How to Hit a Golf Ball Higher With Irons (6 Steps)

As an ardent golf follower, you’ll sometimes watch with envy as PGA tour players launch iron shots way up into the sky, allowing their ball to drop gently on the green.

Well, you’re not alone.

Most golfers fans are as amazed as you are at how your players can achieve this. Players don’t just hit the ball high for fun. They do so for the numerous benefits it has. It’s a valuable skill that allows golfers to stop the ball quickly, even on very firm courses. You’re probably tired of hitting your shots low and watching the ball bounce and roll forever.

Don’t worry, here are 6 simple steps to hit a golf ball higher with irons:

• Choose a setup that’s great for high shots
• Position your ball rightly
• Ensure efficient weight distribution before your shot
• Get the right angle for your clubface
• Steep your angle of attack
• Maintain a steady position of impact.

As usual, this may not be as easy as anyone would envision on the first attempt. But it generally gets easier with consistent practice. Once you master the tips, you’ll find yourself hitting high balls anywhere and anytime you want to. Read on to find detailed explanations of each of the tips listed above.

Practical Steps For Hitting a Golf Ball Higher With Irons

Whether you’re playing for fun or competing with top golf players, an excellent way to hit high balls is by staying in the correct position and employing the proper techniques. Here’s a detailed guide to help you do it.

1. Choose a Setup That’s Great For High Shots

This one is a no-brainer.

It’s crucial to find the correct setup for any shot you’re trying to master. It’s not surprising that it’s the first step most experts will recommend to you. While trying to master high shots, you’ll learn that you’ll need a steep golf swing to achieve height on your golf shots. Of course, steeper golf swings would typically make your angle of attack more upright, causing a little more elevation on your golf shots.

On the other hand, taking a shallower approach to hitting a golf ball would reduce your chances of getting enough elevation on the ball. You’ll probably achieve the higher ball flights from steeper angles regardless of the type of iron you’re using.

If you are looking to improve your steeper angles shots, an excellent first step is to stand a bit closer to your golf ball. If you look closely at how a golf iron is structured, you’ll see that standing further away from the golf ball would make the club shallower.

Of course, shallow angles are great for improved ball speed, but they’ll not do you much good if you fancy higher ball flights. While practicing, try to stand closer to the ball, but not too close that it compromises your ability to swing the club fully. An excellent way to detect that you’ve come too close to the ball is if you’re hitting behind the ball.

2. Get The Right Position For The Ball

Your ball’s position would play a significant role in determining how high your iron shots will go. We usually recommend positioning your ball towards the front of your golf stance. If you want your lofted iron shots to go higher, you’ll need a little promotion of an upward path as your swing cuts through the ball.

Positioning your ball in front of your stance helps ensure that your hit adds a little flight to the ball instead of reducing the ball’s flight. However, take note to avoid going so extreme that you play it somewhere that requires a driver shot.

Just ensure that you’re not playing the ball off your back foot. Also, ensure that you choose a position that will increase the ball’s flight. We’ve seen golf enthusiasts argue for playing the shorter irons off their back foot. While this may be a fantastic idea, it is not always necessary. Instead, golfers should target playing their shots from the middle or anywhere very close to the center.

A minor change in the position of your call may seem insignificant, yet it can have a significant impact on the heights that your shots can climb to.

3. Ensure Efficient Weight Distribution Before Your Shots

Perhaps, it’s also worth mentioning that you must ensure efficient weight distribution during setup if you intend to hit your irons higher. Weight distribution here means the way you’re able to balance your weight between your right and left legs during setup. While setting up, ensure to exert more weight on your right side (for right-handed golfers) than on your left side. This setup allows you to turn when needed, loading the right side up as you take your swing.

The concept of weight distribution can be somewhat tricky, considering how long it takes to find the right balance and get into the correct position for your swing. Remember also to leave some room on your right side. This room allows you the ability to turn back when you need to. In essence, overloading your right side would make it more difficult for you to turn when trying to take your club back.

Favoring the weight distribution on your right side would give you a head start as you try to transition and move on your golf swing. Yes, weight distribution is quite tricky, but you’ll learn what’s right for you as you continue to practice.

4. Get The Right Angle For Your Club Face

The position of your clubface can significantly affect your ball’s ability to go high. In contrast to what many golfers believe, you won’t necessarily have to open the angle of your clubface, although you’ll need to ensure that the club is at least square.

