My harping on distance

[longbow]

I have been bemoaning the fact that I have lost distance since I quit playing in the late 90's and restarted playing last year.  I'm 58 and in reasonable shape from working out etc.  And I love walking 9 carrying my bag.  So yesterday I'm at the local grocery store and buy a couple of golf mags, which I rarely rarely do.  In the back of one they have a couple of pages of club tests done by "normal" folks that play golf.  So I'm glancing at the stats and notice that with the 6 iron many of the golfers hit the iron much less than what I thought a normal 6 iron should go.  Even a couple of the fella's that hit the driver 250+ consistently didn't hit a 6 iron over 170 for the most part.  Many were right around the 160 yd mark.  So now I don't feel so bad!  thanks

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by longbow

I have been bemoaning the fact that I have lost distance since I quit playing in the late 90's and restarted playing last year.  I'm 58 and in reasonable shape from working out etc.  And I love walking 9 carrying my bag.  So yesterday I'm at the local grocery store and buy a couple of golf mags, which I rarely rarely do.  In the back of one they have a couple of pages of club tests done by "normal" folks that play golf.  So I'm glancing at the stats and notice that with the 6 iron many of the golfers hit the iron much less than what I thought a normal 6 iron should go.  Even a couple of the fella's that hit the driver 250+ consistently didn't hit a 6 iron over 170 for the most part.  Many were right around the 160 yd mark.  So now I don't feel so bad!  thanks

I check those out once in a while. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to be the 9 to 16 cappers who hit longest. The lowest indexes are not often the longest hitters. That would be consistent with what I see on the course around here.

[longbow]

Yep noticed the same thing.

[xmanhockey7]

My 6 iron is my 160-165 club. I've been working hard on getting my hands in front at impact lately so I'm hoping I can get it to the point where the controlled 6 iron goes 165 and when I decide to go at it I can hit it more like 170-175.

[Harmonious]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to be the 9 to 16 cappers who hit longest. The lowest indexes are not often the longest hitters. That would be consistent with what I see on the course around here.

Also consistent with every "HOW FAR I CAN HIT MY CLUBS" thread here.

[Jefferey13]

I found the exact same thing. I used to be able to hit my 9 iron about 160 and now a good 9 is 145. I had to really slow my swing down to stay on plane correctly and attack pins. My HDCP is about a 7 now.

One reason I was really forced into slowing down was that I would swing outside the ball when I would over swing causing a horrible shank. When I see new golfers at the range who can't make contact with the ball I think to myself one simple change and you'd be on your way. Slow down.

[Jimdangles]

Too often I catch my self trying to go after it with irons but lately Ive just been trying to accept my mortality. My 7 iron isnt 175 club if my 6 iron is 180 club. I may get it there sometimes but I shouldnt be trying to.

[Adam Young]

Im a pro that hits his 6 iron about 160. I can get it out there 180 if i need to, but what is the point. Im trying to get the ball as close to the flag as possible, not boast about what club I used to do it. Sometimes I even brag about how long a club I had to hit in, in order to make my birdie.

Anyway, after teaching people for 8 years, 99% of people overestimate how far the actually hit the ball. I constantly have people say they hit their 6 iron 180 (as i see them puff it down there about 100 yards in the air), then I show them what 180 with a 6 iron really looks like by demonstrating in front of them. Top pros hit the ball around 170-180 with a 6, this shouldnt be your goal if you are a 15 handicap.

The best thing you can do for your game is to work out your distances properly. Hit 10 balls, take away the 3 best and 3 worst and take the average of the middle 4.

just my 2 cents

[longbow]

AY truer words were never spoken.   I am going to play today in the p.m.  Will take my X16's again.  I think I am putting to much stress on myself when out there enjoying the game thinking about how far I think I should this club or that club should go.  Just going to go out and see what happens.  thanks

[Adam Young]

anyway, a good way to think about it is that the pros are playing on courses that are 7,500 yards long. The course you play on is at least 10% shorter than a pro's - so if you hit all your clubs 10% shorter than the average pro then tat should be good enough to rip it around UNDER PAR around your course.

average pro = 275 with driver      = 250 for you is good enough to play to scratch

average pro 6 iron is 175           =  160 for you is good enough to play level par

If you cant shoot level par hitting a 6 iron 160, then you are either doing something else wrong in your game (accuracy or strike) or you are playing on a course that is too long, or your short game is awful.

Go and play/watch with some Lady pro's. see them powder puff it it out there 230 yards and shoot 3 under, will definitely change your frame of mind on how to play the game. I once played with a lady pro that was 30 yards shorter than me and beat me by 8 shots...... I shot level par, go figure

that makes it 4 cents.

