How far do you hit your irons? – 3

You really need to know how far you hit your irons so that you can start zeroing in on the pin. Hole-high beats short or long all day. There are several posts in this blog about ways to determine this question. It’s such an important issue, I keep coming back to it. Here’s my latest hot idea that I had fun with one day.

Go to the course by yourself. Tee off, and when you get to your ball, decide which club you would use. Take out that club, and one more, such as if you decided a 7-iron would do, take out your 6, too. Hit a shot with both clubs and see which one does better for you. The longer club might not be the better one, but you’ll know, because you tried it, at least from this distance.

Write down those results, and do the same on holes that follow. Feel free to drop the ball at different distances from the flag on different holes, if you have to, to get a broad sample of club combinations to try out.

Pay special attention to par 3s. You might find you hit the ball a different distance with a given club when the ball is on a tee rather than on the ground.

Take advantage of elevated and depressed greens, too. Most golfers know they have to make an adjustment, but how much is something they never figure out.

If you do this enough times, from distances where you can compare all possible neighboring club pairs, you will get a good idea of what club to use and when. Having a firm grasp of your iron distances is how you start hitting them close, which is the real key to shooting low scores.

My earlier posts on this subject are found at:

How far do you hit your irons?

Golfers: How to know how far your clubs carry

Johnny Miller’s article, “10 Rules for Sticking Your Irons,” speaks to this subject, too.

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