mjdk1

In spring 2013 I had my then low round of 83. I was so full of confidence that I went into the office the next week and told my co-workers about it. My boss overheard me and suggested we go play a round the next day. Take the afternoon off work to play a round of golf? Sounded perfect to me.. But obviously the way this game works, I go out and shoot a 97. I was almost laughed off the course. Think it was just the stress of playing with my boss. To this day whenever I play a round with him (couple times a year) I just expect to shoot a couple shots higher than my averages.

Could be. Tell you what, when I'm at the range tomorrow I'll test it out. My local range has a 125 yard mound with a pin with about a 15 yard radius. I'll hit 20 and I'll let you know. I'm a pretty honest guy - don't really see the value in bs-ing a bunch of strangers...so we will see. I'm willing to be proven wrong. As for the second part of your comment.. you basically repeated your first comment. I'm not really interested in how most scratch golfers hit a 7i 155+, as much as I'm interested in why a 7i 135yds won't be able to achieve it. While you are probably correct that I won't reach scratch as is, you haven't really provided any reason why other than "most scratch golfers hit further than that". I understand without seeing my swing it's not possible to be specific, but that's exactly why I think it's also not possible to definitively tell me I won't get there as is. Just my two cents.

Haha that's awesome.... good lesson to be careful who/how you get advice. Think I'll try the hip rotation and if that fails I'll start saving up to see a pro.

So, I don't keep a USGA tracked handicap, so I suppose anything other than that has to be an estimate. I try to approach the game casually so I'm not that diligent in tracking my scores. That said, my last 10 rounds ranged from a 78 to an 83 (both were single outliers), which I think is pretty consistent. So I just rounded up to 9. I don't keep all my scorecards, but my low round is a 77 and I can't remember the last time I shot above an 85.

Yeah I've thought that might be it for a while, good to get some other opinions.. It's not that I don't have lag, I take good divots ahead of the ball, it's because I'm adding too much loft to my shots. That's why I can land a 5i softly from 150 but yours won't stick. I'm sure everyone can relate though - it's hard to change something when your game is clicking, so I always just ignored it. Even with my short distances, I'm by far the best iron player in my regular group, so seeing these guys spray their irons all over the course has never motivated me to change, even though they hit it well past me when they connect. So far, this thread has changed my mind haha, seems like nobody is in the "if it ain't broke" camp. Will try this one at my next range session (hopefully tomorrow after work).

Well, I have one small change in mind I want to test out before anything else, maybe you guys can give me some thoughts. I'm not really sure if anyone has encountered this, but I have a tendency to move my hips to the right on my backswing. So the movement is "right and rotate" rather than just "rotate". I hit a natural fade, but a right-slice is rarely my miss (I push left if anything), so I don't think this means I'm coming outside-in (which I gather would result in a right slice). So that would have me believe I'm doing something in my downswing to adjust for the bad hip movement. This is probably leading to a decrease in swing speed? That's off the top of my head. What I don't want to do is mess with my tempo.. for all of it's shortcomings on distance my swing has a tempo that gives me a great feel for hitting my spots. As for getting to scratch - I think I am a long way off from that for sure! I'm a pretty below average putter I think. I don't 1-putt all that often during a round, so that's got to be a huge focal point for me. Leaving a ton of makeable birdie/par putts out there, which can get really frustrating.

Yeah wow, you guys have some nice distance. I mean... I can push my 7i 150yds if I really take a go at it, but my accuracy goes way down. That's why I'm at the point where given 150yds I'd just pull my 5 and feel confident I can make an easy swing. I've always felt being accurate is more important than distance, but it would appear I have lots of work to do... That's basically the reason I started this thread... I think I'm a pretty decent golfer, and constantly improving. I KNOW I could get more distance if I took a couple lessons or fixed something in my swing, but there's always the risk that you mess things up. I remember reading something Butch Harmon wrote about how you should never make any swing change unless its absolutely necessary, so I keep waffling on whether it's necessary, or just my ego wanting to hit the ball further.

Well, yeah my comment is assuming good lie and good conditions. At 130 yards, assuming both of those, I think I can land it within 20ft maybe 60-70% of the time. But I don't keep track of those stats so I could way off. Maybe I just have a selective memory :P But anyways, yes you're right 400+ yard par 4s are par/bogey holes for me as I do not typically land on the green in 2 (usually fringe or a short pitch away). A good pitch will save par, a bad one will drop a shot, which is okay for me. I score well on par 5s actually, but never, ever get there in 2. But how many 9 handicappers are reaching greens in 2 on par 5s? Is that common? Next time I'm at the range I'll snap a video to post. I have a 3/4 backswing, but I'd say from there I'm swinging 85% power.

Thanks for your input. I know everyone is right, longer is better.. Was kinda hoping people would share some 'swing change' horror stories that persuaded me to not tinker with something that's working. More I think about it, hitting 9i and PWs into greens is going to make my birdie/par putts easier than hitting 7 and 6 irons. Next step is finding out how to get there with the least amount of change...

Last course I played had an average par 4 distance of 367.5 yards. I'd say my average drive distance is 225-240 , but it's not my strongest club, so I emphasize keeping it center fairway over bombing it. My long iron play (3 and 4 irons) is probably what I'm best at so I feel comfortable not trying to crush it off the tee.

40 yards just from a new set? That's nuts...

Could you elaborate a bit more on this point? Just curious because I don't typically feel all that disadvantaged when on the course given my distance, is it just based on the ability to attack pins? At 130 yds my playing buddies might pull a PW and send it 15 yards right/left of the green, while my 7i gets me usually 10-20 ft from the hole. I'd love to be able to hit those within 10ft, so if using a wedge can do that than that's a huge advantage, but I'm not really sure loft is the biggest factor in being THAT accurate.. What are your thoughts?

Hmm that's interesting. No I've never lengthened or even had them fitted. Unfortunately, my golf budget isn't what I'd like it to be..maybe I'll look into that. At least then I'll know my true distances.

I play Callaway X16 pro irons with uniflex shafts. Truth be told, I don't always play the same ball type. I know I should, but I play what's on sale usually. Last few months its been Callaway Warbird plus balls. As for a pic or video - I don't have any but I can try to get one next time I'm at the range.

Looking for some advice - this is my first post on here, but I've read a lot over the years and it's be really helpful. I hit all of my irons quite short (reference: strong 7 iron will go 130-135), but I hit them to that distance extremely consistently and always straight. It's probably not an issue of strength as I am 6'3, 25 y/o and pretty athletic. From reading on this site I'm sure I'm probably flipping or opening the club-face, or any other sort of tendencies that could cause this. My question is: should I care? I've been constantly improving my handicap each year and I hope to get it to 7 by the end of the year. Honestly, the biggest weakness in my game is putting, where I lose several strokes each round on missed 6-10 footers. If I had to guess I'd say my iron distance loses me about 2 strokes a round on average. For example, a 150 pin for me is an easy 5 iron or a strong 6 depending on lie and conditions. I can get on the green, but I can see the advantage of being able to attack the pin more with the loft of an 8i - I'd say that situation may save me a couple over a round. Anyways, is it really worth going through the pain of a swing change to get more iron distance? Or should I just stick with whats working for me. Will it be worth it for me in the long run? My ultimate goal is to play scratch golf, and if it means getting there I'm open to a swing change, but I've tried it before and it wrecked my game for a whole year. Appreciate any input.