I have been struggling for months with hitting my irons. I tried all sorts of new approaches, Leadbetters A swing, inside out, sliding in, hitting down. Finally, landed on standing more upright, allowing my right elbow to leave my body and shortening my backswing. Feeling like the swing was ready for prime time, I pulled out my 7 iron (169 yds), quickly reviewed the 3 things I check on (grip, alignment and swing plane) and let it fly. It never left the pin from the moment it left my club. Looked good in the air and then boom, it hit the stick. We heard the sound but couldn't tell if the ball ricocheted onto the green. I pulled out my range finder and couldn't spot the ball on the green. I gave the rangefinder to my playing partner, "do you see it? No, I don't see it either. Oh, man that might have gone in. Sure enough when we got the green, there it was in the cup. The ball took a quarter sized chunk out of the front of the cup and you could tell that the ball hit the stick inside the cup. Slam dunk! How exciting.