Crazy Long Shot

[saevel25]

Here's the scenario, i hit the ball way right, like 100 yards off direction. Its an open golf course, and i about 189 yards to the whole. I just google mapped it. I thought it was about 185. This hole is about 10 yards uphill. So, i take out my 185 club, and i swing normal, catching it really good. It comes the usual height, nothing adnormal about this, except the ball traveled an extra 20 yards and flew the green. The shot was a push fade, but still. 99% of the time i hit that 185, i hit this one 205-210. Its absurd. I have no clue how i suddenly gain 20 yards of distance on an iron. Really, this is the first time i ever had one fly on me like that, who knows, maybe the stars aligned and i caught one perfect. Makes me feel upset that even when i thought i was swinging good, i am still swinging horrible.

[In The Hole]

Only thing I can think of is that the ball was further back in your stance than usual or your hands got in front of the ball....... in both cases your would de-loft the club and on the same swing travel further.

just a thought.

[saevel25]

But it couldn't have been that. I've played for over 15 years with the ball back in my stance, reverse weight shift, flip at the ball, over the top, pull shot. Got down to single handicap player when i was on my game. I made an effort for a better swing, and now my ball position is much forward to were it suppose to be. so its not that. Its not delofted, because i would know, with a correct ball position if it delofted. This ball was a typical towering high ball that i usually hit. Because first, i still am trying to get my hands more forward at impact. Second, it was a push fade. So it wasn't like i delofted, and crushed a low line drive. This one would have landed soft on the green.

Nope, everything felt good, except this ball went farther. It was just weird to me.

[David in FL]

Light rough?  Sounds like you caught a flyer.....

Either that, or you just demonstrated the difference for most of us between a perfectly struck shot, and the results of our average "stock" shot.  The difference being that you're experienced enough, and smart enough to pull the right club for the latter, while most play their shots as if they'll always hit the former.

[saevel25]

I don't think it was a flier because i pulled a club that was about the right yardage, not assuming the rough would cause any distance loss. A flier is just when the rough doesn't do what you expect it to do. Its not possible for rough to actually speed up your clubhead.

It was just a weird outcome for me, i never had one fly like that before. I had a few end up 5-10 yards farther, but this was was smoked.

[BostonBrew]

Do you play a cavity-back iron? They are known to be a bit inconsistent and can send one ~15 yards past your usual yardage. They even have inconsistencies with the robots in testing.

[saevel25]

I do have cavity backs. Could it theoretically be that cavity backs, though they increase the sweet spot due to the mass distribution, that the actually sweet-sweet spot might be small enough that if you catch one it goes farther than the overall sweet-spot. Basically a circle with in a circle.

Just theorizing a bit.

[Dave2512]

Happens all the time. I attribute it to being on the border of bad and half decent. Most of my shots are slight mishits but solid enough to achieve somewhat consistent results. Because I have started showing improvement it shows up at inopportune moments. A couple of times each round. Usually an approach shot where I'm certain I have the yardage, I play the same course all the time so lot's of repetition. Then blam everything syncs up and what's usually a 150y flies 25y farther. I've been missing greens long lately and I'm playing at least one club shorter this year. Of course the flip side is I blow it by chunking a few here and there too. Part of the deal when you suck, me not you.

[LuciusWooding]

Uphill lie plus light rough probably means it's a flyer. I had a lie 267 yards from the pin last time I played, I looked at the direction the grass was growing and knew it would fly oddly. I pulled a 3 iron and nuked it because the ball was teed up, it came off faster than a normal shot but with so little spin that it knuckled visibly. Sure enough a ring of grass was embedded in my grooves, the ball ran like crazy and ended up about 17 yards short of the flag. If I'd hit it a degree or two higher I might have gone past the pin. If it had been an uphill lie, I probably could have. The flight was very flat and didn't climb so the second half of the flight was much hotter.

