Average Distances - How Far Do You Hit Each Club? (And Don't Lie!)

[No Mulligans]

I wouldn't include mishits in a average for club selection.  If I lay the sod over it, and it only goes a few yards, it wouldn't matter which club I choose as they all would only go a few yards.  What benefit is there in including those shots in an average?

@DrvFrShow , Median of one standard deviation makes a lot of sense to me.

[trickyputt]

[QUOTE name="mdl" url="/t/18426/average-distances-how-far-do-you-hit-each-club-and-dont-lie/1584#post_987062"]   [QUOTE name="saevel25" url="/t/18426/average-distances-how-far-do-you-hit-each-club-and-dont-lie/1566#post_985798"]   Just to update mine. I am not sure I did since i switched to my Mizuno's and SLDR Driver: 295-305 3-wood: 265-270 19 deg Hybrid: 230-235 4 iron: 216 5 iron: 204 6 iron: 192 7 Iron: 180 8 iron: 168 9 iron: 156 PW: 144 52 deg: 126 56 deg: 110 58 deg: 104 [/QUOTE] Nice distances.  Asking you, but also a general question.  You're about a club+ longer than me in general.  My question is this.  I see a lot of better players around here (and pros from things like the what's in my bag page in GD) are more like a club and a half longer than me with the long irons, but less than a full club longer than me with the short irons.  For example, my 4i is solidly my 200 club, error more often a tad longer than shorter, but feel best sitting right at 200.  But my I hit 8i 160, 9i 150, and PW 135.  I assume most guys still play with 4˚ gaps through somewhere in the mid irons and 3˚ gaps down low.  Is it just that better players are better ball strikers so average more like 12 yard gaps between clubs instead of the 10 yards I get pretty much all through my set?  And with the higher lofts the extra swing speed and more consistently flush contact adds a bit less distance? [/QUOTE] I just read something @iacas posted in a different thread.  Something about it being harder not to flip with longer clubs.  For myself (even though my distances are not even close to yours) I feel I hit my shorter clubs longer as well.  PW about 115, 8 iron about 140.  It drops off pretty quickly from there though.  To the point where I am not even sure of a consistent distance with a 4 iron.

Buy the Lowest Score Wins book. Read it and especially the part where the serious players end up with 95% of their weight on the front leg through impact. If you can not get your weight moving through the ball at impact you will never provide the energy necessary to send a longer club downrange to a meaningful distance.

[No Mulligans]

Exactly... And I think that applies to what Lihu said about shot zones as well (assuming I understand the definition... It's a radius from the target (or circumference around the target)?). I wouldn't consider the nasty hook I hit 10% of the time to be in my shot zone... I just consider it my big miss, and don't really gameplan for it. I would say my shot zone is a 10-15 yard radius from the target (depends on the club of course) because that's where 80%+ of my approach shots wind up.

So the "true" average doesn't seem to mean much... To my game anyway

Agree.

@Lihu Look at page 47 of LSW, the shot zone does not include all the data.  It goes on to say in LSW, "we're eliminating 10 -20% which are most unlike the others".

[Lihu]

Exactly... And I think that applies to what Lihu said about shot zones as well (assuming I understand the definition... It's a radius from the target (or circumference around the target)?). I wouldn't consider the nasty hook I hit 10% of the time to be in my shot zone... I just consider it my big miss, and don't really gameplan for it. I would say my shot zone is a 10-15 yard radius from the target (depends on the club of course) because that's where 80%+ of my approach shots wind up.

So the "true" average doesn't seem to mean much... To my game anyway

Essentially, but it might not be a circular distribution. . .I highly recommend purchasing a copy of the LSW book in my signature. It covers many more things in depth.

[trickyputt]

[QUOTE name="tefunk" url="/t/18426/average-distances-how-far-do-you-hit-each-club-and-dont-lie/1962#post_1127880"] Exactly... And I think that applies to what Lihu said about shot zones as well (assuming I understand the definition... It's a radius from the target (or circumference around the target)? ). I wouldn't consider the nasty hook I hit 10% of the time to be in my shot zone... I just consider it my big miss, and don't really gameplan for it. I would say my shot zone is a 10-15 yard radius from the target (depends on the club of course) because that's where 80%+ of my approach shots wind up. So the "true" average doesn't seem to mean much... To my game anyway[/QUOTE] Essentially, but it might not be a circular distribution. . .I highly recommend purchasing a copy of the LSW book in my signature. It covers many more things in depth.

It appears you've uncovered a good reason to have signatures show up on m.tst as I can't see the link you are possibly refering to on my phone.

[Lihu]

It appears you've uncovered a good reason to have signatures show up on m.tst as I can't see the link you are possibly refering to on my phone.

Try desktop mode.