[Jimdangles]

Originally Posted by Adam Young

anyway, a good way to think about it is that the pros are playing on courses that are 7,500 yards long. The course you play on is at least 10% shorter than a pro's - so if you hit all your clubs 10% shorter than the average pro then tat should be good enough to rip it around UNDER PAR around your course.

average pro = 275 with driver      = 250 for you is good enough to play to scratch

average pro 6 iron is 175           =  160 for you is good enough to play level par

If you cant shoot level par hitting a 6 iron 160, then you are either doing something else wrong in your game (accuracy or strike) or you are playing on a course that is too long, or your short game is awful.

Go and play/watch with some Lady pro's. see them powder puff it it out there 230 yards and shoot 3 under, will definitely change your frame of mind on how to play the game. I once played with a lady pro that was 30 yards shorter than me and beat me by 8 shots...... I shot level par, go figure

that makes it 4 cents.

Dont wanna argue because I agree with your point but The shortest driver on tour is 269 and the 4th shortest is 275.6 the longest being 318.4.

[Harmonious]

Originally Posted by Jimdangles

Dont wanna argue because I agree with your point but The shortest driver on tour is 269 and the 4th shortest is 275.6 the longest being 318.4.

And none of them play to scratch.  Not by a long shot.

[Adam Young]

Originally Posted by Harmonious

And none of them play to scratch.  Not by a long shot.

I'm a little out of touch with how far the guys are hitting it recently. Although lots of good players hit less than 280, luke donald is patting it out there 270

I only speak really from experience, i played to a 4 handicap (occasionally shooting under par) only hitting the ball 220 yards as an amateur. I now hit the ball about 250-260 at best,a nd can get around level par on a 7500 course, although its a struggle and i can never go really low.

[longbow]

I played Sat the east course at Churchville.  I think I like this layout the best of the 3.  It is more difficult but shorter than the other 2.  It was a beauty day too, once the rain cleared out.  Although windy, which might be an understatement.  Some of the flags were bent almost sideways and I ain't kiddin.  Kind of let up later in the p.m. but I was out there early p.m. and really not a soul around.  Kind of like my own private course!  Took my Callaway X16's and started off pretty darn good.

Long story short when I arrived at hole 5 which has the big ass pond all along the faiway and was straight away into a very strong wind that was steady at probably 25mph with gusts much higher.  Bottom line is that I hit my first two shots very well.  It was the third, fourth, and fifth shots that tin cupped me.  With my second I ended up right at the 150 marker in the middle of the fairway.  I want to say the hole is like 590 yds from the blue's.  So I says to myself I would normally try a 7 from here but because I am hitting into a strong cross wind I decided to hit a 5.  My first swing I nutted the ball.  Superb I says to myself as I launched that bitter white pill towards the green.  You know when you nut one and you can't do any better and the ball just flies into the air and becomes a little white dot?!  Had a tiny bit of draw bias and I am thinking to myself no one could do better.  That is until the ball reached it's apex of trajectory and took a hard right from a monster gust and fell about 20 yds  short into the water.  I have never seen a ball struck so well do such a thing.  First it was drawing just a tiny bit, then it was like fluttering up and down and then a hard right straight down into the pond.  The wind gust tipped my bag over too.  Well three more shots of which the next two did pretty much the same, the fourth shot I actually hit off the toe and that went straight right almost but pretty darn far out into the pond towards the 6th tee.  Took my 22 deg Cleveland wood and knocked it over the pond about 5 yds short of the green in perfect position cause it was a front right pin.  So I'm about 150 out, perfect position and my 7 wood does it for me.  I was so frustrated and pissed at myself when I played the next two holes I cut back over to #3 and replayed those 5 holes 3-7 as a do over.  No one was out there so I didn't cut in front of anybody.  I played the pond hole as I call it much better.  Par as a matter of fact.

I mean that is a 4 club wind it seems.  Now when I was down wind like on #6  which  has the same pond as #5 along it's right and smaller pond along its left although the small pond does cover alot of the fairway, which is a dog leg left.  Here I was about 145 out and hit a pw to about 4 yds short of the green.  I normally would have hit at least my 8.  Well that's it for my tail of woe.  I do notice that the X16's I do as a fact hit these irons further.  So I will be sticking with these and may donate a bunch of the other sets to the First Tee.  thanks for listeningt

[Adam Young]

I played links golf growing up. par 3 7th hole - 150 yards. Played it with a SW in the morning, 20 yards short with a nutted driver in the afternoon. No word of a lie. Playing links golf (as much as i hate it) teaches you how to play the game - yardages mean very little. Swallow your pride and hit whatever will get you there.