Fix Your Downswing Path for Cleaner Iron Contact

0:00
Coach: Payton’s back—this is lesson number five.

Payton: Lesson five.

0:03
Coach: Alright, looks like we’re working on full swing today based on the club you’ve got.

Payton: Yep. I went to the range—not the course—but I’m still missing left and right. Haven’t quite figured out the path yet.

0:14
Coach: Got it. How’s your contact?

Payton: Pretty good overall. My miss is chunking it, but when it’s good, it’s good.

0:21
Coach: Perfect. Let’s take a look and see what we need to work on.

0:32
Coach: Go ahead and hit a few shots so we can see what’s going on.

0:51
Coach: Alright—you might be ready to teach me based on those. You hit them close to your target and pretty far. That’s good progress.

But there are a couple things we want to clean up.

1:04
Coach: First, your club path is about 3° out-to-in, which explains why you’re seeing pulls.

Ideally, we want your hands working more under your shoulder—not cutting across your neck and head.

1:16
Coach: Second, let’s talk about weight distribution.

You start around 50/50, which is great—but in the downswing, you still have about 70% of your weight on your trail foot.

That’s a big reason for the chunked shots.

2:07
Coach: We’re going to work on two things:

1. Fixing your path
2. Getting your weight moving earlier into your lead side

2:25
Coach: We’ll use a noodle on the ground to help with path. You’ll need to keep your hands deeper and avoid coming over the top.

For weight shift, I want you to exaggerate it—get to about 70% on your lead side earlier in the downswing.

2:53
Coach: Let’s start without a ball. Just make some rehearsal swings—keep it to about half to three-quarter length.

3:53
Coach: What feels different?

Payton: I feel like I’m shifting earlier—almost like I’m stepping forward.

Coach: That’s good. Exaggerate it even more.

4:06
Coach: As you start down, really push into your lead side. It might feel like you’re stepping—that’s okay.

4:23
Coach: What’s the biggest change now?

Payton: My weight is shifting sooner—it just feels different.

4:34
Coach: Let’s do one more and hold your finish—don’t lose your balance.

4:56
Coach: Good. Now hit one with that same feeling—short swing, early shift.

5:10
Coach: That was really good.

You got much closer to 50/50 in the downswing, and your hips moved significantly more toward the target.

5:35
Coach: Even better—your club path improved from about 3° out-to-in to 3–4° in-to-out.

That’s a huge difference.

5:48
Coach: This is how you should practice:

• Use a noodle or headcover to train your path
• Focus on shifting your weight earlier

That puts your hands and club in better positions and improves your contact.

6:20
Coach: Really nice work today.

Payton: Thank you—that was awesome.

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