[danL]

Your gaps with your 4 and 5 iron are very small, have you considered hybrids for your longer irons? I.e. 3,4, and 5?

Yes I've tried hybrids without much luck. I just started swinging my long irons more like a wood in the past week and have been getting pretty good results. My 3wood is always over 200 now, the 3 Iron carries around 190, 180 for 4 and 170ish for 5.

[MiniJeffrey]

My distances are improving, however I'm still nowhere to close to the numbers some people are posting here.

7i: 145 yards / 130 meters.

3w: 200 yards / 180 meters

For every next iron add/remove 10 meters (11 yards). Having a very good shot I can reach 140 meters with my 7i but those are rather rare. I still don't understand how people can hit it so far... But that being said, I'm happy with my distances.

The problem is that some days I'm having trouble getting my distances. I have a very high ball flight so a minimum of wind sends my ball ballooning and losing awful lot of distance. Have to work on that. Anyone got tips for this?

[9wood]

I find that the following chart is a pretty good gauge of what distance you can expect from your clubs depending on your club head speed. Judging from the distances I seem to fit in the 90 Mph club speed.

[MiniJeffrey]

Also I seem to have a problem with my PW. My 9 iron goes 110meters, so I would expect my PW to go about 100m, but Im only getting 90-95m so that's some gap I need to work on too. And hitting SW on grass is a complete disaster so not even trying that.

[danL]

Also I seem to have a problem with my PW. My 9 iron goes 110meters, so I would expect my PW to go about 100m, but Im only getting 90-95m so that's some gap I need to work on too. And hitting SW on grass is a complete disaster so not even trying that.

Do you know the lofts of your 9i and PW? Did they come as a set? If the PW is considerably older than the 9i then the loft gap will be substantial.

[saevel25]

Also I seem to have a problem with my PW. My 9 iron goes 110meters, so I would expect my PW to go about 100m, but Im only getting 90-95m so that's some gap I need to work on too. And hitting SW on grass is a complete disaster so not even trying that.

Its probably your swing. I would guess you are flipping and adding loft to the irons. Once you get to the higher lofted clubs the strike can get to glancing and the ball just kinda skids off the clubface loosing more distance than you'd see if you compared lets say a 7 iron to a 6 iron.

[MiniJeffrey]

They are both from the same set: Ping i25:

8i: 37 degrees

9i: 41 degrees

PW: 46 degrees

If I manage to hit a very decent shot I can get to 100-105m but its rare.

[DrvFrShow]

I think those charts need to be updated to take into account the stronger lofts on the newer clubs. I hit my 7 iron about 150 yds but it has a 6 iron loft. Then there's the variable loft woods and drivers. For example my 3-wood I swing at 90 mph and get a 215 yd carry off the tee, but I have it set for 13.5 degree loft NOT a 15 degree standard 3-wood loft - so it's essentially a short shafted driver.

I find it harder to get as full of a swing with my wedges as I do with my irons. For one thing, the swing weights on them are heavier. Your i25 9 iron is a D0 while your PW is a D2. So this might change your tempo just enough to cause you to lose some distance. It's slight, but it can be enough.

[Lihu]

I find that the following chart is a pretty good gauge of what distance you can expect from your clubs depending on your club head speed. Judging from the distances I seem to fit in the 90 Mph club speed.

I also reference this chart a lot, but my own profile doesn't really fit it any more.

It depends upon too many things, like how comfortable are you with a particular club or swing weight?

I think those charts need to be updated to take into account the stronger lofts on the newer clubs. I hit my 7 iron about 150 yds but it has a 6 iron loft. Then there's the variable loft woods and drivers. For example my 3-wood I swing at 90 mph and get a 215 yd carry off the tee, but I have it set for 13.5 degree loft NOT a 15 degree standard 3-wood loft - so it's essentially a short shafted driver.

I find it harder to get as full of a swing with my wedges as I do with my irons. For one thing, the swing weights on them are heavier. Your i25 9 iron is a D0 while your PW is a D2. So this might change your tempo just enough to cause you to lose some distance. It's slight, but it can be enough.

I tend to agree with this. . .my irons are a lot stronger than my woods and hybrid.

[trickyputt]

[quote name="trickyputt" url="/t/18426/average-distances-how-far-do-you-hit-each-club-and-dont-lie/1980#post_1128669"] It appears you've uncovered a good reason to have signatures show up on m.tst as I can't see the link you are possibly refering to on my phone.

Try desktop mode.[/quote] Are you a quaker? Wear a bowtie?

[Lihu]

Are you a quaker? Wear a bowtie?

Sorry, I didn't explain that at the bottom of the sandtrap web page page there is a "toggle switch" you can use to switch between desktop and mobile modes.

[trickyputt]

Yeah I see that. Imagine looking through binoculars backwards and you get my perspective.