How to Compress the Golf Ball with Irons: A Step-by-Step Guide & Drills

If you are tired of hitting thin and inconsistent golf shots with irons, it could be because you aren’t compressing the golf ball.

Compressing a golf ball doesn’t come naturally to all players. Many players try to lift the ball or help it up into the air, but hitting down and compressing the golf ball will yield much better results.

Golf ball compression happens when you have forward shaft lean, the right ball position, and a slightly flexed lead wrist position.

With a little work on the driving range, you can start striking your irons like a professional.

How to Compress Your Iron Shots (Key Takeaways)

Save this guide for the next time you head to the driving range with your HackMotion. Until then, here are the key takeaways:

• To compress a golf ball with your irons, you need forward shaft lean and a slightly flexed lead wrist position at impact.
• Make sure your weight has transferred to the front foot to get a cleaner strike.
• Keep the ball from getting too far forward in the stance.
• Don’t let the golf club get too shallow on the takeaway; the angle of attack will not be steep enough to compress the golf ball.
• Use your HackMotion to practice hitting punch and knock-down shots, and record those wrist positions to see what it takes to compress your iron shots.

If you prefer to learn by watching a video, here is a guide from Rob Cheney detailing how to compress a golf ball and the importance of that forward shaft lean.

How to Compress a Golf Ball with Irons

Some golfers feel like they can compress the golf ball one day and struggle with it the next. If you have worked on compressing a golf ball with irons with little success, it could be for any one of these reasons.

Work through these steps on how to compress irons, and you should find the issue causing the trouble.

Maintain a Forward Shaft Lean

At impact, your hands should be slightly ahead of the clubhead. This is called forward shaft lean.

You’ll see the club shaft leaning a little closer to the target than the actual clubhead. This allows you to hit down and through the golf ball to compress it.

The mistake many amateur players run into is a flip.

Before getting to the ball, they slow their swing down and flip their hands to help get the ball into the air.

The move is made to try and save an open clubface, but it causes a thin and sometimes even topped shot.

To practice forward shaft lean, you can work on your short game, specifically your chip shots.

Take something like an 8 iron, set up to hit, and then make a half swing back and a half swing through where you just focus on those hands staying slightly ahead.

One key tip here is to not over exaggerate the forward shaft lean at setup. If you do, you’ll just be closing the clubface, making the club less forgiving.

Wearing your HackMotion while you practice maintaining a forward shaft lean can help develop consistency and awareness. It’s like having a coach with you while you practice.

Get the Swing Plane Correct

The swing plane needs to be perfect if you want to compress the golf ball.

There are two issues you can run into here:

• An angle of attack that is too steep and causes you to flip right before the ball.
• An angle of attack that is too shallow and isn’t moving down enough through impact.

To get the swing plane correct you can use alignment sticks and even video to ensure that you are neither too steep or too shallow.

However, the easiest way to correct the swing plane is to have a flat lead wrist at the top of the backswing. From this position, your swing plane is forced onto the proper path.

HackMotion can help you see if your wrist is getting too extended on the backswing or too flexed, causing the club to move from the proper plane.

Lead Wrist Flexed at Impact

Once you have your swing plane correct and that lead wrist is flat at the top you can then accelerate through the ball with a flexed lead wrist.

The flexed lead wrist allows the club head to square and sometimes even slightly close.

In addition, you will be moving the club down and through the impact zone to ensure you compress the ball.

Wearing your HackMotion is the easiest way to develop the correct lead wrist position.

Check Your Ball Position

While working on your compression, don’t neglect the ball position. Compressing a mid-iron shot is difficult if the ball is too far forward in your stance. You’ll miss that perfect location to strike the ball on a steeper path.

Some golfers have a tendency to push the ball too far forward in the stance, which creates thin shots that you can’t compress.

When working on compression, keep the ball in the middle of the stance.

Use the Lower Body

Compressing your irons by using arms and hands only is generally inconsistent. You’ll have to incorporate the lower body to compress the ball each time. When your lower body turns it helps to pull the club down towards the ground and improve the compression you make with your irons.

From the top of your backswing with a flat lead wrist, use your lower body to turn and initiate the downswing. Practice this in slow motion and feel the weight transfer to your lead side.

You’ll notice the club approaches on the proper path and at the correct angle to compress the golf ball.

Strike the Ball First, Then the Turf

Strike your golf ball first and then the turf.

If you don’t have this concept down, you will never compress your iron shots. The great thing about the ball first and then the turf concept is that it’s easy to learn with simple drills.

Start with your pitching wedge and put a tee in front of the golf ball. Take half swings and strike the ball and the tee, increase to a three-quarter swing, and then a full swing.

You can then work your way up your bag into the mid and low irons until you can feel this concept with all the irons.

Drills to Compress Golf Ball with Irons

If you need some additional ways to work on compressing the golf ball with your irons, here are a few of our favorite drills.

Miss the Alignment Stick

This simple drill from Chris Ryan golf forces you not to cast the club coming in. You won’t be able to have a shallow approach, or you will swipe the stick and hit a poor shot.

Try this without a golf ball to see if you can get the feeling down. Then, remove the stick and try again with a golf ball in place.

Range Basket Drill

This drill from Adam Bazalgette helps you preset the position you need to be in with your iron in order to compress it.

Then, all you need to do is take a short backswing and make contact with the ball. It’s hard not to compress it from this preset position.

Palm Open Drill

Some great players and instructors talk about compressing the golf ball and call it covering the golf ball.

Eric does a great drill with his palm open to help you get the feeling of this position. Then, you can recreate it with the club in your hand.

Ball Between the Forearms

Another great drill from Rob Cheney is the ball between the forearms drill. This one assures your upper and lower body are working together.

In addition, you’ll make sure your hands, wrists, and arms don’t start acting independently of your core. You can use a swing trainer for this or simply do it with a similar object you may already have.

Final Thoughts

At this point, you should feel confident in your ability to compress a golf ball with your irons.

Bring your HackMotion to the range with you and wear it until you can get that flexed lead wrist at impact. It will make all the difference when trying to get the feeling of compressing your irons.

When you get the feeling of compression down, expect to see longer and straighter shots.