Iron Distance?

[CHRISMIKAYLA]

Hello I haven't posted in a while but was wondering what I could do to get good distance from my irons? My 150 yard club is my eight iron but a lot of people hit nine irons or pitching wedges that distance. I take good divots and there is about ten yard gaps between my irons.

Thanks

[BrianW]

Re: Iron Distance?

Hi Chris,

Just play golf, your distances are fine, who are these people that hit pitching wedges 150 yards anyway?

[slater170]

Re: Iron Distance?

i take a 7 iron for 150 so your distances are fine

[CHRISMIKAYLA]

Re: Iron Distance?

Brian a couple of guys I play with say this is their 150 yard club. There'a a 150 yard downhill par 3 we play on my home course and sometimes they reach the green with PW. If I hit a really hard 9 i can make it sometimes but I found it easier to take an 8 and swing easier.

[klaymon]

Re: Iron Distance?

Hell, in warm weather I only go about 150 with my 6 iron. You're fine.

[bdbl]

Re: Iron Distance?

Brian a couple of guys I play with say this is their 150 yard club. There'a a 150 yard downhill par 3 we play on my home course and sometimes they reach the green with PW. If I hit a really hard 9 i can make it sometimes but I found it easier to take an 8 and swing easier.

If it was enough downhill and the wind was behind and the tee was a bit more than a bit forward and I caught it just right and .... then on a good day maybe I could stretch my PW (115 - 125 normally) that far.

Why bother though? Golf is more a game of direction than of distance which is why we get 14 clubs to cover 1 foot to 300 yards (well 250 yards for me )

An 8 iron* for your 150 shot is just fine, in fact its a bit on the long side (Slat's 7 Iron is more typical) according the attcahed table that I copied from the old version of the GCR (Golf Club Review) website years ago when I was ahem worried about length.

* For what its worth I take an 8 iron for 150 too but I play with guys who are both longer and shorter than that and I lose to and beat guys in both camps regularly.

I also play with a guy who can hit his driver pro lengths. This typically leaves him deeper in the woods than me. As Brian says, just go and enjoy your game mate.

[LowPost42]

Re: Iron Distance?

Hi Chris,

The first question is whether or not you're compressing the ball properly. You're not going to hit a 47° PW 150 carry unless you're compressing the ball - flippers and scoopers just physically can't without a ton of swingspeed.

On a normal day, I take a 40° 8 iron for 150 carry. Some days my ballstriking is better and I have to move to my 44° 9 iron for those 150 shots. On a couple of rare days where it was plenty hot and my ballstriking was fantastic for me, I've pulled my 48° PW from 150.

But I'd say my stock 150 club is probably an 8. We've recently had a yardage discussion on another site:

Reminds me of a Ben Hogan story.

Story goes that he and another competitor were playing a practice round at a tournament site, and Hogan hit his approach shot into the green on one hole quite close. The man he was playing with, asked Hogan what club he had used. Hogan somewhat miffed at the question, glared at the man and proceeded to hit a half a dozen different clubs from his bag all within a couple of feet of the first ball. Hogan then simply said for him to take his pick.

True or not, I don't really know, but it sure seems like something he would have done!

That's the kind of story I get to tell - I'm playing a round with my coach, he's got 132 to the pin, and hits a 6 iron. He just wanted to hit a little baby 6, keep it low under the wind. Meanwhile I've got 120 and I'm ripping a GW that gets killed by the wind and lands on the front edge.

There's more to distance than 'how absolutely far can I hit this here club'...

[CHRISMIKAYLA]

Re: Iron Distance?

Thanks guys! It sounds like with irons it is more about accuracy than distance and you shouldn't press with these clubs anyway.

[Neil18]

Re: Iron Distance?

Hi Chris,

The first question is whether or not you're compressing the ball properly. You're not going to hit a 47° PW 150 carry unless you're compressing the ball - flippers and scoopers just physically can't without a ton of swingspeed.

On a normal day, I take a 40° 8 iron for 150 carry. Some days my ballstriking is better and I have to move to my 44° 9 iron for those 150 shots. On a couple of rare days where it was plenty hot and my ballstriking was fantastic for me, I've pulled my 48° PW from 150.

But I'd say my stock 150 club is probably an 8. We've recently had a yardage discussion on another site:

Reminds me of a Ben Hogan story.

Story goes that he and another competitor were playing a practice round at a tournament site, and Hogan hit his approach shot into the green on one hole quite close. The man he was playing with, asked Hogan what club he had used. Hogan somewhat miffed at the question, glared at the man and proceeded to hit a half a dozen different clubs from his bag all within a couple of feet of the first ball. Hogan then simply said for him to take his pick.

True or not, I don't really know, but it sure seems like something he would have done!

That's the kind of story I get to tell - I'm playing a round with my coach, he's got 132 to the pin, and hits a 6 iron. He just wanted to hit a little baby 6, keep it low under the wind. Meanwhile I've got 120 and I'm ripping a GW that gets killed by the wind and lands on the front edge.

There's more to distance than 'how absolutely far can I hit this here club'...

You know that's the best thing I've read on here in a while......................... apart from BrainW's A J Boner.

[bill reed]

Re: Iron Distance?

hi
i heard a story that was a bit like lowpost Hogan story.
Hogan hit the ball 2 feet from the pin and was asked what club he used and he said, " the right one?" i think it had the same meaning as lowpost in you can hit more than one club the one distance but not you also have to take in other factors like the wind, hardness of the greens, if the greens runs off at the back or the front, how the greens are defended, many things go to make up whats is the right club.
cheers
bill

[Started2k3]

Re: Iron Distance?

My 150yd club is my 9i. I would fit almost perfectly with the "Pros Very Long" group in bdbl's word document. And I have about a 12.5yd gap between clubs.
I hit them long but I wish they were straight.
Charles

[LowPost42]

Re: Iron Distance?

My 150yd club is my 9i. I would fit almost perfectly with the "Pros Very Long" group in bdbl's word document. And I have about a 12.5yd gap between clubs.
I hit them long but I wish they were straight.
Charles

Bah. Chicks dig the long ball.

[Started2k3]

Re: Iron Distance?

Bah. Chicks dig the long ball.

Is that true? Is this why there are so few chicks who play golf?

Come on guys I am doing my part ... the rest of you have to step up and start hitting them long so more chicks start playing golf.

[BrianW]

Re: Iron Distance?

You know that's the best thing I've read on here in a while......................... apart from BrainW's A J Boner.

I can see I wont be able to forget that typo for some time

[slater170]

Re: Iron Distance?

I can see I wont be able to forget that typo for some time

well brian it did make you look like a bit of a knob