Distance of Irons

[Stu M]

After taking up golf about nine months ago iv recently started to hit my irons with a bit of consistency. What is the best way to find out your average distances for each iron? iv been hitting my irons on the range, with the total carry varying depending on how sweet its struck.

when i come to playing on a course, using better balls etc i can usually hit every iron longer.

is it just a case of trial and error and monitoring your iron play on the course? the problem with that is that the course that i play doesnt have the best markings to find out the distance to the green.

at the minute im hitting at 7 iron about 150. is there a rough guide to what i should be hitting the other clubs?

thanks

 

[G1BB0]

if you think you are 150yds with the 7 what I do is +/- 10 yds per club so 160 for 6, 170 for 5, 140 for 8 etc etc

Its not far off although after my lesson yesterday I hit my 5 iron 190 on 1 shot lol. As a new golfer find the average and stick with that as your base distance, you will always get the odd flyer but cant really allow for them as generally so few and far between.

Also take into account weather conditions so if colder maybe take 1 club more and if wind with 1 or 2 clubs less & vice versa

 

[GreiginFife]

I spent the best part of a day at the practice ground hitting 10 balls with each iron, measuring the distance to the "average" ball(s) using my DMD and then noting this before repeating the exercise 3 times. Now this may come across as overkill (but I am an analyst to trade after all) however this threw up some surprising results, I always took my 7i as 150yds but after the exercise it showed as 161yds avg.
I found it very worthwhile and in the two medals I have played since I have used this knowledge to knock 3 and 4 shots off respectively.

 

[One Planer]

Its not far off although after my lesson yesterday I hit my 5 iron 190 on 1 shot lol.

Did you catch that one a little thin

 

[Stu M]

Thanks for the advice people. I thought hitting a seven iron 150 yards was quite short but it seems im not too far off.

unfortunatley i dont have a tracker or whatever so cant be that accurate. but at the minute im not that far on so rough averages is fine for me as i wont hit an iron perfect every time.

i think i'll keep in mind as well the +/- 10 yards to see if my other irons stick to this rule. altho i cant hit my 4 iron for love nor money!

 

[G1BB0]

nah the 190 was a peach of a draw, I added 10 yards to my 7 iron just with 3/4 swings aswell. Just shows what a proper connection is like compared to my wild thrash fully monty swing before

 

[Robobum]

For me, this is the most important part for anyones's game. Hitting 7irons and working 10yds either side is absolutely fine for most.

How far you go with it is up to you, Luke Donald has some odd gaps between some of his clubs which aren't uniform right the way through his bag. Just depends if you have the time and inclination to go that far!

 

[matts1984]

I think the best way is to get on the course one evening or at a quiet time and hit a load of balls to different distances and go from there. I alway find it hard to see the distances im hitting on the driving range. Maybe i am just blind though!!

 

[bobmac]

If you can hit a 7 iron 150 yards, that's far enough to be a very low handicapper

 

[Stu M]

yea my two local driving ranges are a downhill one and an uphill one which is extremely annoying!

 

[Stu M]

If you can hit a 7 iron 150 yards, that's far enough to be a very low handicapper

happy days, just have to work on my consistancy then

 

[pbrown7582]

happy days, just have to work on my consistancy then

and short game chipping and putting can be your saviour.

 

[duncan mackie]

Thanks for the advice people. I thought hitting a seven iron 150 yards was quite short but it seems im not too far off.

you have been reading too many forum posts......

I play mine as a 145 carry in the summer, but carry a driver 250........

 

[chris661]

Its not far off although after my lesson yesterday I hit my 5 iron 190 on 1 shot lol.

Did you catch that one a little thin

It was a back to front 3

you have been reading too many forum posts......

I play mine as a 145 carry in the summer, but carry a driver 250........

I can carry my driver for about 4 miles normally :lol:

As has been said hit 10 shots and work out the average.

 

[Stu M]

so 150 yards with a 7i is decent.

i wish i could hit my 4 or 5 iron or hybrid with a decent amount of consistancy like im starting to get with the higher irons.

 

[ScienceBoy]

Did you catch that one a little thin

No he used a sharpie to turn the his 3 iron into a 5....

so 150 yards with a 7i is decent.

On flat ground with no wind down a fairway 150 yards is about a 7 iron for most people. I am a little shorter than that at the moment at about 140 yards but I am blaming my lack of body rotation in my swing and the fact I am using forged clubs. Another excuse I roll out is that my 7 iron is equivalent in loft to modern 8 irons so I will always be a club behind because of that...

I got my distances from my last few rounds of golf, mainly par 3 distances, and then just calculated the rest, say on the 7th of Royal Winchester I hit a 6 iron from 160 yards and came up 10 yards short playing into a 1 club wind, therefore I should have hit a 5. So a 5 iron = 160 yards on flat ground, no wind.

I would suggest using a combination of on course distances, practice area (not range ball) distances and calculated distances for clubs you have not tested.

When calculating for hybrids and woods remember to take into account the change from steel shaft to graphite and the extra length of the shaft as well as the exact loft difference between clubs ie 3* = ~10 yards for the longer irons/hybrids

 

[G1BB0]

it was a one off so :ears:

 

[PhilTheFragger]

There is no target for how far you hit any of your clubs, some people will hit their 7 iron 130, some people 165.

What does matter is that you get to know how far YOU hit each individual club, on average.

Everything else, wind, slope etc is meaningless unless you can work this out.

Borrow a mates DMD, it does not matter if it is a laser or a GPS,If you cant borrow one, pace it out. find a field and hit some balls with a single club, measure how far they have gone, you need to stand in the middle of the group for this, do the same with the next club etc

You should find that as your clubs get longer they will go further and also the spread of balls will be wider
This is normal, hopefully you will end up with several distinct groups of balls.

Enjoy

Fragger

 

[patricks148]

I hit a 9 iron 217 yards earlier this year, didn;t get the feeling back in my fingers for about 5 days

 

[duncan mackie]

...on the 7th of Royal Winchester I hit a 6 iron from 160 yards and came up 10 yards short playing into a 1 club wind, therefore I should have hit a 5. So a 5 iron = 160 yards on flat ground, no wind.

hmmmm - and your moniker is ScienceBoy?