Knowing your yardages

How good did you have to get before you felt like you really knew your yardages to within 5 yards or so? Did you know them with any degree of confidence when you were a 25 handicap? 15?

I don't really know my handicap, but I keep score carefully and honestly, and I measure my success in a round of 18 by how close I get to breaking 100 (which I've never actually accomplished). I don't really know my yardages. I have a general idea that if I have 150 to the green I want to hit an 8-iron, but most of the time I hit it thin, fat, or sideways, and so I don't get a lot of great feedback on whether the 8 was my 150-yd. club or not. Sometimes I'll hit it really well and have it fly high and straight and land next to the pin. Sometimes I'll hit it really well and have it fly high and straight and land 10 yards past the back of the green.

So how good were you when you really started to trust your yardages?

-Andrew

I feel pretty comfortable with my averages, I always know the right club to use. Getting it to go where I want though... that's a horse of a different color.

You're not really talking about knowing your yardages per se, you're really talking about knowing the likely outcome of the shot about to be hit. There's a subtle but big difference.

Your yardage estimates on clubs shouldn't be based on the longest you've ever hit it or when you really catch it well (although it is very tempting), but rather, they should be based on the yardage of the club that you get with most of your swings. Once you understand the realities of your abilities you'll begin to make club selections based on likely outcome instead of theoretical distance.

That said, if you have such large variances in certain clubs that you can't really zero in on an acceptable range, then you might want to keep those clubs in the bag until you can get some more practice time with them. If your whole set is unreliable, then it really doesn't matter much what you swing - just hit the one that you think will get you in the least amount of trouble.

I'm a 22 and I know my yardages. There's a difference between knowing my yardages and executing a good shot though!

There's a difference between knowing your yardages and hitting them. Anyone who has played for a while should have a pretty good idea how far he typically hits each club. You have to base it on your typical halfway decent shot, not on your best possible shot, and not on your chunk - skull - shank, etc. If you don't use some sort of a yardstick then it's a total crap shoot and you'll always be second guessing yourself. In order to improve you need a yardstick to shoot for.

I knew my distances within a reasonable error long before I carried a handicap, certainly before I was a bogey golfer. That doesn't mean that I hit to them even 75% of the time, but I had a realistic target mind.

I think knowing them is one of the best things you can do for your game. That is why having either a gps or a range finder is so important. I forgot to charge my gps the one day and I felt so lost.

If I understand what you guys are saying, the club selection is based on a combination of your average distance with a club combined with your confidence of hitting it that distance given the circumstances of the shot? So if I hit my 7i 140 yards on average at the range and off the fairway, and my ball is 130 yards from the pin in light rough would I be better going with a 6i or 5i which im less consistent with or take what I can get with the 7i?

Everyone is right so far. I know my 4 iron goes 210+ (at the range) will it go that far if I chunk it on the course? No. No way. Not from the rough either. and I dont swing as hard on the course so my 4 iron is a 180 club with a nice smooth swing. From the fairway. but I spent A LOT of time at the range figuring out my yardages. I spent days and buckets just getting my new wedges dialed in and Im still not dialed in with them. There are so many different shots you can hit with each club its tough. I finally realize why my friend is so reluctant to get new clubs even though his blades are rusty and beat to isht. It took him years to figure out what every club does under every circumstance.

I've known them really well ever since I first started golfing a little over a year ago. Knowing your yardages is one of the easiest ways to knock off a few strokes.

I've pretty much always known my yardages since I've been shooting in the low 90's, all the way up until now...

I mean, they've changed, I've gotten much longer as time has gone on, different clubs can be hit in different situations now with my confidence, but I know my yardages.

Inside of 80 yards though I use one club, and I don't really care what the distance is. Saying it's 70 yards as oppose to 50 does nothing for me. I simply feel the yardage by looking at the target and try to make the proper swing off that. I don't have a 50 yard swing, 60 yard swing, 70 yard swing, etc.

Some things I've learned as my game has progressed over the past year...

From the fairway, find your 150 club and use that to gauge which club to use up and down in 10 yard increments. Mine used to be my 7 iron with my old clubs and old skills, but now it is my 8 iron.

When you are hitting from the rough, add one club (so if your 150 club is an 8 iron from the fairway, use the 7 iron from the rough)
Also, never go a club less and swing harder to get the result you want... club up and swing less (so from 157... if an 8 iron is your 150 club, use the 7 iron instead and give it a 3/4 or slow tempo swing)

the only thing I'll add is that its not always wise to go a club higher. Factor in where you want to miss or where the best miss would be. I'd rather hit my 150 shot and be at best 18-21 feet from the hole and at worst in a safe spot if there is trouble long and vice versa if there is trouble short. Anyway, this all factors in to knowing your yardages and I think a golfer should know their yardages at whatever level they are playing. The numbers will change with time but you should always know what your "average quality" shot with a particular club is going to do. I don't see how a person could get around the course otherwise.

You also need to be able to adjust to what is going on that day, rain, cold, hot, or maybe your swing isn't all that loose all effect your yardage. If you travel altitude can have a huge effect as well. Depending on the day I could be hitting my 7 iron 140yards or 170yards.

Actually, I should've elaborated on this thought a bit more. The 7 (or 8) iron should be a very easy club to master in your bag. Just the length and loft of the club makes them very easy to hit consistently. Figure out which one gets your ball to the 150 mark. The most accurate way to do this is to get on a golf course on a non-crowded day and drop a couple balls on the 150 mark and smack them to the green. Do this from multiple holes with differing scenarios (ie. uphill to green, downhill to green, into wind, with wind, fast greens, slow greens, etc)... from fairway and from rough... also play with ball position... try to hit one a little forward in your stance, then hit one a little further back in your stance. Try cut shots and draws if you start to figure out hand and foot position and can still manage a good swing.

Once you figure out the club that gets you to 150, add/subtract 1 club per 10 yards and finagle your ranges until you feel confident with each club. Here's my breakdown on a full swing (more like a 5/7 or normal tempo swing) (+/- 5 yds): 205 yds: 3 iron 195 yds: 4 iron 185 yds: 5 iron 175 yds: 6 iron 160 yds: 7 iron 150 yds: 8 iron 140 yds: 9 iron 130 yds: PW 105 yds: 56° 1 85 yds: 60°

It took me about 3 rounds and 3 range sessions to lock in my current irons. To compound the difficulty, I was also dialing in a new swing technique. I've had the new irons for about a month now, and over the last two rounds I've hit every iron to within 15 feet of the flag.

Wedges are a bit different...based a lot more on feel. So I spend about 1.5 hours/week practicing chipping and pitching with them. Switched from a 52-56-58 setup to a 54-58 setup over the last couple of weeks...and a couple of hours spent practicing with the new wedges got them locked in enough for me to set personal bests the last two rounds thanks in large part to some up-and-downs.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to presume that because their shots are inconsistent, knowing distances to the yard is pointless. You need to know the average distance of your better shots. Then at least when you hit a good shot, you will get rewarded. You will be pin high more often.

If you don't know your exact yardages and are 5y or more out you are at a big disadvantage.

My 1/4 PW is a 49 yard shot. I hit it 49 yards most times. It's scary. In the end your guess is never going to beat my rangefinder. I don't have to feel the distance because I know it. I don't have to guess the backswing length as i know that too. The only feel I need is a slight adjustment if the shot is +/- 49y but not so much as to require a different club.

That is not good that you feel lost without your gps. I think you are relying on your gps too much and should play some without it. It is a nice tool to have to speed up play a bit, but that is it.

There is no benefit to guessing or relying on inaccurate course markers.