[MPtheKid]

Yep....at my level I find that every once in a while I will catch one super pure and it will fly much further than is usual for that particular club. Really makes you reconsider how well you play this game when you realize what pure contact actually feels like haha....oh well.

[0ldblu3]

My question is about the sound of the hit. Did you get that "no sound" sound? When I'm hitting them pure there is just a different, muffled kind of sound that indicates that I got good compression. I can also hear the whizzing sound of the ball leaving in a hurry. I love that sound. I'm hitting Mizuno T Zoid Comp EZ's which are cavity back with a block in the middle of them. Don't know what you call that.

[David in FL]

I don't think it was a flier because i pulled a club that was about the right yardage, not assuming the rough would cause any distance loss. A flier is just when the rough doesn't do what you expect it to do. Its not possible for rough to actually speed up your clubhead. It was just a weird outcome for me, i never had one fly like that before. I had a few end up 5-10 yards farther, but this was was smoked.

It's absolutely possible for a shot out of light rough to fly further than normal.....hence the term "flyer".

[iacas]

Originally Posted by saevel25

I don't think it was a flier because i pulled a club that was about the right yardage, not assuming the rough would cause any distance loss. A flier is just when the rough doesn't do what you expect it to do. Its not possible for rough to actually speed up your clubhead.

You don't seem to understand what a "flier" is then. It has nothing to do with adding speed to your clubhead. I once hit a 7-iron 215 (flat ground, no wind) from a flier lie. It reduces spin enough that the ball carries farther.

[saevel25]

So does backspin cause the ball to fly less?

[M2R]

You could try playing with the Flightscope trajectory optimizer Mike posted about in the Dan Plan Distance thread .

I think it comes down to high launch, low spin for distance right? So if a little grass greases up the face it could nudge your normal shot trajectory closer toward those conditions.

If you don't have raw data for the club you hit, the chart in Mike's post has data to use as a starting point. Start by just lowering spin and see what happens.

[inthecup]

I think perhaps a combination of a flier lie and perhaps circumstances caused to you increase your lag considerably?

[rehmwa]

I've been getting these more and more and more lately.  Used to be about 1 in 10 shots.  Now it's pushing about a third to half of them as I get better (club path, attack angle, face angle, etc).

Mostly on long irons.  but sometimes on shorter irons and really dramatic connections on occasion with my 3w.  I've also shifted from a random fade shot to nice baby draw, so i think that opens up my potential....

I think it's just now that I'm really understanding what that "sweet spot" means.  I can't wait until I'm more consistent, for now, I have to be careful about my assumptions of stock distances for each club...The occasional pure one - has no feeling of contact at all just soft and smooth (is that what 'buttery' means?); almost always that ideal flight path I'm working towards, goes where I point it.....so it's not only longer, but usually just better overall.

Example -

club - typ distance - that occasional one

6i - 175 - 190

5i - 185 - 210

4i - 200 - 220

weird wacky game, isn't it?

I always wondered why some pros would just hit so much farther than me - like 2 clubs worth - heck, I'm just as fit, I'm limber, etc etc etc.

Now I know - they just hit it so pure they are actually able to assume distances that are still the crazy exception to me.  (add to that they have such control on direction and more things of course, than I can ever hope for).  I wonder what a club face contact distribution would really look like for a pro vs someone just halfway decent (like an, let's say, 11 handicap...)

probably their disty fits inside half a dime, while mine likely used to spray the entire club face and is now closer to a half dollar....???.

in any case - it sure beats tagging it on the hosel

[Zeph]

So does backspin cause the ball to fly less?

Yes, backspin will slow it down. When hitting out of rough, you can get grass between the clubface and the ball, which will decrease the amount of spin you get. This can result in the ball flying farther it would off a normal lie. Less spin may also cause it to roll out farther than a normal shot. You can look at long drivers of the ball. They typically got a positive AoA and very low spin. Getting too steep with the driver will cause the ball to spin too much and balloon on you.