I think this is at the root of my issues with irons.
simultaneous ground and ball contact
I'm hitting the ball way too underneath it making ground and call contact at the same time. It's also why I hit a lot of shots fat. The ball needs to be hit somewhere in the middle and then the club drives down to the ground leaving a divot.
Another thing I've noticed with this is that I need to bend both my knees to get solid forward contact. I struggle to actually make a forward divot using my pitching wedge if I don't bend both knees. I think this slightly differs between clubs.