If youre in between your club distance, better to hit the shorter club harder or a gentler swing with longer club

[Nine Iron]

Say for instance your estimated yardage to the hole is in between a 8 and 9 iron.

In general is it better to really smack it with the 8 and hope it gets close or go for the gentler swing with the 9?

I would assume using the nine in this instance would be more accurate since you are not trying to cruch it.

What do you guys think?

[awall]

I think you have it mixed up.  I take it you meant to say, "smack it with the 9 and gentle with the 8."

You could use the 8 and choke down an inch or so.

[ggolokin]

when its shorter irons id use a club longer, harder you hit the shorter club the more its going to spin, so u could hit a hard 9 iron (over a softer 8 iron) land it pin high and have it zip back 15-20 feet...

[Nine Iron]

Originally Posted by awall

I think you have it mixed up.  I take it you meant to say, "smack it with the 9 and gentle with the 8."

You could use the 8 and choke down an inch or so.

Yes I did mix them up. lol.

[lumpuckeroo]

I would agree that most of the time the "easy" club is the better choice, but if the trouble is behind the green and you don't want to miss long, I would go with a 'hard' club and if I come up short that's fine, I'll chip and putt my way on from there.

[Deryck Griffith]

Choke up on the 8 iron and hit it with a normal full swing.  I say full swing because choking up on the club will bring down the distance and will put you in-between the 8-9 iron distance that you are looking for.

A lot of people (especially mid & high cappers) have a hard time being "touchy feely" with their swing so choking up on the longer club and swinging normally helps this.

Going extra hard on the 9 iron can cause various issues.  You can come out of your normal mechanics which can cause a fat or thin shot.  You can also catch it very clean which will place more spin on the ball than usual which can actually hurt distance if you are hitting into the wind.

[Gresh24]

I think the best way to approach this is not to try and "crush" or go "easy" on any club.  That can lead to more problems, at least for me anyway.  Trying to put a good consistent (tempo) swing with every shot will be better in the long run.

There really isn't too many situations where you have to be between clubs to hit a good shot. I like the idea of the last poster of choking down a bit and maintaining the same tempo swing if you want to.  And evaluating the "trouble" of being short or long is important too.

I guess I don't have such great consistency to need to be between clubs.  There is usually only a 10 yard difference in my irons anyway.   Isn't that why we have 9 - 10 irons?   I just try to pick one and commit to the shot.  I struggle more trying to take harder or easier swings, and trying to overthink distances.  Heck, unless you have a range finder for every shot, you're probably off 5-10 yards with your estimates anyway.

[Precis1on]

Choking up on the club has never personally worked for me. I'll tend to go a club up and just look to hit a solid shot that will stop on a dime on the green. Leave it to my putting to par.

[tristanhilton85]

Originally Posted by lumpuckeroo

I would agree that most of the time the "easy" club is the better choice, but if the trouble is behind the green and you don't want to miss long, I would go with a 'hard' club and if I come up short that's fine, I'll chip and putt my way on from there.

This... for the most part I'd hit an easy 8 over a hard 9 but it really does depend on where the trouble is.

[rustyredcab]

I'm in the choke up and swing normal camp.

But, let's be honest. Most of us cannot control our distance that well with all the variables of a shot on the course -- wind, lie, spin... My "normal" distance gap between an 8 and 9 might be 10-15 yards and my normal distance variance with an 8 and 9 might be 7 yards if I'm hitting the ball really consistently that day. Even the GPS can be off by 2-3 yards. The best answer is to decide where you'd rather miss: long or short. I try and think of a distance range rather than a specific yardage number when choosing a club. If you are better off 10 yards long, then I always take the longer club and choke up a bit and hope I swing well and that I guessed correctly about the amount of choke-up. If the pin is 127 yards, I might pull a club and choke up based on 125-135 and think 130 when I swing. If a short miss is better, then I might just hit the shorter club and understand that once in a while I sometimes hit a club 5-10 yards longer than planned, I can be happy if the shot falls a bit short. Perhaps 115-125 is the range and I think 125 as I swing. For me, a key is being committed to that decision so that I don't take the shorter club (say one that I can hit 115 comfortably) and try to kill it to get those few extra yards. If I pull the shorter club, I need to be happy being short even if it is at the short end of my original range.

[Kieran123]

Mostly I would hit a softer 8 than smack a 9.

Mainly because when I try and go after it I'll block it

[mlanger]

Never been successful with choking down. I never try to go at it harder with my shorter clubs so I would always take the 8i, but depending on the situation I would take a 3/4 swing or open up the club face a little.

[The Recreational Golfer]

I asked this question during a playing lesson, and the pro said grip down with the longer club and use you normal swing. Works.

We were on the tee of a par 3 that is in-between for me, which is why I asked.

[newtogolf]

I agree with others, choking down is best.  In watching the pro's it seems they usually get better results hitting the shorter club harder than taking something off their swing with a longer club.

[sean_miller]

It depends on the day, the wind, the pin position, what's around the green, etc. If there's no risk in putting the ball up in the wind, I may drop down a club and swing a little harder. If there's no risk of a ball releasing too far and into trouble f(i.e. not holding the green) then I may go up and swing with a little less pace. Like I said - depends on the day.

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by The Recreational Golfer

I asked this question during a playing lesson, and the pro said grip down with the longer club and use you normal swing. Works.

We were on the tee of a par 3 that is in-between for me, which is why I asked.

Exactly.

The ones who said it didn't work for them don't realize how common choking down on the club is with low cappers and pros.

[TN94z]

All good replies.  My vote is not to go at the shorter club harder 95% of the time.  The trouble behind the green post is a good one.  Because normally for us average golfers, when you go with the longer club and swing smoother, you generally make better contact and you end up hitting it longer than you usually do.  So trouble behind the green is a big thing to take into consideration

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by TN94z

All good replies.  My vote is not to go at the shorter club harder 95% of the time.  The trouble behind the green post is a good one.  Because normally for us average golfers, when you go with the longer club and swing smoother, you generally make better contact and you end up hitting it longer than you usually do.  So trouble behind the green is a big thing to take into consideration

That's why you choke down...

You can still swing confidently and reduce the potential full distance of the 8i with choking down.