Fitness Friday: How to pure your irons

Even at golf's highest level, rarely is a player a great driver *and *a great iron player. It's either one or the other, because the body is required to do something different to flush a shot with each club, says Golf Digest fitness advisor Ben Shear (@Ben_Shear).

If you tend to hit your driver better than your iron shots, you need a better blend of rotational and lateral movement in your swing, and you can help train for that in the gym, Shear says. "The more that golfers slide toward the target earlier in the swing, the more they're going to be able to swing down and compress an iron shot." Justin Rose (pictured here) is a prime example of a good iron player. This shot, taken from his 2013 U.S. Open victory, really shows how he keeps his upper body stacked over the ball as he swings down into it. This is known in golfspeak as "covering the ball." His weight has shifted toward the target and he's poised to hit the ball first and then the turf.

Ron Kaspriske is the fitness editor of Golf Digest.

Follow @ronkaspriske

(Photo by Getty Images)