Need a 200 yard club...

[gg1987]

I hit my 6 iron around 185-190 yards, depending on the day. For whatever reason, my 5 iron ranges from 190 yards to 230... and my resulting lack of confidence has yielded a serious loss of control. I need a club that I can reliably use for those longer par 3's. Contemplating a 5 hybrid or maybe a 7 wood. Would love any suggestions.

[mvmac]

I hit my 6 iron around 185-190 yards, depending on the day. For whatever reason, my 5 iron ranges from 190 yards to 230... and my resulting lack of confidence has yielded a serious loss of control. I need a club that I can reliably use for those longer par 3's. Contemplating a 5 hybrid or maybe a 7 wood. Would love any suggestions.

Welcome to the site. When you hit it 230, is that carry?

A 5 hybrid or 7 wood would typically go farther than a 5 iron. I would stick with your 5 iron and focus more on making the swing better/more consistent. It's not the club that's causing you to hit it 190 or 230.

[tomvk77]

Maybe you should play a weaker loft on your 5iron. Think you get more consistency from an iron than from a wood.

The longer shaft should give you some more distance than 6 iron.

[gg1987]

Thanks for the advice! When I hit it 230 it's about 210 with 20 yards of roll (perhaps I'm de-lofting the club too much?). I'll play around with ball positioning and see if that does the trick.

[Spyder]

Thanks for the advice! When I hit it 230 it's about 210 with 20 yards of roll (perhaps I'm de-lofting the club too much?). I'll play around with ball positioning and see if that does the trick.

There should never be 40 yards of variance with really any club in your bag, let alone a 5 iron. Especially if you're not intentionally causing the variance (taking a slower swing, less back swing, choking down, de-lofting/lofting, etc.). Is this the only club you're having this issue with?

would recommend playing the ball the same, but focusing on a much more consistent swing until you're comfortably making solid contact. The yardage will be what it is, you shouldn't be trying to "achieve" a specific yardage with the 5i. If it's 180, so be it. If it's +/-5 at 190, great. Don't force it and just practice more. Consistent contact will allow you to work with yardages more and make necessary adjustments to achieve specific yardages. That's a more important fix than finding a club that will most likely temporarily hide a flaw by tightening that "190-230" gap up.