Best way to dial in distances - Page 2

-Sidehill wont effect distance much

-uphill and downhill will, but its easy to guess this, for ever 1 yard of elevation change its 1 yard you add or subtract. For example, on this course i play this hole is 170 yard par 3, but the green is 15 yards above the tee box, that means i have to hit 185, which i do with my 7 iron. 

-Rough, most times doesn't effect my shot, maybe half a club at most

-Wind, If your hitting into the wind, its about 1 yard per 1 mph of wind, but i don't take that into account unless its like above 7 mph, 10 mph will take off about 10 yards. Downwind is tougher, i think it goes a tad bit farther, maybe a couple yards over the wind, so 12 yards yards for 10 mph, though the ball will not stay in the air longer going downwind, so it gets tricky

 

I am the type of guy who gets the yardage, then does the math, its pretty easy to do. Then depending on wind and other variables, if i am between clubs i will chose to club up and hit easy (going into the wind), or choke down and swing hard (going with the wind), things like that

I do several things to gauge my distances for my irons. First I use a range finder on the range every now and then and test a club or two. I also know when I am on a par 3 what the distance is and if I hit it well and can get information from that. Even par 4's can give you a distance if you are near a yard marker. I find that if I hit the ball well with my usual comfortable swing speed I am often pin high. So, I'm figuring I'm within 2yds on my distances.

 

The real challenge is figuring distance when one or more parameters change: altitude, temperature or humidity. I hate golf courses that give me too hard of a starting hole or two and don't give me a chance to see how my short irons and wedges are doing.

 

The best purchase I ever made was the range finder, it has helped dial in my pitching and chipping distances and get a lot better close to the hole (30 to 90 yds). I have had a player see me take a distance and try to guess the number, more often than not they are off by ten to fifteen yards. So, if they were to hit their perfect to distance to a bad yardage they would think they are a bad chipper.

 

I'm a 11 to 15 handicap, lately and my game is governed mostly by how often I hit the ball solid, but then I bet this is true for most decent players.

Rangefinder was the catalyst for me getting to know what my distances are, particularly wedges.  I was a terrible wedge player, always air mailing greens ( I have poor depth perception).  I carry 4 wedges & knowing the distances exactly now lets me hit plenty of greens.  I also read Dave Pelz short game bible - didnt quite go to the extremes he advocates but settled for somewhere in between.

There are always factors that affect each shot. Wind, rough, poor lies, elevation, air temp, etc....

The key is to know how far a stock shot, under normal/average conditions goes. Once you understand that, you can adjust that yardage based on the actual conditions for each individual shot.