Irons only

[Krazy883]

Anyone play a round with just irons. Been having problem getting driver in fairway,so bee hitting 3 iron off tee on par 4 and 5 hasn't messed with my score that much but I'm learning to hit longer irons into the green. 

[Bonvivant]

Yes. Currently hitting 6i and shorter on all shots. Hitting the fairway 2 or 3 times per hole feels way better than army golf

[Lihu]

9 minutes ago, Krazy883 said:

Anyone play a round with just irons. Been having problem getting driver in fairway,so bee hitting 3 iron off tee on par 4 and 5 hasn't messed with my score that much but I'm learning to hit longer irons into the green. 

Sure, a hybrid can also help if you’re having issues with woods. My scores are not that much worse using hybrids off the tee. Play shorter if you need to too...

[pganapathy]

I only have a driver and a 4 hybrid in my bag (non-irons), so playing irons only is not so much of a stretch.  Some courses I play have iron only tees, but never played a complete round without the driver and hybrid

[klineka]

4 hours ago, Krazy883 said:

Anyone play a round with just irons. Been having problem getting driver in fairway,so bee hitting 3 iron off tee on par 4 and 5 hasn't messed with my score that much but I'm learning to hit longer irons into the green. 

While this may work for you in the short term, you are severely limiting your long term scoring potential by not working on/improving your driver.

4 hours ago, Krazy883 said:

Been having problem getting driver in fairway

Also, hitting the fairway is overrated. Out of the top 10 money earners on the PGA tour this season, only 2 of them are in the top 50 in driving accuracy, and only 1 is in the top 25.

Here are the top 10 money earners this season on the PGA tour and their driving accuracy % along with where that ranks them.

1. Brooks Koepka 62.39% (93)
2. Rory McIlroy 60.66% (126)
3. Matt Kuchar 68.67% (22)
4. Gary Woodland 64.46% (69)
5. Xander Schauffele 59.89% (138)
6. Dustin Johnson 55.61% (T185)
7. Patrick Cantlay 57.86% (165)
8. Jon Rahm 62.12% (97)
9. Justin Rose 59.00% (151)
10. Paul Casey 67.99% (27)

[mdl]

This isn't an unreasonable thing to do if it's a way for golf to be fun for you right now!  I agree it's not super fun to play rounds where you're spraying the ball on every tee, losing a lot, and basically never having an open look on your approach shot. Of course I also agree that this isn't a great long term solution unless you forever just want to give up on playing full length courses and just play from the forward tees forever.  For that you'll have to figure out the driver...

[BC-to-MI]

I used to always just play a 4i off the tee because I can get pretty good distance out of it and I wasn't confident at all in my driver. It was fine for a while, but I wasn't really making any progress. I've dropped between 7-8 strokes from my handicap this year that I can attribute almost entirely to learning to hit driver. Even though it still isn't the most consistent round-to-round, or even hole-to-hole, it's not like I was striping a 4i dead center every time, and it's much easier to score with a wedge from the rough than a mid or long iron, even from the fairway.

[leftybutnotPM]

5 hours ago, Krazy883 said:

Anyone play a round with just irons. Been having problem getting driver in fairway,so bee hitting 3 iron off tee on par 4 and 5 hasn't messed with my score that much but I'm learning to hit longer irons into the green. 

It will mess with your score if you are playing a proper golf course. You will be unable to hit the majority of par 4s in 2 which means you will have to play very well to break 90.

[Vinsk]

It’s astonishing to me that people can hit a 4i so elegantly and struggle with a driver. I can only dream to have that problem.

[billchao]

2 hours ago, Vinsk said:

It’s astonishing to me that people can hit a 4i so elegantly and struggle with a driver. I can only dream to have that problem.

It happened to me late last year. I hit a weird period where I could only hit low hooks with my driver and 2h but I hit my 4i better than I ever hit it before so I ended up playing a lot of holes by teeing off with my 4i. I actually did end up scoring around what I'd typically expect in those rounds.

Totally awful experience though. Those rounds were not fun - @nevets88 can attest, he played with me during one of them. I ended up calling it quits on the season in mid-September.

[Shindig]

Sometimes we call going at it without woods to be playing "Elin style."  

I couldn't do it.  I hit my 5-iron 160, give or take.  Not too many par-4s I can hit in two if that's my tee shot. 

Then again, since before I could break 100, I've generally been a fairly accurate driver of the golf ball, hitting a lot of fairways and rarely straying too far off when I do miss.  Doesn't help as much as some people think it would.  There's a reason a lot of my practice time is spent trying to get more distance. 

[Vinsk]

Well as I’ve mentioned ad nauseam here, I can’t shank a wood/driver. Many shots are disastrous but really only hinder a good score. If you can’t hit an iron then even hitting it 270yds off the tee down the middle means nothing. I’ve walked off many rounds after smoking drive after drive only to shank the approach OB or in a hazard. 

My shanking is much better of late. But I won’t be playing irons only ever.  

[Patch]

I play about 40% of my rounds with an "irons only" bag. Bag make up is 2i-lw, a 4w, and a putter.. The other 60% of my rounds are played with a regular bag made up of metal woods, irons, and a putter.

I average a stroke, or so more with the iron bag. However, I do have a few 78s, and 79s with that iron bag.

I just like playing the irons, but when the score is important, I play the mixed bag. My hdcp is based solely on the mixed bag, since I use it for our senior league play. I get better distances with the mixed bag's metal woods .  

[Krazy883]

I will probably get back to my driver one day. But I can hit my 3 iron off the tee 220 to 230 and almost always in the fairway,so that's better than me being in the trees and having to punch out. I believe what make you play your best you should play what works for you. I'm 55 and play off a 12 so my days of a single handicap is probably gone ,but still love the game and my wife is just learning to play so that makes it even more enjoyable. 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Krazy883
Misspell

[klineka]

23 hours ago, Krazy883 said:

Been having problem getting driver in fairway

4 minutes ago, Krazy883 said:

so that's better than me being in the trees and having to punch out.

There's a big difference in those two statements. First you said you were having problems getting driver in the fairway, now you're saying the misses are so big that they bring trees and recovery shots into play.

100yds left to the hole but in the rough is much better than 140yds left but in the fairway, but yes 140yds left in the fairway is better than 170 yds left punching out under trees.

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by klineka

[Krazy883]

I don't think there is a difference I said I was having problems with driver. Rough or trees it's still easier to hit to the green from the fairway. Some people on here think they should base their percentages on what the top pros are doing as stated in an earlier. By all means if they can recover as good as those pros maybe they should be on tour.

[Vinsk]

4 minutes ago, Krazy883 said:

t's still easier to hit to the green from the fairway. 

That’s not always true though. I’d rather hit a PW from the rough 120yds than a 7i from 150yds from the fairway. 

[Krazy883]

Have at it. The post was asking if anyone ever had done this before not for what you preferred.  But thanks for feedback