Iron Distances?

[APowell1990]

Anybody want to disclose their distances? I wanted to see how I stack up. I am a big guy (baseball) and my friend likes to compare me to John Daly. I told him my distances were not that good. I hardly ever have to hit anything over my 5 Iron.


5I- 210 yards
6I- 195 yards
7I- 180 yards
8I- 160 yards
9I- 150 yards
PW- 140 yards
SW- 125 yards

[obagain]

PW 120
9 135
8 145
7 160
6 170
5 185
4 200
3 215
Average but consistant.
Also, make sure you are not talking about the farthest you ever hit a particular club. It should be how you hit them most of the time.
It should not matter how far you hit each club but how you keep the gaps between clubs.

[APowell1990]

That is mostly correct looking back now. I might knock my 7 Iron down 5 yards. I am below the distances right now, but not by much. This was the first I have played in a few weeks. When summer rolls around I will be at least those. I have to work on hitting my 3 and 4 irons this year for high school golf. I never need them at my short home course, but I will when golf season begins. I don't get them in the air like I need to for some reason. I have been playing for about 3 years (I am 15)

[dave.]

9 140
8 150
7 160
6 175
5 185
4 195
3 210
19* Hybrid 225
15* 3 wood 240
Driver 265 carry

you hit your irons a good distance,but I am nearly always shorter than the guys I play with.Last weekend Iplayed with 3 17 and 18 handicappers and they were all longer than me,one of them was 2 to 3 clubs longer.But I hit my irons at 80 to 90% power except my 4 and 3 irons that are full,and I hit a relatively low shot .As long as your are balanced it doesn't matter how far you hit it,but if you are taking the longest distance with your hardest swings those are not accurate distances.I can slog a 3 iron 225 but why would I want to? And I can batter an 8 iron to 160 but again,why? I prefer hitting full shots on the course and I hate choking anything,inc wegdes,but full for me is still not 100% with a short iron.

[Gary W]

LW 65
SW 80
GW 95
PW 110
9 123
8 135
7 147
6 157
5 166
4 175
3 183

Those are carry distances, and are for average conditions with a good lie out on the course. However, I'm probably up/down 3 or 4 yards from those baselines with every club above the 9.

I've been working a bit at the range with the 3 and 4 trying to achieve a fuller turn without losing the smooth transition I need to get good contact. If I could get the 3 to carry around 190ish, it would take a bit of pressure off my game on the longer par 4's.

One thing - working with the long irons at the range definitely makes hitting the mid irons so easy and effortless.

cheers.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Driver 10*- 265
3w 14*- 240
5w 17*- 225
7w 20*- 210
4R 23*- 185
6i - 165
7i - 150
8i - 140
9i - 130
PW - 120
52* - 110
56* - 100
60* - 80 yards and in, 3/4 swing or less

My goal this year is more accuracy and consistency. I do not feel that I overswing on any club other than my Driver, and have a fairly compact swing with my irons (resemble 1/2 -3/4). If it is even at the expense of 10~20 yards per club, I should still score better. So far the only 3 rounds I have played this year with this in mind, I have found that I sacrifice about 1 club from what I mentioned and have shaved about 6-8 strokes off my game even with putting that was worse than last year. My driver seems to be actually going further, so I probably had some mechanical issues from overswinging. I seem to be playing the way I did 2 years ago when I was 1-2 clubs less, and my handicap was 6-7 strokes lower, and it is very early in the year when I usually do not score well.

Distance is overrated in my game.

[Eracer]

PW - 120
9 - 130
8 - 140
7 - 150
6 - 160
5 - 170
4 Hybrid - 185
3 Hybrid - 200

Note that my 5-PW are about 10 yards shorter since I changed from regular flexed steel to stiff flexed steel. I'm comfortable with that because I gained accuracy, and I never play from the back tees, so my yardages work fine. I drive the ball about 250 average, so on par 4's I dont often have to hit anything more than a 7-iron in anyway.

I have a friend who hits the ball three full clubs further than me. It's pointless for him to play from the white tees. The problem is that he is not accurate with his irons at all, and playing from the back tees bring a lot more trouble into play. He values the smash factor - the adrenaline rush of staking a 200 yard 6-iron once a round - even if his score for that round is
120. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. He plays fast, and doesn't spend a lot of time hunting for the 20 or so shots he blasts out-of-bounds. He loves to hit the ball hard, doesn't get frustrated with high scores, and has a great time playing. He doesn't care whether his scores get better, he just loves to hit the ball. Hard.

[Rockford35]

Does it really matter if you hit a 5 iron 185 or a 7 iron 185 if you still don't break 90?

Distance isn't everything. Even guys like Tiger, Ernie and Phil make their money on and around the greens.

Distance means nothing except fufilling an ego trip if you can't putt.

