Choking up

Can some explain when you need to choke up on the iron shots? how it affects the intended shot? is there any rule of thumb for the affect on distance vs the amount you choke up closer to the shaft?

Hi There,

Choking down on the shaft shortens the length of the club which in turn will hit a shorter shot.

There are a few reasons why you would want to do this. For example:

You want to hit a shot around 135 yards with a low trajectory, you would normally hit an 8 iron (the distances are just examples) but due to wind conditions or overhanging branches the 8 iron would carry the ball too high. If you use a 7 iron it has less loft and will keep the shot lower, by choking down on the grip you will hit the ball less distance than normal with a 7 iron shot.

You need to pitch a ball 20 yards onto a green and over a greenside bunker, the pin is way back on the green and you want some run on with the ball towards the hole. Instead of making a high shot with your SW that may pull up quickly and be difficult to control you use your PW and choke down to keep the pitch short but with more roll.

You should practice doing this to gauge the effects of different clubs and the amount you choke down.

Hope this helps!

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

hi
just to add to the good things brian said. when on the range play 3 balls with say a 7,8,9,wedge and s-wedge and note how far you hit all of them, then choke down on each club an inch and see how much you lose over a full shot, then choke down 2inches and do the same again. if you always swing at say 90% power you will find you have say a 9 iron that goes 120 yards at full (90%) swing, and will go 115 yards with club choked down an inch and 110 yard with it chocked down two inches.
you will have to pratice a bit and you might have more or less between shots but do it with all your clubs and you find it is lot easer to control the distance. it you need that extra few yard you can hit at 100% but you will lose some of the control and is more risky than swinging at 90% all the time.
hope this helps a little
bill