How far do you hit your 170 yard club?

[MEfree]

Originally Posted by WUTiger

Quote:

Hitting the ball longer with control gives you advantages in some situations.

You can hit the shorter par 5s in two, and hit a more lofted club (with more spin) into longer par 4s.

You can get too much distance sometimes. Lots of classic courses have the short par 4 with the big valley in front of the green. If you hit a driver into the valley, and you have a 70-yard blind uphill shot to the pin. If you hit a 4-iron off the tee and stay in the raised part of the fairway, you can hit a full 8 iron into the green and actually see the pin when you line up the shot.

Or, a local par 4 (390 yards long) that's with trees until the landing area. The open area near the green gets hit with a quartering headwind. People who hit a driver and follow with an 8 iron are less likely to hold the narrow green than someone who uses 3W and a lower-lofted 5 iron.

Also, too-strong lofts can cause you trouble with your irons. A 19* 3i and a 22* 4i can be difficult to hit for many golfers. That's one (there's others) of the reasons hybrids have become so popular.

One path to more distance is (duh!) distance balls. But, the super-D versions are hard to stop. They hit the green and keep on going.

Originally Posted by clubchamp

If a golfer is a bad ball striker it won't matter what club you're hitting into a green. My guess would be that if someone is an inconsistent ball striker then it probably won't make any difference if they are hitting an 8i or pw. I do think it would make a difference if it was a 5i or 7i but once you get below 7i I don't think it matters. I mean distance help but it's not a huge factor in over all scoring it's more a matter of how consistent you are hitting the ball. Look at it like this if a golfer gains the same 15 to 20 yards with their driver they would be playing that same shorter iron into the green. I will admit that hitting the ball further helps but if you're a consistent iron player I don't think it would have a difference in your score.

Originally Posted by ThominOH

I think a lot just depends on the type of course you're playing and the weather conditions..  When I play on coastal courses that have predominant winds, my high loft clubs can give me fits at times..  Sometimes, if not most you want a low trajectory when you have winds to deal with.. But then there are times I play courses that high loft gives me an advantage because I'm able to carry hazards or go over obstacles like trees with no issues.. Do you play target golf or rollerball?

It's all relative..

Originally Posted by cruzthepug

150 yards is 150 yards, reguardless if your hitting a 7 iron or 9 iron, it's about as easy to push/pull, fat/thin the shot and mis the green. A shot from 150 has more of a chance of missing the green than a shot from 120, doesn't matter what club your hitting. That's the reason most people try to get their distance from the tee.

Originally Posted by Paradox

Thats not the case, at all.

While it may be possible to fat/thin a shot with any club the rest is all dependent on conditions.  A 120 yard shot for me is a 52 wedge...so that means I might be throwing it up into the wind and having to play for the movement on the ball plus any distance its gonna add/knock off.  While if I'm a 150 yards away..its a 9 iron which is lower in trajectory and still have plenty of stopping power on the green to not roll off.  Sometimes I may even hit a knock down 8 from 150 to keep it even lower.

What most people should be doing on the tee is hitting to a distance that gives them the best opportunity to hit the green in regulation..not just hitting it far.  I see a lot of guys who will hit it as far as possible and then put themselves on side hill lies, down hill lies, through a fairway, on and on and on instead of picking the proper target and hitting a shot they can actually accomplish.

I think everyone is right (to an extent)- definitely easier to hit and hold a green with a 6i vs 4i from say 180 yards, so the longer iron player has an advantage here IMO ASSUMING THAT HE HAS SIMILAR CONTROL to the shorter hitter.  However, if you have the clubhead 1* open or closed from 150, I don't think it makes a difference whether you hit a 9 or a 6 - they should both be right or left by the same distance (maybe a physicist will tell me different).  I live at 9,000 feet- while I hit everything longer up here, I would bet that my spray pattern for most clubs is also wider for most clubs up here than when I play at sea level.

Lower shots might be better in windy conditions while higher shots are better for holding the green

[jshots]

Being long is definitely pretty awesome... the girls love it. Its clearly better to be able to hit a 9i 150 than a 7i. Why is this even in debate? For me off the tee I won't hit driver if I can get another club inside 150 yards.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by jshots

Being long is definitely pretty awesome... the girls love it. Its clearly better to be able to hit a 9i 150 than a 7i. Why is this even in debate? For me off the tee I won't hit driver if I can get another club inside 150 yards.

Hitting the green from 150 is all that really matters, so I suppose that's why there's even a debate..