R35

[Tommysels41]

My distances:

PW: 100
9 Iron: 110
8 Iron: 120
7 Iron: 130
6 Iron: 140
5 Iron: 150
4 Iron: 160
3 Iron: 170

Keep in mind that I'm only 13 so these are decent distances for somebody my age.

[Pa Jayhawk]

Originally Posted by Rockford35

Distance means nothing except fufilling an ego trip if you can't putt.

R35

Yes, one reason I usually don't like to talk distance much is that not only do I hit my clubs as far as some of the better ball strikers I play with, but I usually putt far better. It is more embarrasing than anything knowing I putt better, hit the ball as far, my short game is probably just as good, but I consistently get my butt kicked on the score card. .... and lose 3 times as many golf balls. This will be my year to turn it around, as my whole goal is generating a comfortable and smooth swing at the loss of whatever distance is required. Interestingly enough, a large part in why I am scoring better may simply be the mental aspect that I do not care if I have to hit 2 clubs more for the same distance. As many will tell you, most mid~high handicappers miss the green short. The 3 rounds this year, that has not been the case. I have had more shots over and on the green than ever before. I think the whole distance thing works against you that way, you want to be able to say you can reach a green with little club, leaving a chip and putt for par, or two putts for bogey. I will gladly take 20 less yards all in the name of getting my handicap to where it was 2 years ago and save money on golf balls in the process.

[ualtim]

Quite frankly, my distances change on almost a daily basis depending on condtions and how well I am hitting the ball. I use my 8 iron as my baseline which I normally expect to get about 150 yards out of it. My gaps between clubs PW to 5 iron are right about 10 to 12 yards GW about 110, SW (58*) about 90. Gaps in my hybrids are about 12 to 15 yards. 3W off the turf around 240 yards. Driver around 270 yards. On the course, I baseline my club decision off of 150 yards (normally an 8 iron) as that is normally my goal to land my tee shot or second shot on a par 5 from the green.

As far as distance changes goes, some days I am hitting the ball better and the conditions (assuming zero wind) are more ideal I may have to add 5 yards to my normal distances. Other days the conditions are not ideal and/or I am not hitting the ball as well I may have to take off 5 yards or so from my distances. With the constant changes in distance, I have learned it is far easier to learn my gaps between clubs, find a baseline club, and adjust my distances from there.

Not ideal, but I find it a lot easier when selecting a club on the course. Once I get a good feel for how well the ball is traveling that day, club selection is usually no longer a problem.

[APowell1990]

You can't convince me distance works against you. When you are hitting a wedge into the same green that others are hitting 7 and 8 irons, you have a big advantage. I think people really believe this whole "Distance is Not Important Thing" that people are selling nowadays. Of course just distance will not make you great, but ballstriking and consistency will. You would probably have a decent putter by then. It is annoying when people tell you how unimportant distance is after they see you blast one straight down the pipe.

[Hawkeye]

LW 60
SW 75
GW 90
PW 100
9 120
8 135
7 145
6 156
5 171
4 178
3 189
1 215

Those are average conditions with a good lie out on the course!
I've been working a bit at the range with the 5 and 7 irons.

What a difference it makes when I'm out on the course!

PJ

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by APowell1990

You can't convince me distance works against you. When you are hitting a wedge into the same green that others are hitting 7 and 8 irons, you have a big advantage. I think people really believe this whole "Distance is Not Important Thing" that people are selling nowadays. Of course just distance will not make you great, but ballstriking and consistency will. You would probably have a decent putter by then. It is annoying when people tell you how unimportant distance is after they see you blast one straight down the pipe.

If you can consistently "blast one downt the pipe", then all power to you hitting that wedge into the green.

However, the 90%+ of golfers out there that don't hit 14 of 15 fairways each and every round could use a shorter, more accurate drive rather that trying to hit hero shots from the trees.

If they can, get on the Tour, cuz Tiger does it every weekend.

I may be hitting a 7 iron to the green, but unless you're sinking your wedge on the approach, you better make your putt because we're gonna score the same after I drain my putt. Putting is still single handedly the most important aspect of your game - hands down. Distance has something to do with it, but it means absolutely nothing if you can't putt.

See: Fred Couples and his putting woes
Tiger when he doesn't win.
Phil when he doesn't win.
Sergio.
Bubba Watson....5 wedges on the final 7 holes on Saturday. Didn't win.
Vijay Singh as of late.
Ernie, who just kills it....but when he doesn't putt, he misses cuts.

The list goes on and on. Even the best players in the world suffer from poor putting. And, I'm betting that every single one of them would prefer to be 300down the pipe instead of 320 in the rough.

I don't really see how you can say that can't be true.

R35

[Tommysels41]

Originally Posted by Rockford35

Sergio.

hahahaha,

~Tom