toe shots

Question
eddie, my handicap moves from 2 to 7. i've played for 30 years. lately, two years now, i toe every iron shot. it doesn't matter if i'm 190 yards or two feet off the green. the result is markings half way between center and end of toe about four grooves up. the shot ends up ok. my flight pattern is mid to low in height with a slight pull that draws a little. i'm 5' 7" and my 6 iron yardage is 155 to 160. tried getting closer, farther, more inside, more down the line. desparate. also most of my fairway woods are toed yet my driver is usually in the center. go figure. help! stacey paul brignac   ps i play 3 times a week

Answer
Hi Stacey:

Frustrating huh?  As a good player, you need to know what causes those marks out towards the toe.  The answer is no rotation of the left arm.  Let me explain.  If the contact is out towards the toe, the club must be moving to the left or towards you as it goes through impact.  There are a couple of ways that happens.  You said your flight pattern is a slight pull that draws a bit.  So, your club is moving from slightly outside the target line to slightly inside the target line down through impact.  When the club moves towards you on the downswing, it is done with a pulling motion with the left arm.  If the left arm is straight line pulling across your body, there is no rotation.  Thus, the clubface is being pulled across the ball catching it on the toe.  You then try to save a square face by using your hands at the last minute, which you're good at, to hit the shot. But it sure would be more fun to hit it in the center of the face.  How do you do that?
Picture your left arm.  Picture the back of your forearm, back of left hand (logo), and knuckles of the left hand. Hold your left arm straight out in front of you about chest high.  No club, just your arm.  Do so with your left thumb pointed straight up to the sky.  Now, turn your entire arm to the right without moving the arm.  Feel the rotation?  Now, turn the entire arm back to the left until the back of your left hand is facing the ground.  Feel that rotation.  That is what you are missing in your golf swing.  When you start to get that rotation of the left arm in the down/forward swing, your clubface starts to turn over a bit throughout the impact area.  When you get rotation of the left forearm and hand, the club moves out in front of you the right amount, catching the ball in the center of the face.  Swing the club towards the target.  You ball should start out towards the target and then slightly draw back to the left.  By getting rotation with the left arm, you'll start to get more extension instead of your arms folding slightly through impact.  As a nice benefit of that, you'll also start to gain a little more distance.  Tiger talks about this by referring to the logo on his glove.  He says as he swings into the impact area, that he is turning the logo of his glove down towards the ground and over.  This controls the angle of the shaft and delivers a square clubface.  With some practice, your ball marks should return to the center of the face...which is where we'd like them.  
The reason your driver is OK is because it's up on a tee and you take a pretty good swipe at it without thinking so much.  I will bet you get some rotation throughout the swing, thus squaring up the face and hammering it.  
Let me know if you need help with this.  I would start by using a PW or a 9 iron to feel what's going on.  Once you get the idea, start using longer clubs.  Practice the rotation of the left forearm and back of left hand.  Your clubface should be turning over, right hand turning over the top of the left hand.  

Eddie Kilthau
PGA Member/www.victorygolfworks.com