Iron Play(Short Distances)

Alright.. Iron play... my irons at the moment are Taylormade RAC OS set,i currently have in my bag a 5-PW but i cant seem to hit my irons far.. my distances are as follows
9-130
8-140
7-155
6-165
5-175
You can tell i don't hit my 5 iron far.. it really hurts my game when it comes to the long par 3's, 180 and back. I'm currently about an 8 handicap.. most of my high scores comes from scrambling on these holes.. i wanna give myself a chance to birdie some holes and shoot lower scores... any ideas or tips?hybrids? I'm also 17 years old on cjga and weight about 140 and not the strongest kid... could this be affecting my distances.. or the clubs? I also hit divots with all my irons..i hit my irons striaght, lefty golfer, comments would be appreciated!!!

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Marcel Beauchesne

Knowing your distances with your irons is more important than hitting longer.

Note the disproportionate gap between the 8i and 7i. Have you gotten your lofts checked recently? If they are OK, then my guess is that you actually have an 11yd gap between clubs - putting your 7i at 152yds.

This would put you in line for about a 250yd driver, a 230yd 3wood and a 210 5wood. If this is correct then your irons seem fine and match your swing speed. SS should improve with age, strength, and consistency.

See thats the weird thing, at my size i can drive the ball out there a good 270-290 yards, my 3 wood- about240 and 5 wood - about 220 when i hit it solid-other times about 210 carry.. could i be swinging to softly, cause i really throw everything into my driver... and i can shape my driver nicely.. its my irons that is holding back my game i find...? Ive also thought about taking lessons.. but I'm worried they are going to change my swing.. which i've heard from some of my friends..

The clubs are numbered to differentiate them from the other clubs within the same set. The number on the club is just a number. That number is not attached to a fixed or required distance. The distance you strike the ball depends largely on the length and loft of the club, on your ability to use it and on the way you are using it for that shot. The distance will also be affected by altitude so that at higher altitude, it's possible to send the ball further. Weather will also play a small role in distance. If you include roll as well as carry, ground conditions will play a fair amount for overall distance.

You wrote that you are 17 years old. As you get older and perhaps stronger and gain further ability to use golf clubs, you may also gain the ability to send the ball further using the same clubs you use now. Through study and practice, you will also improve your ability to strike the ball precisely with the club. The greater the precision you strike the ball with, the more speed you can transfer to the ball, the farther you can send it down the range.

It's a good thing you know how far you send the ball using your clubs, most don't know how far they'll send the ball using any club.

To help you put this in perspective, I hit my clubs as follows (3i-PW):

Up to indicated distance in yards.
3i = ~185
about ten yards between clubs
7i = ~150
8i = ~140
9i = ~125
PW = ~100

I do manage to hit every club shorter distances as needed. For example, I use my 5i for one 150 yard par 3 because of its special layout. I could not use my 7i for that hole. Again, I use my 8i for a short par 3 of about 110 yards because of the very high winds above the trees over the green. I put my ego in my locker so when I'm faced with a shot which I have no club for, I go there in two instead. And since I'm not so precise every time I use a club, I always use a longer club than I need to so that if I strike the ball badly, I still send it a fair bit of distance. For example, I will use my 7i for 130 yards on the course even though I can use it for 150yards in practice.

Nothing at all wrong with those distances regarding your strength. If you need to hit 180 then use your 4 iron or a 22 deg hybrid.

Well with those wood distances (I am guessing you have verified these with either GPS, laser range finder or even google earth), then like BrianW said get a hybrid, 7wood, or 4i & 3i to fill in the gaps from 174 to 220.

Charles

First things first:

How's your impact position? Ball flight?

Have you had your swingspeed measured? Are you accurately measuring your distance? 270-290 is quite a range - is that carry? Carry and roll? Is that based of distance left to the pin on some holes? Or electronic device?

If you are hitting straight, that means you swing mechanics is pretty sound. Taking divot is normal too. To improve distance we need to increase club speed. There are many ways to do that, but I will just share about "flexibility", the winding & unwinding of your body & torso. The faster you can unwind, it are like a slingshot realising a pebble at high speed. You can force yourself to unwind to too fast because you will lose your timing & rhythm and balance too. Your body need time to stetch out those muscles. I find that has helped me a lot eventhough I in my 40's (less flexible). If you can start training that area at 17, you can go a long way.

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G & L
www.golf-instructionz.com

Improve your technique and your distances will increase (as will your accuracy). If your not willing to "change" anything in your swing, how can you expect your results to change?

OK! how about giving the guy some pointers on what he should be doing? What exactly do YOU think is wrong with his distances?

In this case, I don’t think it would do much good to guess. I am only suggesting that he should not necessarily fear changes that an instructor might make, especially at his age.