Choosing the best iron on a play.

[Twigs199]

Is there any basic rule of thumb when going to select the correct iron to use on a play? I was told that the thing to remember is the higher number the farther away from the hole. So say about 120 yards to use your nine iron, and say about 30-40 yards from green to use your 4 for 3 iron. Something tells me this is not the way to go about selecting the right iron to use. There has to be a more advance reason to figuring this million dollar question out. So what should I look for when selecting my choice of Iron for the shot?

[Bradderzzzzzzz]

the lower the number of the iron the further the ball will travel. example the 4 iron will go further than the 5. well should do lol

[Shindig]

Is there any basic rule of thumb when going to select the correct iron to use on a play? I was told that the thing to remember is the higher number the farther away from the hole. So say about 120 yards to use your nine iron, and say about 30-40 yards from green to use your 4 for 3 iron. Something tells me this is not the way to go about selecting the right iron to use. There has to be a more advance reason to figuring this million dollar question out. So what should I look for when selecting my choice of Iron for the shot?

It's fine for now to pick a club based on your typical distance with that club. If 120 is your 9-iron, 130 is probably your 8-iron, 140 7-iron, and so on. As a general rule, one stronger club is about 10 yards - that's about the yardage gaps you'll want. You might find the distances closing at some point - for example, my 4-iron isn't 10 yards past my 5-iron. Also, golf is an open-notes sport, as long as you don't take too long to make use of the notes. If you take the time to figure out how far you hit each iron on average (note: on average; not that fantastic, purely-struck, with the wind at your back shot), you could write it on a note card. Some good players even write their partial wedge distances on a small piece of paper and attach it to the shaft of their wedge . I'm not suggesting that extreme at this point. But having a little note card attached to the bag that says: PW 110 9-I 120 8-I 130 etc is fine. Of course, figure out the distances first - don't decide distances and then try to hit clubs to that. Advanced trick: figure out the range, and then figure out the acceptable misses. For example, my 7-iron goes about 135 on a pretty good strike, and 130 on a not-terrible mis-hit. If I'm 135 to the pin, and the pin is in the back, a 7-iron is a good choice: if I mis-hit it, I'm probably still at the middle of the green and putting. If I'm 135 to the pin, but it's up front, I'll probably go with an easy 6-iron, because a mis-hit 7-iron will keep me off the green in that circumstance.