[Fourputt]

In my opinion, distance is distance.  Directional error is only minimally affected by the loft of the iron used.  Trajectory can certainly play a larger part in determining how well the ball holds the green, but a well struck Tour type ball should still not roll a long way unless your greens are rock hard.  I can stick a 7I just about as well as I can a 9I or PW from a similar lie.  None will release more than about 10 feet, and 10 feet is mostly irrelevant from 150 yards away.  I doubt that many here can control distance well enough for that much release to matter - in fact with the tendency for amateurs to come up short, a little release is probably a good thing.

[GaijinGolfer]

Originally Posted by luu5

So how is it different to hit 9i of MP-32 to the green than PW of Di7? Both have the same loft.

The bolded sentence does not make sense to me. Except (wedge) marketing wise. Other than that it just contradicts the "Bottom line", of hitting higher loft club to the green is better than lower loft club.

Shorter shaft on the PW makes it easier to control and the CB design is more forgiving on mishits.  Not sure what about the bolded sentence that you dont get, so I cant help you there.

[saevel25]

That's an inbetween club for me, but i would agree, distance with iron is important.  Though my dad is deadly accurate with hybrids and his fairway woods, so really its not that important as long as you are accurate period.

[Zeph]

I usually hit my 170 yard club 165-175 yards, but there are the occasional topped ones, fat ones, fliers etc. that ruin the statistic.

[luu5]

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

Shorter shaft on the PW makes it easier to control

Are they actually shorter than old 9i? If so you anyway lose some loft, i.e. height of the shot, which I thought was the idea of using PW in the first place. So in the end you have to use GW/AW whatever.

[bkoguy07]

Its a long 8 iron for me, or a choked down 7.  Depends on the situation and where a better miss on that particular hole is for me.

[cody west]

No I did not make a typo in naming this thread.

It was more of a joke towards the distance obsession that comes with golf.

I want to know what you guys think are the advantages to hitting the ball longer.  I have gained about 15-20 yards on my irons and  this really helps because I am hitting a lot of 2nd shot pitching wedges and nine irons.  A higher lofted club will go higher (most of the time) and thus you will get a softer landing on the green.  I think being able to hit a higher lofted club is always to your advantage.

While most of the distance obsession seams to be off the tee.  I think it is actually important to try to add yards to your irons (with out de lofting the club).

I use to think what difference does it make if you hit PW and I hit 8 iron and they both go the same distance.  But I think the person playing PW has the advantage now.

[LIST] [*] [/LIST] I used to hot the ball real long like 170 would be a soft 9i or firm pw but i've scaled back a ton. 170 with no wind is honestly probably a 7i or 6i embarrassing as it is. You have a point with the whole scoring clubs thing but honestly I the only club that almost matters how far you hit it is your driver because who cares if you can hit a pw on the green from 170. If your wedge is not 5-10 feet from the hole you might as well he hitting a 5i because that's the kind of accuracy youhave to have when you hit a wedge no matter how far it goes

[trackster]

Originally Posted by cody west

I used to hot the ball real long like 170 would be a soft 9i or firm pw but i've scaled back a ton. 170 with no wind is honestly probably a 7i or 6i embarrassing as it is.

You have a point with the whole scoring clubs thing but honestly I the only club that almost matters how far you hit it is your driver because who cares if you can hit a pw on the green from 170. If your wedge is not 5-10 feet from the hole you might as well he hitting a 5i because that's the kind of accuracy youhave to have when you hit a wedge no matter how far it goes

This brings up another good point.  Why do people play soft or hard shots?  We all know our distances and we should (try to) put the same swing on the ball.  Swinging hard or trying to take a little off is when fat shots or grassburners occur.  As for the people who think 150 is 150 it doesn't matter what you hit it there lies the problem.  If I hit a towering PW that goes about 6 inches past the mark it makes on the green, and some one else hits a low 8 iron that gets 30 yards of roll to go 150 they are not the same shot.

I'm mostly saying there is an alternative to adding more yards off the tee and it is adding more yards to your irons.  People seem to want to hit the driver longer to put them selves in that PW, 9 iron, 8 iron range (a good idea).  But if you extend your iron yardages then you have achieved the same effect with out lengthening yourself off the tee.

[BuckeyeNut]

I hit my 170yd club.............170.