We’ve seen several scenarios where golfers close their iron’s clubface because they believe this action can reduce golf slices. Unfortunately, the odds of using this technique to fix a slice are pretty low. Therefore, experts often advise golfers to prioritize using a square face when hitting the ball instead of overcompensating by shooting with a closed face.

Simply maintain a square face and learn how your impact affects the movement of the ball.

Let’s also mention that slightly opening the clubface can sometimes be the key to hitting high-lofted shots. However, if you must do this, you’ll need to make several other changes in the swing. However, if you’re a beginner, we recommend maintaining a square clubface if you want to hit the ball higher.

5. Steep Angle of Attack

One of the top techniques for hitting high ball shots is maintaining a steep attack angle. To get a steeper angle, you’ll need to make your swings slightly more upright. Often, this would feel like you’ve positioned your hand too high in the backswing. But don’t worry, it means you’re on track. The top of your swing should feel like there’s too much extension. It should also feel like the club is very high and way from your head.

It’s essential to maintain a steep angle of attack. It makes even more sense when you consider how the physics of a ball flight works and the effect that the club typically has on the ball on impact.

However, remember that you can also exaggerate a steep angle of attack, leading to unnecessary slices. Therefore, it’s often essential to learn and master this concept on the range before trying it on the golf course.

6. Maintain a Steady Position of Impact

It’s common to see golfers struggling to get into an impact position when adding elevation to their golf shots. What if we tell you that this is mostly counterproductive.

Instead, we recommend maintaining a steady position of impact where you’re able to keep your shoulder level. If you want to feel the lift at impact, you may be compromising your ability to hit your ball well. Hence, you can expect your results to be shorter distances or even slice shots.

A steady position of impact also allows you to use as much clubhead speed as you can imagine.

Why am I Hitting My Irons So Low?

If you are reading how to hit golf balls higher with your iron, it probably means you are presently hitting too low. Apart from correcting this, you may also want to learn why you are hitting your iron so low. Well, a very likely reason for this is the excessive closeness of the ball to your trailing foot during setup. No doubt, keeping your ball in this position would cause the attack angle to steep downwards. It would ultimately cause the club to deloft at impact, and this would, in turn, cause the ball to come out flatter and harder.

For easier understanding, look at it like this: If you intend your shot to be punched while maintaining a shallow elevation on the ball, do you arrange the ball close to the back or front of your stance. Indeed, common sense tells you to position the ball back around your trailing foot. Why then would you maintain the same position when trying to add some elevation to your ball?

The ball’s position is a critical factor to consider when you’re trying to get the ball as high as you can. (We’ve addressed the correct positioning in the steps above). Yes, there could be other reasons you’re not hitting your iron high enough, but this is most often the case for golfers of any level.

Benefits of Hitting a Golf Ball High With Irons

Are there any benefits of hitting golf balls higher? Of course, there are… You won’t spend all this time reading how you can do it if no benefits are attached. Here, let’s review some of the benefits of hitting a golf ball higher.

Maneuver course hazards

Different courses have different conditions. However, irrespective of where you’re playing, there’ll always be hazards that require height to maneuver.

These hazards can be anything from large bunkers to elevated greens or even water hazards. Whatever it is, you don’t want it obstructing your shots and causing you not to hit the distance you want. Therefore, you’ll need a high lofted iron shot once in a while to escape troubles.

Stop the ball on the green

One of the most important reasons golfers opt for high iron shots is to halt the ball in the greens. Most courses feature sloppy greens with a good amount of speed in them. If a particular course makes it difficult for balls to halt on the green, then you’ll need a very high ball flight. After all, higher-flying ball iron shots would typically stop in the green or even spin back a few feet.

It allows you to leverage the downwind

Another important advantage of hitting the ball high with irons is that it allows you to take advantage of downwind golf holes. Windy situations may mean that you’ll play some holes with the wind in your face. To take advantage of these windy situations, you’ll need to be able to hit your shots relatively high. Most golfers would get the ball into the wind and allow it to ride down towards their target. This technique is especially important when you want to improve your accuracy on the course.

Conclusion: This is How to Hit A Golf Ball Higher With Irons

That’s it, a detailed look at how you can hit golf balls higher with irons. Yes, high-iron shots are great and are worth every effort you can put into learning them. However, we still advise golfers to avoid going too far as it can ruin their golf swing techniques.

It’s still possible to enjoy your game and have so much fun while hitting the ball lower. In fact, there are still so many professionals that do not fancy hitting the ball high, and that doesn’t stop them from bagging under-par scores to their name. So, please don’t force it. However, if you want to get more heights to your iron shots, try these simple techniques that we’ve highlighted in this article.