How far should you hit your irons? In the video below PGA Professional Jack Backhouse explains that it is distance control, not just distance golfers want with their irons, and explains the drill he uses with golfers to improve it.
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It is not about distance!
Trackman has released an updated PGA and LPGA Tour golf club distance chart, and it is interesting to see how much further the tour players are hitting all of their clubs with better technology, training, swing speed, etc. The average amateur golfer, however, cannot agree on how far they hit their clubs, generally in denial about the averages and going to Hannah Holden’s YouTube to argue about it with her.
What would be more helpful for golfer’s performance is not to worry about what their maximum distance is with their irons, but instead to worry about how to hit their irons closer to the flag. It doesn’t matter what club you hit into the green.
When you watch golf on TV, you rarely see players hitting clubs 100% into the greens. Ben Hogan is quoted as saying he would hit his irons 80%, and Tiger Woods is always playing knockdown shots for more control, but you rarely see mid-handicappers doing this.
Try to think about your irons as precision scoring tools designed to go specific distances rather than clubs that should go a long way.
My Favourite Drill
This is a drill I use with players who are stuck worrying about how far the ball goes to get them into a more creative mindset, worrying more about control than being a long hitter and hitting the ball miles.
Take any iron and workout what your max distance is, then take 25 yards off that distance giving you a low and a high number. This is what I call your distance control window.
So, for example, If I hit my max 7 iron 170, my low distance would be 145 yards.
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I am then going to take 6 golf balls and try to hit a shot to the following yardages:
170
145
165
150
160
155
The better the shot, obviously, the closer it lands to these distances. This can be done either on the golf course or with some kind of driving range technology or personal launch monitor device.
Working on this will help you learn how to manipulate your distances, and also give you more options when on the golf course hitting to different yardages. I like to think having 3 club options when hitting at a flag rather than just trying to hit one club at full power will help me score better and make me a more complete player.
Give these tips a try and let us know how you get on! If you want to keep up to date with Jack’s instruction you can subscribe to his YouTube Channel here, or keep watching our instruction page!
If you want to watch some more of Jack’s instruction videos, you can get to his YouTube Technique Tips playlist by clicking here. Please check out our other instruction articles if you like this video on how far should you hit your golf clubs.
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