Most golfers I play with in the pro-ams have trouble with their long irons.  They don't generate enough club head speed to hit the ball high enough and stop it on the green.  Here's a solution:

I've always thought most recreational players would be better off eliminating their long irons down to a 5-iron.  The new choices in woods make me even more convinced of that.  Players with low club head speed should forgo the long irons and use higher-numbered woods such as the 5-wood, 7-wood and even 9-wood.  These make it much easier to launch the ball higher.

I'm taking my own advice this year, I put a new "iron-wood" in my bag, because it gets the ball up more easily than the 2-iron I now mostly use as a driving iron.  The ironwood is a cross between a wood and an iron, and is the distance equivalent of a 5-wood.

Mechanically, my key thought to make good fair-wood contact is to think of swinging the club head wide to wide.  Extend your left arm on the backswing, and then extend your right arm on the through-swing.