able to pick up a tip or two from the LIV Golf star.

Sergio Garcia’s ‘trick’ to help amateur golfers hit towering long iron shots

Most mid-high handicappers would actually be better off using hybrid clubs or a seven-wood, rather than long irons.

However, low handicap players will gain more control from hitting long irons instead of utility clubs.

When speaking to Golf Monthly, Garcia provided some advice for amateur golfers who are looking to get their balls airborne quicker when hitting their long irons.

The Spaniard said: “The trick to adding launch angle and height on iron shots is to move the ball slightly up in your stance – you want it about even with your left heel (roughly where you’d position the ball when hitting a hybrid).

“With the ball up in your stance, it’s impossible to de-loft the club at impact.

“When you swing, think ‘sweep’ more than ‘pinch’, which lets you use all of the loft built into the clubface.

“Once you make contact, force your chest up and get your sternum pointing above your target as you move into your follow-through.

“This helps you guide your club through the impact zone on a slightly ascending angle.“

Sergio Garcia’s warning about his recommended technique

Fair play to Garcia for being honest enough to say that his advice does come with one main pitfall.

“Just so you know, you may lose a bit of distance with this technique,“ Garcia explained.

“So take an extra club to compensate.

“Don’t drive the club down, ‘pinching’ the ball through impact and taking a reasonable divot, as you would for a normal iron shot. You should be looking for more of a sweeping contact.“

The problem for most amateur golfers when it comes to hitting their long irons higher in the air is that they simply don’t possess the speed that players like Garcia do.

More speed equals more spin and that in turn results in higher-flighted golf shots.

If you are not capable of generating enough swing speed, it will be almost impossible for you to hit your long iron shots with a higher trajectory.

And if that is the case for you, perhaps you will be better off sticking with hybrid clubs and ditching your long irons.