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Better Golf Shots -
Check the lie of of your irons
When buying a set of irons what do you look for? Is it a new head shape with larger sweet spot to offer more accuracy? Perhaps a new type of shaft you have never tried before in the hope of more consistent golf shots than with your old set? You hope, after being convinced by media write ups, TV adverts or because your favourite tour player uses them, that for what ever reason these will be the “new birth”. A new set of irons that you hope will transform your ball striking, making you a much better player than before.
But will they? After the novelty of the new clubs has worn off  are you a better golfer for spending all that money? Are you still hitting the familiar array of bad golf shots as you did with the old set? On full shots do you still tending to pull the short irons to the left of the green? Maybe you are pushing shots to the right of the green possibly with a tail end fade with the long irons? If any of this rings true, or you are about to invest in a new set of irons, consider the role that the lie angle of irons plays in obtaining the best results from your new irons. As a set with an unsuitable lie will more than likely plague a golfer with misdirected shots?
When buying new irons tall players are usually told that upright iron will suit them. Shorter height players, that a flat lie would help them to produce better golf shots. Neither is correct. The only proper and professional way to determine the most suitable angle of lie for each of us, is to be properly measured by having the shaft angle read with say a No.5 iron in the address position with a magnetic protractor placed onto the shaft or with a specially made flat bottom iron showing all the degrees on its head.
Physical shapes of the human body vary enormously. For example a short (5’ 6”) broad shouldered, deep chest golfer with well developed biceps will require a more upright club lie than a tall (6’ 4”) slim bodied player with narrow shoulders and long arms. The shorter golfer has to use all of his height and will  keep hands, arms and club almost in a straight line at address to be able to make room to swing the club correctly during the swing. The tall rangy golfer will tend to sit more with his posture and will find his hands lower at the address. Other than for pure comfort the tall player does not necessarily need longer irons as is often suggested. Because the tall player already has a much wider arch to his swing, a longer length club will only add to the problem of control in the swing by making the arc even wider, and the longer shaft will increase the swing weight and make the club feel quite heavy. The longer the club the heavier it will feel. Whereas the shorter person with a good controlled swing could well have his clubs made longer than standard in an effort to swing “bigger”, so increasing the width of arch and gaining club head speed and length.
When buying a set of irons or indeed already owning a set that has an unsuitable angle of lie a golfer will more than likely be plagued with misdirected golf shots.
Lets look at what the angle of lie, the angle formed between the club head and shaft, can achieve in a set of irons Make sure  that you are correctly measured. Know your angle of lie at the address referred to as the static angle. Be aware that each iron should sit 2º more up than the static angle known as the dynamic angle to allow for shaft bend during impact. And that each club from the longest iron down in sequence becomes 1º more upright as it becomes ½" shorter in length than the previous club.
As a basic rule clubs with too upright a lie, toe up, will have a tendency to pull the ball left of the target. The more loft on an iron the more likely to pull left with a club of this type. This is because the shaft bends less on a shorter iron than on a long iron. The toe of the club comes into ball more off the ground and causes the plane of the face to misdirect greater. This particularly shows when a golfer of shorter height buys a new set of irons most of which these days are ½"longer in shaft length than just a few years ago making them more upright and finds that the short clubs hit the ball left of the target as the extra length of the club makes the toe come even more off the ground adding to the error.
A golfer playing with irons too flat in lie or toe down will tend to push the ball and increases the chance of imparting slice spin. This shows more in long irons than with the more lofted, shorter clubs as the longer shaft bows down more causing the actual lie angle to flatten at impact with the ball being deflected to the right of target.
So above all else make sure that your irons sit properly at address to allow the club head to approach the ball at the proper angle at impact encouraging straight shots. And help to eliminate the club as a reason for misdirected golf shots.
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