Distances...A really good exercise.

[ColinR]

Many of you may have already done this, but as I'm fairly new to serious golfing ( 1 year ), it was new to me.

I went to the Club practice area with about 175 balls last night with the objective of getting an accurate measurement on my iron distances.

Starting off with a 7-Iron, I hit about 25 balls. I then walked to where the balls had landed, there was of course a spread. I then grouped all of the balls to the place which I determined to be the centre of the spread. That now being my average 7 Iron distance.

I then did this individually for the rest of my irons from PW through 5-Iron.

At the end of this process I had clumps of balls showing me the spread of my irons and now feel I have a much more accurate feel of my distances.

Not rocket science I know, but very helpful. Considering you can pick up 200 decent practice balls for about £15.00 on ebay, well worth it.

 

[birdieman]

Good idea but you need to do this with the ball you play in tournaments. A bucket load of pinnacles/top flite will give you much more distance than a quality ball like a ProV1 or HXTour which is designed to stop.

 

[wilf_74]

How did you measure the distance?

 

[ColinR]

Good idea but you need to do this with the ball you play in tournaments. A bucket load of pinnacles/top flite will give you much more distance than a quality ball like a ProV1 or HXTour which is designed to stop.

Totally agree. I bought 200 Titleist balls, I know they are a mixed bag, but it has given me a general rule of thumb on my Iron distances. As a golfer, I feel I am better equipped today than I was yesterday as a result of this exercise.

 

[ColinR]

How did you measure the distance?

From 100yards, there are flags every 25 & I paced the distances in between.

This was the clubs practice area.

 

[OldWindy]

Did you notice a consistent distance gap between the clubs?

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Got my Sky Caddy GS5 yesterday and excitedly registered it and downloaded my course last night. I'm planning to go onto the practice ground tomorrow and use the "mark ball" facility whereby you hit the shots, turn the function on and walk to the point you want to mesure to. It gives you as accurate a measurement as possible.

I'm planning to do it both ways (into and with the wind) so as to get a definitive guide. I think that in a moderate wind (10-15 mph I might lose about 7-10 yards)

I'm also thinking about repeating the exercise in the height of Summer so I can get a feel for how much roll I get on my clubs (I realise this is slightly subjective but at least will give me a ball park figure when planning my shots)

Before anybody (Benny) starts to moan about how I'm not good enough to benefit from measuring my shots the Sky Caddy gives you distances to carry obstacles and so knowing the distance I hit will ensure I don't commit the cardinal error of trying to lay up only to see the ball fly straight into the hazard

The Sky Caddy was a treat to myself and I'm really looking forward to getting out on the course with it so I can add extra measurements into my yardage chart (which is fairly sparse)

 

[OldWindy]

The SG5 is on my Christmas list. Which Christmas, though?

 

[wilf_74]

I have to agree, i did a similar exercise to this a while back and it does help build confidence to which club to pull. I had a problem of always under clubbing and going with what co-players went with etc (-not in comps obviously) and always came up short! Not wanting to feel inadequate when they hit PW and i hit 9 or 8! But soon enough you need to get over that and just pull which club you know will get there smoothly-not forcing a wedge.

This will help all high handicaps scoring. No pro guesses to hit a Wedge- They KNOW the yardage. So why shouldnt we!

I may re-do this exercise now and use a gps to measure, thanks for the reminder- good post ColinR!!

J.

 

[Ken_A]

I need to get the finger out and do this- I know LW, SW, PW, 9, 8, 7 but then its guesswork.
To be honest my rescue and 5 wood go about 200yards +- 25 yards which is not much help. when laying up (as I have found out)

 

[ColinR]

Did you notice a consistent distance gap between the clubs?

Yes, actually it was pretty consistent.

 

[billyg]

Got my Sky Caddy GS5 yesterday and excitedly registered it and downloaded my course last night. I'm planning to go onto the practice ground tomorrow and use the "mark ball" facility whereby you hit the shots, turn the function on and walk to the point you want to mesure to. It gives you as accurate a measurement as possible.

I'm planning to do it both ways (into and with the wind) so as to get a definitive guide. I think that in a moderate wind (10-15 mph I might lose about 7-10 yards)

I'm also thinking about repeating the exercise in the height of Summer so I can get a feel for how much roll I get on my clubs (I realise this is slightly subjective but at least will give me a ball park figure when planning my shots)

Before anybody (Benny) starts to moan about how I'm not good enough to benefit from measuring my shots the Sky Caddy gives you distances to carry obstacles and so knowing the distance I hit will ensure I don't commit the cardinal error of trying to lay up only to see the ball fly straight into the hazard

The Sky Caddy was a treat to myself and I'm really looking forward to getting out on the course with it so I can add extra measurements into my yardage chart (which is fairly sparse)

well done for finally getting one HJS. The SC5 eh? Nice.

Did you get a free download with it or do you have to pay from the word go?

Ive used an SG5 and it's a good bit of kit.

Saving the £2 coins as we speak.

To the OP - I admire your commitment to the cause. Firing 175 balls off each club must have taken a lot of time as well as energy. Although not the least bit relevant to anyone but you, I would be curious to know what your stats. came out like (if that's not too personal) as such an investment of time is interesting.

 

[OldWindy]

Did you notice a consistent distance gap between the clubs?

Yes, actually it was pretty consistent.

You're on a winner there, then. Not so good for me, though.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Sadly I had to pay to get the course downloaded. Found the yardages quite an challenge as I gave myself 10 balls with each club and the tendency is to try and give a bit extra and strive for longer distances instead of just hitting it smoothly as you would do on the course. Naturally the smoother ones went further anyway.

I've down LW to 7 iron in a helping breeze which was about 70 odd balls (LW, SW, 52 degree, PW, 9, 8 and 7) and to be honest only took about an hour or so. My practice balls have both green and red stripes around them so I can identify them when the practice ground is busy. I just hit a batch of 10 red and then 10 green and used the ball marker facility to take the middle point of both clusters. Picked them up and repeated the process.

 

[nomadpaul]

To the OP - I admire your commitment to the cause. Firing 175 balls off each club must have taken a lot of time as well as energy. Although not the least bit relevant to anyone but you, I would be curious to know what your stats. came out like (if that's not too personal) as such an investment of time is interesting.

That does seem like dedication Billy but he hit a total of 175 balls , 25 per club

 

[benny]

Ay yo, Homer - I don't want to get involved in an online war with you - quit picking on me. Players of all abilities should know their yardages - their REAL yardages. If you're playing off a double figure handicap like us, with regular shafts, why do people feel silly hitting 7 irons from 130 yards? Club up, always club up. That 160 yard approach on the 72nd hole that Tiger hit at the Arnie P Bayhill a month ago - the one that left him the birdie putt to win for the 9th time in 10 or whatever. 5 iron. From 160 yards from the number one. How dare you hit an 8 iron sir - you know who you are.