{"id":15555226,"date":"2024-12-26T18:46:38","date_gmt":"2024-12-26T23:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/golf.com\/?post_type=article&#038;p=15555226"},"modified":"2024-12-27T10:28:38","modified_gmt":"2024-12-27T15:28:38","slug":"payne-stewart-tip-crisp-irons-play-smart","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/golf.com\/instruction\/approach-shots\/payne-stewart-tip-crisp-irons-play-smart\/","title":{"rendered":"Payne Stewart&#8217;s best tip for hitting crisp shots with your irons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"first\"><em>Welcome to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/play-smart\/\">Play\u00a0Smart<\/a>, a regular\u00a0GOLF.com\u00a0game-improvement column that will help you\u00a0become a smarter, better golfer.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/instruction\/payne-stewart-shallow-play-smart\/\">Payne Stewart<\/a> was one of the best ball strikers of his generation. This much is clear when looking at his resume that includes 11 PGA Tour victories and three major titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If not for a tragic aviation accident that took Stewart&#8217;s life in 1999, those numbers would surely be higher. But while Stewart may no longer be wis us, we can still learn from his rock-solid swing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the video below, filmed during Stewart&#8217;s prime, the three-time major winner outlined a common flaw he saw in many golfers&#8217; swings \u2014 and a great way to go about fixing it. Check it out and it just may improve your own game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Great swing tips from golf legends. \u2b07\ufe0f<br \/><br \/>Payne Stewart shares an easy drill for developing the proper weight transfer in your golf swing. \ud83d\udcdd <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hk1mVJoOi2\">pic.twitter.com\/hk1mVJoOi2<\/a><\/p>&mdash; GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GOLF_com\/status\/1872298338525335554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 26, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-stewart-s-ball-striking-tip\">Stewart&#8217;s ball-striking tip<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Failure to properly shift the weight during the backswing is a swing flaw that many recreational players struggle with. Either they do no shift their weight at all, or, in an effort to make a big turn, they &#8220;reverse pivot&#8221; and leave themselves in a poor position at the top of the backswing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The proper weight shift is to go from the right side to the left side,&#8221; Stewart said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just this week, we <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/instruction\/driving\/properly-load-into-trail-side-tpi\/\">covered a great feel<\/a> for getting into the proper position at the top of the backswing. In the video above, Stewart gives us a simple feel to then unload that weight in the downswing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you get to the top of the swing, you&#8217;ve got to transfer your weight (and energy) through the ball to hit a solid shot. A great way to teach yourself to do this is by exaggerating the feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you&#8217;re making some swings on the range, take a step with your trail foot toward the target after impact. It&#8217;ll feel awkward at first, and you might not make great contact with the ball, but when you do this, it&#8217;s impossible to leave your weight on the back side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re struggling to transfer your weight during the downswing, give this drill a shot.<\/p>\n\n\n  <div class=\"g-block-wrapper g-block-parone-video g-block-wrapper--video\">\n    <div id=\"parone-video--one\" class=\"inline-video inline-video--inline preroll-video-container\"\n      data-content-key=\"6bc8a476\"\n      data-feed=\"63-all-system-videos\"\n      data-stylesheet=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/themes\/golf\/assets\/styles\/inline-player.css\"\n      data-vast-override-id=\"one\"\n      data-class=\"video-player\"\n      data-keep-ads-playing-offscreen=\"true\"\n      data-docked-logo=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/wp-content\/themes\/golf\/assets\/images\/logo.png\"\n      data-default-res=\"720\"\n              data-position=\"bottom\"\n                                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Stewart was one of the best shot-makers of his generation.","featured_image_credits":"Getty Images","art_author":[{"ID":14860209,"post_author":"657","post_date":"2020-01-14 19:12:55","post_date_gmt":"2020-01-14 19:12:55","post_content":"","post_title":"Zephyr Melton","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"zephyr-melton","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2023-02-08 15:42:51","post_modified_gmt":"2023-02-08 20:42:51","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/www.golf.com\/?post_type=golf_person&#038;p=14860209","menu_order":0,"post_type":"contributor","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}],"art_source":"None"},"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.9 (Yoast SEO v23.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Payne Stewart&#039;s best tip for hitting crisp shots with your 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