Can't Hit Off the Fairway

[Adam Pettman]

I've hit 200yd. 5irons out the rough with a slight OTT move on purpose.

Holy crap, I hit my 5 iron 200yrd from the fairway but couldnt imagine doing it from the rough.

 

[Eracer]

I should get close to this forum. Woo it, put on some Barry White, make it dinner...

Don't you be makin' the moves on my forum. She and I have been seeing each other for a long time. Just cause you're a flashy new playa' doesn't mean you can swing in here and take over my lady...:laugh:

Good advice from the others here, so I won't add much. Thinking back to when I first started, I remember that I used to be afraid that the club would "stick" in the ground if I took any dirt during the swing. It's hard to trust that you can hit down on the ball and get the distance you want.

Consider this:

In general, a well-struck 5-iron off of a tee will fly a shorter distance than a well-struck 5-iron off the turf.

Why? There are two factors controlling distance - ballistic trajectory and aerodynamic trajectory. When you hit a ball off a tee, you reduce the amount of backspin you put on the ball (because you hit the ball higher on the face), hence reducing the lift providing by the dimples. A well-struck shot off the ground tends to spin more, and the aerodynamic lifting carries the ball further.

Go to the range with a 5-iron and put a tee (flush with the ground) about an inch in front of your ball. Focus on hitting that tee out of the ground and sending it downrange.

Fear not the turf. Don't kill the ball, kill the turf in front of the ball.

 

[Turkish]

Blah, strange day yesterday. I was going in confident with my hybrid, I don't think I hit a decent shot with it all day. Chunking it out of the rough, not hitting it well of the tee, blah.

The 3 wood saved the day for me off of the tee, missing the fairway only once when I took it out just before the halfway mark. Too bad it was on the 600yd par 5, where I hit my hybrid twice out of the rough, both times taking out more grass than ball. That hole ended up real bad. Tried the 5 wood off the short grass once on another hole and sent it sailing right.

Ah well, overall did decent on the back nine (bogied 4 of the last 5 IIRC). Don't know what happened on the front nine, might have been my bad play off most of the tees with the hybrid. I had so much confidence going in with it I think it got to me when I couldn't hit it worth a damn. Hoping to practice today, but the rain won't go away.

 

[Wi-Golfer]

Hit my fairway shots pretty decently today, played by myself & had a 4some in front of me who tried to wave me through But I told them no thanks I prefer to stay behind so i can take my time...there was no body else on the course since they closed it to carts due to all the rain we had overnight.

Used my 3 hybrid several times & hit it well....well one time wasn't so good. Didn't have a chance to even attempt a 3wood from the fairway since I was driving well enough & between the 3 & 5 irons was getting the job done.