For the past week or so ive been practicing a lot with my 7 and 9 irons and my stroke has improved quite a bit. i was just wondering whats a good distance that most golfers hit a 9 and a 7 iron (both how far intermediate and expert players hit it). Right now i hit the 9 straight and 110-120 yards in the same place about 8 times out of 10. The 7 is a bit more difficult for me as i dont strike the ball right as often, but i usually get it up to 130-140 when i hit it good.
Those are both great distances with those clubs, I'm assuming your swing speed is in the high 80's. Don't know how long you've been playing, but when I first started my 9i went about a 100 yds! I hit my 9 about 155 and can play a 7 out to 180 with solid contact now. Getting my lie angles adjusted and the new shafts really brought out my swings potential.--Keep groovin' that swing!
yea ive been told that my swing speed is pretty good. i really just started playing golf a few weeks ago and before that i never played consistantly except for the occasional trip to the driving range. the clubs i use now are noname brand that i bought about 5 years ago...im not sure if they are copies or composite...still havent gotten onto the golf course. i think ive still got to work on my form a bit (i still come up on the ball although ive fixed that a lot) and sometimes my weight is a little offcenter. then i think i can work on getting the yardage up and i think it will even go up as my form gets better.
I hit my 9 about 155 and can play a 7 out to 180 with solid contact now.
That's big. Right now I hit a 9 iron about 125 and I hit a 7 about 155. I don't think I'll ever get to where you are, but that's ok because you're a freak. :D
Hey KDOUB, how much yardage do you think you gained from adjusting the lie angles and changing the shafts? I have an extra set of irons with lighter steel shafts on them and when I make solid contact, I definitely hit them farther than my current irons. Problem is, I don't like the heads on them because they don't seem to be as forgiving. I'm thinking about reshafting my current irons but if I don't see much of an improvement, I probably won't see it as worth the effort.
the distance you hit compared to others means nothing. (as long as you have clubs that can potentially get you on the green for par opportunities!) If you play with someone that can hit a 9-iron 150, but you need to hit a 6-iron to make sure you get it there, what's the difference? especially since you said you feel confident that you can hit them where you want them. I usually hit a SW from 100 on in, but alot of times if its in the 90-110 range, I'll hit a PW, since I know I can slow things down a little to get it there. Its all about playing and taking note of how far you hit certain clubs. Especially as you play more often, you'll notice you hit clubs further and further. For the longest time, I swore that my 140-150 club was my 7iron, maybe even a 6. Now I likely hit an 8 from that distance. Its all about recognizing your game and what YOU can do, not what the guy next to you is doing.
Last week I was out with a friend and we both were within 5 yrds of the 150 marker (he was taking his 3rd shot and myself taking my 2nd..lol). He reaches in and grabs a 5 wood and I look at him funny...he says hes more comfortable taking a 1/2-3/4 shot to get it there (I'm trying to get him to use irons from 180 and in but he keeps fiting me..so he has 4-5 irons in he bag he never uses.
He grabs a 5wood and rolls it onto the green..I grab a PW and take a nice easy cut at it and plop it onto the green. Then I get the funny look cuz I hit a PW from 150-160 on the course (trying to change that so I hit a 9 iron from 150 and a PW up to 140ish so I can take an even softer swing..but its not working)
Iron distances are to each his own..where your hitting it is great..I dont expect anyone I play with to use a PW from 150 like me because they just dont hit it that far. Whatever it takes to get there and get the job done is perfectly fine...There is no club tracker on the scorecard..just how many it takes for you to get in into the hole...no matter how
Around 20 years ago Peter Oosterhuis (spelling) was the pro at Forsgate CC, in New Jersey. A sales rep I dealt with was getting a playing lesson from Peter and invited me and another golfer along to fill out the foursome. Peter shot the most boring -2 for nine holes I've ever seen. His drives were absolutely straight, not overly long, and his irons were deadly.
We get to the 7th hole which played around 150 yds. Peter punches a 7 iron around 10 feet from the pin, and drops the putt for birdie. Me and the guy taking lessons were around the green somewhere, but the fourth guy flies the green with his 9-iron. All he could talk about all week was how he hit the ball 2 clubs longer than the pro. He didn't mention he double-bogeyed the hole.
Distance is nice, and you need a certain amount to get around the course if you want to score well, but its more important to know how far you can comfortably hit each club. Some guys simply hit their clubs longer than others.
Thanks for the replies...they seem to make a lot of sense. Its kinda like the idea when your chipping instead of changing how hard you strike the ball to get more distance you can just change your club, use the same swing and get more roll. I think i just have to get better with the other irons (9 seems to be the easiest for me so far although ive only tried 9 and 7).
Tonyg's observation is dead-on. Those distances I hit are my max. I have a "playing" distance for evey club, depending the lie,conditions,type of shot,etc.. Sometimes those 150yd shots are better played with a soft 7 or 8 and on those 180+ approaches I'll sometimes forgo an iron and reach for my 7-wood. Thats the true joy of golf for me, when you get to the level where you're able to use different clubs from the same yardage to create different shots--it's all about gettin' the job done!
VICTORY-- I gained at least 20-25 yds on all my irons with the custom fitting. Having irons(espicially) fitted to you puts them on the right swing-plane when you set-up. It increases your ability to actually "strike" the ball with the sweet spot, along with getting your swing in form, custom fitted irons will boost your confidence over every shot which is really the most important thing for groovin' your swing!-FYI-you can also use lie angle adjustment to favor a draw or fade. Your shaft will make a big difference in ball flight(trajectory), the weight of the shaft will also affect your swingspeed. The rifle shafts I use are fairly lightweight(faster clubhead speed) and the equivalent of X-flex(boring-straight-through trajectory)-they work well with my compact body-type swing. You just gotta try some out.
July 13th, 2004, 05:55 PM
Linear Mode
Similar Threads
