My Iron Play. Hell hath no fury like a range ball.

[ColinMB]

I didn't want to hi-jack the thread on 'how far do you hit your irons' so here goes nothing...

Considering my frustration with my new irons, I decided to take a few days away from this great game entirely, and I decided to hit the range after work today.

Firstly I gotta say I'm finally hitting these CG4's much better. The solution ties in with my 'game improvement' thread. I have discovered I did indeed get a little lazy with my old game improvement irons. They basically steered towards impact.

I started concentrating much more on where the ball is (placement wise on the face of the club) at impact. What massive difference. I still don't find the club to be very... forgiving, but my accuracy is way up. But distances are still poopy.

Check this out:
At the range. Shooting into a North/West wind of approximately 15KPH or 11MPH. This would have been coming towards me a bit but more from my right. Not a big deal.

However it was pretty cool, even for my province, at this time of year. +2C or 36F.

I was thrilled as I straightened my swing out with these new clubs. I realized I was swinging out from my body too much on downswing (outside swing path) and this was killing me. I started coming down (inside) and the difference was huge. Funny how things click sometimes eh? Last week at this time I was posting 4 out of 5 were hooking tremendously, now I'd say the opposite, maybe even better.

The yardage though... it's not good. I'm not sure how to compare range distance but given conditions (balls were warm-ish though as they came from indoors) here's what I did:

PW: 90-100 yards.
9 Iron: 100-120
8 Iron: 135
7 Iron: 140
6 Iron: 145-150
5 Iron: didn't swing the longer irons as I'm thinking of going the hybrid route for some of these.

This is taking roll into account, of which I noticed there was.. none. My 3 wood would get me to 190-200 ish.

I heard someone else say a trick they use is take a ball they found and crank it at the range to get a better idea for distance. Good idea. I pulled out a ball I found my last time out and slapped it with my driver for about 220+ (couldn't see roll), but more importantly, *because* the cleveland's force me to swing with more discipline, my drive was a slight draw! Which is awesome because my driver tends to throw boomerangs if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I'm really happy that in a freakish sort of way I managed to straighten out. Yea, the distance is lethargic but you can't have it all in one day I guess.

[BigAl5150]

Don't worry about what distance you hit a particular club. As long as you know what club you need for a particular distance and can execute the shot, it doesn't matter if the club says seven iron or eight iron. Too much is made of "I hit my nine-iron eight miles".

Also, unless you measured out your range, the distances may not be very accurate.

[ColinMB]

Thanks. I know it's all relative to a degree...

I just realized, when I was doing all my 'testing' I was hitting of the deck, nothing was teed up except my driver. I am wondering what the norm is... teed up or off the deck? I know it certainly made a difference for me.

For distance, I'm just going by what the premeasured signs at the range. I really couldn't tell you how accurate they are since walking out there to measure them would hurt... a lot. lol

[iacas]

Thanks. I know it's all relative to a degree...

For those that care about distances on the range, a laser range finder is one way to go. You can get a few from Bushnell from Golf Gods (.com). Use one of the readily available 10% off coupons.

Otherwise, don't worry about distances at the range. They may have been limited flight balls or the cold may have had quite an impact on both the balls and your ability to swing at near-full speed.

[ColinMB]

It's not that I have to know how far I can hit on a 'range' persay. I just don't know my yardages at all with these irons. So I need some point to start from, even if it's a bit of a guesstimation.

Until last night, I really wasn't sure what club I'd use for a 145 yard shot off the grass... Now I think I have an idea. More 'real world' experience would be nice, but as season closes down here this is the next best thing.

[Lbob]

WRT your distance concerns, you should remember a couple of things. First, when it's 36 degrees out the balls won't perform as well because they're cold. You will lose compression. Second, when it's cold the air is a bit denser. Both these factors will hurt your distance. Wait till it's warmer and you're more familiar with the clubs and your new swing. Also please take the advice about consistancy to heart.