200 yards

[ahop]

hi new to the forum
i am 24 and have been playing for 2 years i am playing off 15 at the moment but would like to get further down. i am hoping a few hours on the short game should bring me down further[too many three putts] my problem i do have is a 190-200 yard shot, i cant reach with a hybrid or iron but hit approx 210 with 5 wood, i just do not feel i am connecting with 4 iron correctly.
what do you guys think

 

[kid2]

Hello and welcome.
If you are able to hit your 5 wood ok i dont think that your 4 iron should be giving you that much trouble.....There equally as long as each other....
Try setting up with your 4 iron the same way that you do with the wood and see what happens.
Iv never really figured out people that can hit woods fine and cant hit there long irons....
Seems all phsycological to me....

 

[birdieman]

Choke down on the 5 wood to lessen its distance or change the 4i for a graphite shafted 22, 23 or 24 degree hybrid which will carry further than the 4 iron.

Despite what many claim on here re hitting yardages in my experience anyone hitting 4 iron 200 yards on the fly is a bloody good golfer. I would be playing 4 iron for 185 yds or so.

Long irons will find you out, hybrids and fairways are more easy to get away with, to hit long irons well swing needs to be smooth and wide, don't try to hit them too hard.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Try gripping down a fraction on the 5 wood

 

[ahop]

many thanks for the ideas will give them a go tommorow night. now just the putting to improve

 

[RGDave]

my problem i do have is a 190-200 yard shot, i cant reach with a hybrid or iron but hit approx 210 with 5 wood, i just do not feel i am connecting with 4 iron correctly.
what do you guys think

Welcome to the forum.

I hit my 5 wood just over 200, although I have been known to run on greens 220 or more. For some inexplicable reason my 4 iron is the best club in my bag (old Callaway super-game-improvement iron, Big Bertha 2002)...and I can get 190+ out of it, which is effectively the same as my hybrid. I think the design of the club has some relevance and the fact it is 1/2" longer also.
I think you are asking a lot to play "all" the distances between 5 wood and 4 iron...what sort of rescue do you have?

It's a no win sometimes (club distances), if your hybrid doesn't fill the gap, you might like to try a 7 wood even.

I don't hit the ball far (although it's acceptable) so I've always tried to find a selection of clubs to suit my individual style/swing. I interchange between hybrid and 4 iron a lot. Off a nice lie and the tee, the 4 iron wins. Otherwise, I hit a rescue. If I have 190-200 yards, I'll weight up my options. If I can be long, I'll probably just hit a 5 wood (I have been way through the back of a few holes!!!), if it has to be short......you get the idea.

Since using a skycaddie, my choices have been far more reliable. I had 190 to the flag the other day, but only 176 to the front. I didn't even try to smash the 4 iron, just swing tidy and sneak the ball between the bunkers. I was told "long" was no good at all. In the end, I connected a peach, flew the full distance, was just right of the green (sadly, I'd pushed it ) but pitched a SW to 2 inches for a tap-in par.

I try to play par/bogey/par/bogey golf and if 190 or 200 is the distance, I just accept it'll take a piece of luck (or wicked striking).......I have been known to lay up from 195 to just short of the green (S.I. 1 at mine) to avoid the deep, deep, sideways-only bunkers. Pitch and putt for a 4 ( ) or pitch and 2-putt for a 5 nett 4 ( ). I'm not Lee Westwood, bogeys are cool with me on long holes.

 

[RGDave]

....to hit long irons well swing needs to be smooth and wide, don't try to hit them too hard.

Very wise indeed. I relax with a 3 or 4 iron and go nuts with a hybrid.....hence my problems!

 

[CrapHacker]

my problem i do have is a 190-200 yard shot, i cant reach with a hybrid or iron but hit approx 210 with 5 wood, i just do not feel i am connecting with 4 iron correctly.
what do you guys think

I say don't leave yourself 195 yards

Grip down on your driver to leave it 15 yards short, and safely in 5w territory.

TBH, off 15, are you consistant enough to worry about it? OK I'm off 18, but on the long par 4s, all I'm trying to do is get within 73 yards in two and then wedge it as close as I can.

Again, from a personal view, I don't have an iron longer than a 5I. Anything longer is a hybrid or fairway wood for me.

 

[golfing_man]

Agree with the suggestions to simply grip down a touch and/or ease off the 5-wood. As a 15, you likely have enough feel to pull off less than a full shot with that club.

Advice to swing slow & wide with the long irons is spot-on, too. Started doing that myself a couple years back, and now am better with a 4-iron than an 8.

Need to work on those short irons, I guess.

Sean

 

[Macster]

Just shows that everyone is different eh ?
My 4i would be 185-195, but my 5Wood is 220ish.

Just grip down on the 5 and take a smidge off ?

 

[RGDave]

I'm off 18... but on the long par 4s, all I'm trying to do is get within 73 yards in two and then wedge it as close as I can.

73 exactly?......wow your distance control must put you off +8

I'm off 12 and play lots of holes trying to leave a wedge in. I hit a 459 beast in two the other day (pin high, 8' right) but that's rare.

On the 5th/6th/10th/11th at mine, I just try for 2 easy dinks and then a wedge. I play all par 5s like this as well....

My favourite 3rd shot distance on the last par 5 is 100 yards or maybe even 110. I hit a GW and let the ball roll out. There is a fairway bunker at 90 to the middle, and I aim at it, week in week out. Everyone thinks I'm mad, but I've never been in it. They've sliced their 3 woods into the copse and I'm sitting pretty, even if my left foot is actually in the bunker!! (has been known).



I am a course management god!

Shame I hit it like a girl.....

 

[CrapHacker]

I'm off 18... but on the long par 4s, all I'm trying to do is get within 73 yards in two and then wedge it as close as I can.

73 exactly?......wow your distance control must put you off +8

Yeah, funny thing tho...

Last time I played at JoUks place I was lying up at various distances, and whenever I asked him what I had left it was always 73 yards.

I never realised that my subconcious brain was so talented.

It would only be a cynic that would suggest that he was only saying that coz I've got absolutley no idea how to hit a ball 70 yards, or 80 or 90 for that matter, so he could invent any number, and I'll either get on the green or not.

Normally not, btw.