irons go to left what is my swing doing

Question
i play on Sunday love the game him 50 have not played in about six years started again to fall in love with the game but can hit the irons where i want them to go. they go left or i hit the ball off the toe. my son is in to the game he is 23 when he hits a bad shot i tell him that you have to hit a bad shot to make you come back to hit a good shot i would like to help him. i need to under stand what i am doing wrong so i could help him.

Answer
Scott:  There are several physical factors influencing the direction a ball goes as well as any number of mental factors.  I'll give you two things that must be correct before the ball will begin to go on line consistently.  The first is aim.  There are two lines involved with aim; the target line which passes through the center of the ball and extends to the target.  The 2nd line I'll call the stance line and is along your toes and should run parallel to and left of the target line.  Many golfers aim the stance line at the target which puts the target line to the right.  This is where the mental factors come into play.  You naturally sense where your target is and when the swing begins, your reflexes take over and cause you to pull the shot to make it go towards the target.  The problem is you'll never be consistent swinging in this fashion because you are pulling the club off its natural path.
The 2nd physical factor is posture/set up.  Ideally the club travels away from the ball, around your torso, back through the hitting area and around your torso again into the finish position.  If you can picture an ice skater and how they twirl in place with their arms outstretched;  you抣l notice the arms are perpendicular to the spine/torso.  When your torso is turning like it does in the golf swing, it抯 important to position yourself to allow the arms to swing at right angles to your spine.  With that in mind you抣l want to set up to the golf ball in the following manner so that your body is in optimum position to allow the club to be swung back and through,  staying on the target line for as long as possible.  I encourage you to learn this set up position by following these steps in order:  1. With your knees straight, bend from the hips until your shoulders move past your toes an inch or two.  2.  Flex your knees just enough to unlock them.  (If your thigh muscles begin to get tense, you抳e flexed too much.)  3.  Play the ball far enough from you to allow the arms to hang from the shoulders.  4.  Make sure you feel your weight on the balls of your feet.  In other words, you should feel like it would be easier to lift your heels off the ground that it would to lift your toes.
From this position and aimed properly, you抣l be able to make a swing that puts the club on the target line.  If this is very different from what you抳e been doing, it will take some time for your body and 揺yes?to adjust.  Over 200 hundred muscles are at work just to keep you standing still; so when you introduce the golf swing to the mix and swing from a different position, there抣l be a good bit of muscular confusion for awhile.
When you next watch golf on television, note how the pros set up to the ball.  You won抰 see many who aren抰 in the position I describe above.  I抳e always said, if you want to do something well, copy those that make a living at it.
Good luck Scott.  If you have the mind and inclination to, keep me updated on your progress.
Fairways and Greens,
John
www.golfnutts.com  (The above is explained there as well)