LOL

[Paradox]

Originally Posted by trackster

This brings up another good point.  Why do people play soft or hard shots?  We all know our distances and we should (try to) put the same swing on the ball.  Swinging hard or trying to take a little off is when fat shots or grassburners occur.  As for the people who think 150 is 150 it doesn't matter what you hit it there lies the problem.  If I hit a towering PW that goes about 6 inches past the mark it makes on the green, and some one else hits a low 8 iron that gets 30 yards of roll to go 150 they are not the same shot.

I'm mostly saying there is an alternative to adding more yards off the tee and it is adding more yards to your irons.  People seem to want to hit the driver longer to put them selves in that PW, 9 iron, 8 iron range (a good idea).  But if you extend your iron yardages then you have achieved the same effect with out lengthening yourself off the tee.

thats great in theory but the reality is you are pretty much always gonna be at a distance that requires something other than a stock swing.  You're either gonna have to take more club and less swing or less club and more swing..rarely does it work out where everything is perfect.

[bkoguy07]

Originally Posted by trackster

This brings up another good point.  Why do people play soft or hard shots?  We all know our distances and we should (try to) put the same swing on the ball.  Swinging hard or trying to take a little off is when fat shots or grassburners occur.  As for the people who think 150 is 150 it doesn't matter what you hit it there lies the problem.  If I hit a towering PW that goes about 6 inches past the mark it makes on the green, and some one else hits a low 8 iron that gets 30 yards of roll to go 150 they are not the same shot.

I'm mostly saying there is an alternative to adding more yards off the tee and it is adding more yards to your irons.  People seem to want to hit the driver longer to put them selves in that PW, 9 iron, 8 iron range (a good idea).  But if you extend your iron yardages then you have achieved the same effect with out lengthening yourself off the tee.

I don't necessarily play a "hard" shot, but say I had a shot that needed to go 160.  Possibly could get on with a 9i could also get on with an 8i for sure.  Looking at the hole, depending on where the pin is lets say its in the dead middle of the green.  So I see bunkers protecting the front of the green but its ok to miss long, I would go with the choked 8i.  But water in the back and being long means death, i would definitely hit a 9i and try to put a good normal swing on it and just try to get on.

Really depends on my situation, I dont necessarily have a "hard" shot but depending on the trouble and how I choke down I kind of plan for my worst case scenario.

Which brings up another point.  Unlike some people I can plan / play for a worst case scenario and it not get into my head.  Sometimes people I know if they think something will happen thats exactly what happens.  Lol that doesn't quite happen to me... but I don't dwell on it.  I'm like damn, DONT miss long let me take this 9 instead of 8 bam, magic happens.

[cruzthepug]

What I was trying to say is that, all things being equal and a shot is hit at 150 yds and the club face is not square to the target the ball will travel off line. The further away from the target, the further away the miss. A shot from 120 with a 1* open face will be closer than a shot from 170 with a 1* open face, the shorter short is closer because it has less time to get off line. The club use really don't matter.

My normal weekend group (usually up to about 8 guys) most all of us score about the same and on a good day anyone can beat anyone. I'm probably about the shortest hitter with my irons and I win just as many greenies as everyone else.

Originally Posted by trackster

As for the people who think 150 is 150 it doesn't matter what you hit it there lies the problem.

[newtogolf]

Doesn't it also depend on where your distance comes from.  If you hit a 7i 170 and I hit my 6i 170 it could be;

• you have a better swing than I do
• you're swing speed is higher
• The loft on your 7i is jacked to the same loft as my 6i.

If the club loft is the only difference you're going to likely hit the same trajectory with the same rollout as I do, the only difference is the number on the sole of the club which these days is meaningless.

Originally Posted by trackster

As for the people who think 150 is 150 it doesn't matter what you hit it there lies the problem.  If I hit a towering PW that goes about 6 inches past the mark it makes on the green, and some one else hits a low 8 iron that gets 30 yards of roll to go 150 they are not the same shot.

[x129]

Is loft really directly related to the height of the shot? I have seen charts where pretty much all the irons PW to 3 iron are all with in about a yard of the same height when struck properly. I though spin and trajectory (PW comes in a bit steeper) was why your wedges were more likely to hold the green

Originally Posted by luu5

Are they actually shorter than old 9i? If so you anyway lose some loft, i.e. height of the shot, which I thought was the idea of using PW in the first place. So in the end you have to use GW/AW whatever.

[sean_miller]

Is this a "thread" or a "group" where people gather to fantasize about hitting 160 yard pitching wedges 5-10 feet from the pin?