How far do you hit your clubs............mark 2

[logman]

Just further to the other discussion about how far guys on this site hit the ball. I just want to put an alternative view. Irons are for accuracy...right? accuracy in terms of direction and length. So what we're trying to do with all those irons is to fit a club to a length that we want to hit the ball. So my big beef here is that irons have got longer shafts and lofts have become "stronger" in an attempt by manufacturers to win the "mine's longer than yours" distance war.

But don't we want accuracy? if I wanted to hit a 7 iron 150 meters then I'll use a 5 iron. And my big problem here is that in the distances where I will be looking to score from .....say 120 meters, all I've got to chose from is 3 or 4 wedges of differing lofts. Thats mad.

So for whatever reason we seem to be hitting the ball longer but in reality we're shooting ourselves in the foot. We've got all these irons in the bag but the logic seems wrong to me. at the moment most of us have got 5 or 6 irons in our bags that are for shots over 150 meters. When was the last time you got a birdy after a 150 meter shot? It's a rarity for me. Wouldn't it be better to have the large majority of your irons to deal with the shots where your looking to score.

So......I reckon, we need to REDUCE the lengths that we're hitting the ball....hang on stay with me here!. What I want is the option of hitting comfortable strong swings to the green from say 120 meters out without having to manufacture a shot. So currently I know I can hit my 50 degree wedge anywhere between 90 meters and in!!. So what happens is I'm faced with a 70 meter shot, so what I have to do is try to manufacture a 3/4 power, punched a little lower, back in the stance, choked down grip..........do you get my point? I don't practice that stuff, I don't have the skill even if I did practice. What do I want.......I want the option to have more definite club options under 120 meters.

So I've been experimenting with very short wedges and irons

Well, not all the irons. given that the lofts are about right(eg, a 46 degree pitch will fly 120 meters and stop on the green whereas a 5 iron that went 120 degrees won't) the only way to reduce the distance at the shorter end of the bag is to reduce the lengths of the clubs.

Wake up! I haven't finished! So my 60, 56 and 50 are 31 inches long

PW starts at about 33" and then the set goes up in length pretty gradually, the 6 iron is about the length of an 8

Results.......A little mixed! I'm getting the spread of distances about right and a good unintended result is the length dispersion on the individual little wedges is much smaller. What I mean is a good solid swing with the 50 goes 60 meters and a real hard swing only goes 70 ish meters. That's good. Another good point with the small clubs is more consistent ball striking though I'm not sure if this has to do with the length of the club or because with such a little club the swing tends to become compact and controlled.

The bad.....people think your playing with kids clubs!!!......... Sand shots, absolutely impossible with the short sand wedge.....I might have to carry a specialist sand wedge...crap!! And swing weight the short clubs are a little light now.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy so far, though I'll mess around with bending some lofts a bit more later on. Cheers

[Adam Young]

agreed logman.

When people ask me how far can i hit a ball, i say how far do you want me to hit it. I have an upper limit with my driver, but i can get a 7 iron to go anywhere from 200 yards down to 20 yards with a full speed swing (just by manipulating face angles, angle of attack and lofts at impact.

When I was younger, all i was after was distance. Now i can hit it as far as i want, i don't give a shit. I even play on the fact that i am short for a pro, just to prove the fact that you dont have to bomb it 300 yards to play under par. I now hit a 7 iron around 145 - 155, depending how im feeling. I tend to play much better when im having the 145 days, as it is essentially me swallowing my pride and just caressing the ball down onto the green.

reminds me of when Christy o connor was playing with an amateur. they wereboth standing 150 yards away, O'connor used a 7 iron and the amateur used an 8. The amateur said, Christy, how come i hit the ball farther than you? Christy then dropped about 10 balls and proceeded to hit a 5 wood, 3 iron, 4 iron, 5 iron all the way down to pitching wedge on the green and said "hey amateur, how come ur a 26 handicap"

Love it