Irons - distance off tee vs off fairway

[Killa]

So I played my first round this year last week. And since I now have about 8-10 logged rounds with my game golf live, some patterns are starting to emerge. 

One that. Really strikes my eye is that when I use my 4i (longest iron in my bag) off the tee (I usually tee it about 1/4”-1/2” high) I can get it to a total distance of 240y and I can realistically expect about 205-220 yards off the tee with my 4 iron. 

But my typical 4 iron according to gamegolf is only 180 yards. And I really can’t remember any 4i off the fairway I’ve hit much more than 195. 

So is this because I just don’t hit it as clean as off the tee or is it that I might be hitting it a bit up off the tee thereby getting more distance?

[Parpy]

How is your divot pattern when you hit off the fairway? Could it be that you hitting it a little fat off the fairway? Adam Young (and some other pros) wrote about an experiment showing how shot distance/accuracy is severely affected by fat strikes...even as little a 1 or 1/2 inch before the ball.

Edited April 7, 2019 by Parpy
typo

[3jacker]

1" is only a little?  

That makes me feel better. When I do hit one fat (rare, if I miss I tend to catch it thin), I'm proud to say I'm always within an inch of the ball.  

So I guess I got that going for me.

[dennyjones]

Whether the ball is on the tee or the in the fairway, the ball should be contacted first before taking a divot.   Does it make sense that  the ball in the fairway travels less than off of a clean lie (tee), sure?   I believe it was Arnold Palmer that said to always tee the ball up on a par 3 because it's one of the few times you'll have a perfect lie.    The tee box is usually relatively flat which makes it easier to hit a tee shot than from the fairway.  

Your GG average is just that, an average.   When you look at the club performance in GG, you'll see the distances which include your best and your worse.   

[Parpy]

20 minutes ago, 3jacker said:

1" is only a little?  

That makes me feel better. When I do hit one fat (rare, if I miss I tend to catch it thin), I'm proud to say I'm always within an inch of the ball.  

So I guess I got that going for me.

 lol. My misses are fats, humbling fats.

[saevel25]

On ‎4‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 4:28 AM, Killa said:

One that. Really strikes my eye is that when I use my 4i (longest iron in my bag) off the tee (I usually tee it about 1/4”-1/2” high) I can get it to a total distance of 240y and I can realistically expect about 205-220 yards off the tee with my 4 iron. 

You shouldn't be seeing that big of a difference off the tee.

My 4 iron is 222 to 227 off the fairway and probably 225-230 off the tee. I think you are more likely to catch a flier lie off the fairway if you end up with some dewy conditions or shaggy fairways. Even then, a flier lie probably only causes a 10-15 yard uptick in distance.

Are you just taking the distance of the hole minus your approach distance? If so, you could be way off. Most courses either have designated landmarks (yardage plaques) for their hole yardages, or a lot of the times it's the back of the tee box. Being this early in the year, your tees could have been moved up a tee box. You could easily see 20-40 yards taken off the length of the hole based on tee location.

Also, total distance doesn't matter for an iron. Carry matters more. You can see more roll on the fairway than on the green, like 5-10 yards.

[DeadMan]

Could be a lot of things. You might just be making cleaner contact with the ball tee up a little higher. Could also be that fairways are rolling out more than greens or rough, you're hitting downhill tee shots, etc. It could just be a randomness thing where you've hit your 4 iron the cleanest off the tee a couple of times and it will even out naturally over time.

On tee shots with irons, I will expect a little more yardage just from the clean lie on the tee. If the tee shot isn't on a par 3, then I will except some roll out from the fairway, too. So maybe I would expect a 2-3 yard difference off the tee on par 3s, and maybe 10 yards on par 4s and 5s. Definitely not the differences you're talking about, though.

[Groucho Valentine]

Its not that much different for me. I hit a 4iron a little further than you do, but i pick up the same amount of distance on a tee'd ball. Its about 10 or more yards of difference.  You get a perfect lie on a tee'd up ball. Its why on par 3's i tee up a ball as far down to the turf as a i can, or don't use a tee at all. 

[Killa]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

You shouldn't be seeing that big of a difference off the tee.

My 4 iron is 222 to 227 off the fairway and probably 225-230 off the tee. I think you are more likely to catch a flier lie off the fairway if you end up with some dewy conditions or shaggy fairways. Even then, a flier lie probably only causes a 10-15 yard uptick in distance.

Are you just taking the distance of the hole minus your approach distance? If so, you could be way off. Most courses either have designated landmarks (yardage plaques) for their hole yardages, or a lot of the times it's the back of the tee box. Being this early in the year, your tees could have been moved up a tee box. You could easily see 20-40 yards taken off the length of the hole based on tee location.

Also, total distance doesn't matter for an iron. Carry matters more. You can see more roll on the fairway than on the green, like 5-10 yards.

 

These are all game golf numbers. So I guess accurate to within 5 yards. 

 

I guess I just lack the ability to hit a pure 4 iron without a tee.