Question about iron yardages

[BritBoy]

My son (14 years old) is hitting his driver close to the same yardages as me (sickening I know) but he plays his irons about 2 clubs less than me, anyone have any clues as to why the difference in irons yardages?

[Ben]

Maybe his shafts are too stiff? Or maybe he feels more comfortable "swinging away" at the driver, and is a little tentative with his move through impact with the irons?

How you been by the way?

[uttexas]

Same lofted drivers?
My guess is that the driver swing is a full back swing, while the iron swing is more abbreviated and more of a downward strike than sweep. Presupposing that your son has greater flexibility, his driver backswing will be longer. This longer backswing and greater turn will make up for his lack of strength (compared to yours), thus his and your drives will be about the same distance.

The iron swing has less of a shoulder turn and his iron backswing, will be about the same length as your. Thus, due to your greater strength, you'll hit irons quite a bit further.

This theory applies to me. I'm 6'5" 250 before lunch. I'll hit my 5 year old 10.5 degree driver maybe 10 yards longer than long hitters under six feet. But I'll hit my irons one club further than those same players.

Any other theories?

[goblue107501]

Maybe his shafts are too stiff? Or maybe he feels more comfortable "swinging away" at the driver, and is a little tentative with his move through impact with the irons?

I would agree with this. Especially the shaft comment. I went from stiff to x-stiff in my irons and lost some distance (about a half a club). Does he maybe have an older set of irons that have weaker lofts?

[Mr Eagle]

Different sets of irons have different lofts.It is quite feasible your 8 iron is the same as his 6 or 7.Its a marketing ploy by the manfcturers "Wow I can hit my new 7 iron 180 yards".Its not because the club is any better than your old one its because its a 6 iron.Your 3 Iron becomes the hardest club to use in the bag because its now a chickenstick and they then flog you some Hybrids,a gap wedge and some lob wedges because you hit your SW to far.

If this isnt the case refer to Uttxas

[whit53]

My son (14 years old) is hitting his driver close to the same yardages as me (sickening I know) but he plays his irons about 2 clubs less than me, anyone have any clues as to why the difference in irons yardages?

The face of a modern driver, due to their materials and design, actually deform and rebound (trampoline / COR)........ aiding ball speed at impact. Most sets of irons, however, do not deform and balls speed comes solely as a function of swing speed and ball compression....... Distance comes as a consequence of these two factors, plus the ball's spin rate. It is likely that, while your son enjoys similar distance w/ the aid of the driver's high COR, he neither compresses the ball, nor has a high enough spin, to hit his irons to corresponding distances.

[BritBoy]

The face of a modern driver, due to their materials and design, actually deform and rebound (trampoline / COR)........ aiding ball speed at impact. Most sets of irons, however, do not deform and balls speed comes solely as a function of swing speed and ball compression....... Distance comes as a consequence of these two factors, plus the ball's spin rate. It is likely that, while your son enjoys similar distance w/ the aid of the driver's high COR, he neither compresses the ball, nor has a high enough spin, to hit his irons to corresponding distances.

That makes a lot of sense, I hadnt thought of ball compression, thanks.

FYI We are both hitting 9.5 degree, stiff shaft drivers (he inherits my old ones). He is playing Nike slingshot irons with regular flex steel shafts, I am hitting r7 TP’s with stiff steel. I liked the loft theory so I went looking on the internet but what I found was that my clubs play 1 degree weaker. So here’s how it goes just to clarify: Saturday we go out to a local Muni, I was hitting the 907 D2 driver, he was hitting the HiBore XL. On number 5 I hit driver to 272 (measured with sky caddie) he hits 281. The rest of the round he was maybe 5 yards either side of me. Sunday we go out again but trade drivers (he’s not giving the 907 back he says) and we get the same results, maximum of 5 yards difference. On number 9, dead into a stiff wind I get him by 20 – 25 yards. Its just confusing to me but oh well it has been fun watching him the past few months. The highlight for me was watching hit a short par 5 (very short – 460ish) in two with driver – 6 iron. Hey Ben – I’m doing well thanks. I looking forward to following you mini tour play thread this year…. Light it up, that way when I get back down that way I can ask for a crap load of pops