How Far Do You Hit Your Irons?
The key to scoring in golf is hitting the green with your iron shots from the fairway.
To get on the green, the ball has to get to the green.
Hitting the ball the right distance is a simple matter of picking the right club.
Here's how to find out what the right club is.
I want you to think about iron distances the opposite of how you probably do it now.
I'm not going to show you how far you hit your 6-iron.
I'm going to show you what club you need to hit the ball 150 yards.
And that's what you really need to know, isn't it? Go out to the course early, before there's much traffic on the fairways.
Forget about your tee shot.
Walk out to the 200-yard marker.
On most golf courses it's a blue cement circle laid into the fairway.
Step off 25 yards from there toward the green and drop few balls.
You're going to find out what club you hit 175 yards.
Now I know you might have figured this out by hitting balls at the range.
You got into a good groove one day and found that your 5-iron goes 175 yards.
But you never seem to get 175 yards out of that club on the course.
There are two reasons for that.
First, you don't have a chance to get into that groove out there.
You hit one shot every five minutes or so, instead of one very 30 seconds.
Second, you get one chance to hit the shot, and you're hitting it to a defined target with penalities if you miss.
That means you make a more controlled swing, which also cuts down on your distance.
If you hit three balls from 175 yards where you are now and they all fall short, it isn't the lie, because you can give yourself a good lie, it isn't the wind, because there is no wind, it isn't anything but you.
You need more club to get the ball to the green.
If you were hitting the 5, drop another ball and try a 4-iron.
If it gets to the center of the green, there's your 175-yard club.
Walk up to the 150-yard marker and do the same thing.
By now you should know what's going on, so start out with one more club than you normally hit from this distance.
Three or four balls should tell you what your 150-yard club is.
Finish by stepping off 25 yards closer to find out what your 125-yard club is.
Repeat this process on every par-4 and par-5 hole, and take notes.
By the end of nine holes, you'll have experimented on seven holes and have gotten a clear picture of what club to use from each of these three distances.
For intermediate distances in the 175- to 125-yard range, you can interpolate, and interpolate conservatively.
That is, always pick the longer club if in doubt.
It's a great comfort to know that you have enough club in your hands to easily reach the pin, and that even if you don't hit a perfect shot, you'll still get to the green.
What about distances over 175 yards? Figure out those distances by playing off long par 3s.
From the fairway, where lies aren't as perfect as having the ball on a tee, recreational golfers won't hit many greens from beyond that distance.
In that case, just use the long club you hit best, to eat up the most yards.
To get on the green, the ball has to get to the green.
Hitting the ball the right distance is a simple matter of picking the right club.
Here's how to find out what the right club is.
I want you to think about iron distances the opposite of how you probably do it now.
I'm not going to show you how far you hit your 6-iron.
I'm going to show you what club you need to hit the ball 150 yards.
And that's what you really need to know, isn't it? Go out to the course early, before there's much traffic on the fairways.
Forget about your tee shot.
Walk out to the 200-yard marker.
On most golf courses it's a blue cement circle laid into the fairway.
Step off 25 yards from there toward the green and drop few balls.
You're going to find out what club you hit 175 yards.
Now I know you might have figured this out by hitting balls at the range.
You got into a good groove one day and found that your 5-iron goes 175 yards.
But you never seem to get 175 yards out of that club on the course.
There are two reasons for that.
First, you don't have a chance to get into that groove out there.
You hit one shot every five minutes or so, instead of one very 30 seconds.
Second, you get one chance to hit the shot, and you're hitting it to a defined target with penalities if you miss.
That means you make a more controlled swing, which also cuts down on your distance.
If you hit three balls from 175 yards where you are now and they all fall short, it isn't the lie, because you can give yourself a good lie, it isn't the wind, because there is no wind, it isn't anything but you.
You need more club to get the ball to the green.
If you were hitting the 5, drop another ball and try a 4-iron.
If it gets to the center of the green, there's your 175-yard club.
Walk up to the 150-yard marker and do the same thing.
By now you should know what's going on, so start out with one more club than you normally hit from this distance.
Three or four balls should tell you what your 150-yard club is.
Finish by stepping off 25 yards closer to find out what your 125-yard club is.
Repeat this process on every par-4 and par-5 hole, and take notes.
By the end of nine holes, you'll have experimented on seven holes and have gotten a clear picture of what club to use from each of these three distances.
For intermediate distances in the 175- to 125-yard range, you can interpolate, and interpolate conservatively.
That is, always pick the longer club if in doubt.
It's a great comfort to know that you have enough club in your hands to easily reach the pin, and that even if you don't hit a perfect shot, you'll still get to the green.
What about distances over 175 yards? Figure out those distances by playing off long par 3s.
From the fairway, where lies aren't as perfect as having the ball on a tee, recreational golfers won't hit many greens from beyond that distance.
In that case, just use the long club you hit best, to eat up the most yards.
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