Playing Irons Only

[Slice of Life]

  rkim291968 said:

What happened to your other post?   It must have gotten too hot.   I was going to ask erected or non erected measurement?  My distance seems to fluctuate based on that.

Thanks for the laugh.  I was having hard time at work until your post showed up.

http://thesandtrap.com/t/69746/the-internet-adjustment-formula

I gave it its own thread. Haha. *Erect btw...lol

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

  tmac20 said:

I usually play a 4 iron off the tee if the hole is around 370 yards or less, leaving myself with no more than a PW into the green off the fairway. Why would I hit my driver if it gets me into trouble easier? Even if I hit a good drive down the middle, I'll have to hit a tough little knockdown shot as opposed to a full wedge.

You hit 4 iron, then PW on 370 yard par 4's? How far do you hit a 4iron? PW?

[Slice of Life]

  MyrtleBeachGolf said:

You hit 4 iron, then PW on 370 yard par 4's? How far do you hit a 4iron? PW?

220 followed by 150 would be my guess.

[Jeremie Boop]

  Slice of Life said:

220 followed by 150 would be my guess.

That would be pretty accurate to what I'd hit for those yardages. Would rather hit hybrid 240 and aw 130.

[Slice of Life]

  Jeremie Boop said:

That would be pretty accurate to what I'd hit for those yardages. Would rather hit hybrid 240 and aw 130.

Yeah...if I want 240, I'm hitting a nice easy 3 wood. And I'd rather hit my PW 130...I'd have to crush my AW to go 130, and there's too much that can go wrong swinging 110% with a wedge.

[Jeremie Boop]

  Slice of Life said:

Yeah...if I want 240, I'm hitting a nice easy 3 wood. And I'd rather hit my PW 130...I'd have to crush my AW to go 130, and there's too much that can go wrong swinging 110% with a wedge.

That is normal swing for me for the AW, easy swing is about 120ish which I play if I'm out too far for a SW.

[Slice of Life]

  Jeremie Boop said:

That is normal swing for me for the AW, easy swing is about 120ish which I play if I'm out too far for a SW.

And therein lies what I'm talking about. I'll always take an easy swing if I have the option. I can hit a nice easy PW 130 and have more control than blasting an AW. I try to save my AW for when I'm about 115-120, and my 52 for 90-112 (That 112 is somehow my wall with the 52...)

[Jeremie Boop]

  Slice of Life said:

And therein lies what I'm talking about. I'll always take an easy swing if I have the option. I can hit a nice easy PW 130 and have more control than blasting an AW. I try to save my AW for when I'm about 115-120, and my 52 for 90-112 (That 112 is somehow my wall with the 52...)

I'm less consistent when I take an "easy" swing as it were. I tend to decelerate or something trying for a low 70ish% swing than the normal 90% swing. If I go after a swing with the AW it's 140s.

[Maddog10]

I think playing irons only is a great method to improve your iron play, but I don't think it should be done for the reasoning that the OP insinuated. It's easy to want to play irons when you are hitting your driver/woods poorly, but avoiding these clubs isn't going to fix the problem. I like to play irons only when I am struggling to find the center of the club with my long irons... Of course, an exception to this would be if you are playing in a competitive setting at the time and having a good round is more important than fixing your swing with the driver at the time.

With that said, I too have adopted the conservative approach on short par 4's, usually trying to leave myself about 120 yards (PW) into the green.

[LocoPatrick]

My point was not to suggest avoiding woods, rather it was intended to suggest a way to keep playing and lessen the frustration by still being able to get out and have a fun round without having to stress about hitting your woods, while you work on improving your woods during your off time.

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

  MyrtleBeachGolf said:

You hit 4 iron, then PW on 370 yard par 4's? How far do you hit a 4iron? PW?

[quote name="Slice of Life" url="/t/69462/playing-irons-only/30#post_892349"] 220 followed by 150 would be my guess. [/quote] A 220 yard 4 iron followed by a 150 yard PW?! My God, some of you guys are long hitters. Those are PGA tour lengths. A 370 yard par 4 for me is Driver; 8iron.

[Jeremie Boop]

  MyrtleBeachGolf said:

A 220 yard 4 iron followed by a 150 yard PW?! My God, some of you guys are long hitters. Those are PGA tour lengths.

A 370 yard par 4 for me is Driver; 8iron.

Length without consistency and accuracy rofl. I'd give up 20 yds per club if that meant I could hit it where I wanted pretty much every shot.

[Slice of Life]

  MyrtleBeachGolf said:

A 220 yard 4 iron followed by a 150 yard PW?! My God, some of you guys are long hitters. Those are PGA tour lengths.

A 370 yard par 4 for me is Driver; 8iron.

I'm not saying I would do that. Just a guess as to how he would.

For me, a 370 yard par 4 is 3 wood-AW, or maybe Hybrid-8 iron. Depends on the trouble.

[UncleJim]

It all really depends on what courses you are playing on I think. The course I always play on here in Lubbock you really only need your driver on one par 5. I put up my driver along time ago (mainly because it broke) but I only use my irons. If you can hit your irons well enough then by all means use them. I see my buddies chase their balls all over the course when they use their driver and it's not fun to chase after them whenever you hit your ball on the fairway.

[Dave2512]

I play two courses regularly where the tee shot on at least one par 5 a side is a layup to landing zone. We hit irons on par 5's all the time.

[Jeremie Boop]

  Dave2512 said:

I play two courses regularly where the tee shot on at least one par 5 a side is a layup to landing zone. We hit irons on par 5's all the time.

So they force an iron shot on a par 5 for the tee shot.... Is it a shorter overall distance for a par 5 so they do that to force it to be a par 5?

[UncleJim]

Same here I always tee off with irons. I'd rather be safe than sorry. I shoot in the low 80s consistently so its worked out for me so far.

[Slice of Life]

  Jeremie Boop said:

So they force an iron shot on a par 5 for the tee shot.... Is it a shorter overall distance for a par 5 so they do that to force it to be a par 5?

It may be the kind of hole where you CAN bomb a drive and give yourself a chance to get home in two, but they make it very high risk/reward. Some par 5s are just 3 shot par 5s.