Club distances

Could anyone tell me the best way of finding out how far each of your clubs go?  When I'm up the range I can't exactly walk out and measure how far each ball goes.  Is it worth going on a simulator? I have a rough idea but wanted to write down all my average ditsances to help me on the course.  As a high-handicapper I understand that the distances can vary depending on how well I hit the ball but I think it would be good for me to have a starting point.

The most accurate way is to buy or borrow a golf GPS like SkyCaddy. These usually have a function allowing you to mark the point you hit a ball and then mark it again when you reach it. You can use this on a course or, ideally, a practice ground when it s quiet. Alternatively, estimate how far you think you hit a club, say a 7 iron, and then knock off about 10% to get the real distance you hit it. I find this works for most people, me included.

Richard,

I bought a trundle wheel off ebay for £3 & used this on the practice field to get an estimate. I now have a GPS device & when I get some time will redo them using this.

What you need to do is also work out your carry distance vs your actual distance. i.e you might carry your 7iron 140yrds but then get 10yrs of carry to get 150yrds of actual distance. This is usual info to have if you need to clear any hazard etc.

John.

Cheers for the tips guys.  I guess the easiest way as you say is top use a SkyCaddy or something similar.  I'll see what I can do.

The best way to calculate your distances for each club is to get onto the practice ground at you golf club.

In an ideal world it would be flat, not on a slope.

If you can get there on a warm, sunny day when there is no wind, or only a light breeze.

Get a friend to go along with you.

Then take ten balls and hit them down the practice ground.

Your friend then keeps an eye on your ball.  They watch where it lands and mark it.

You will have to tell your friend if you made a good swing or not.  If you do make a good swing mark the ball, if you don't ignore it.

Once you have your ten marks on the practice ground, pace out the distance to the middle ball.  That is your distance (carry) for that club.

You need to know the carry for when you are hitting over an obstacle to a green, say a pond or a bunker.

If you are hitting a shot down the fairway then you will have to add 'Roll' onto your carry distance.  You judge this on the day you play, if the fairways are hard or soft, etc.

You should do this with all of your clubs, but most people don't!

Start with your most lofted club and then work your way through your clubs.

Remember that there are different shots you can play with your lob wedge, gap wedge, pitching wedge, etc.  So you will need to do this with each of these different shots.

Trust me it will be worth it in the long run.

Write down all your distances and the shots you used and keep them with your yardage chart.

Russ

ALSO

Use the same make and type of Ball for this measure. Then see if different Balls show different results.

Note the Max distance you hit each Club as well as the average.

Measure your Pace too (if you use that method) and convert to yardsmeters, 140paces may only be 130yds.

TheLyth

 The above is all good advice, especially DL's point about ball type and make (I know a lad who only plays pro v's, including practice). Another method I use, which is in a similar vein but more visually reconisable is the following: if I want to compare one club or one type of shot against another ie half 9 iron shot v 56* wedge or why does it seem my 7 iron goes further then my six iron is to use thirty balls, half yellow and half plain, take out the longest and shortest three from each batch and you have a good result. Also pace the distance from where you take the shot to each batch to get the average.

 Paul, absolutely. I rarely use ranges because I hate the feel of those compound balls. As you say the distances vary so much hence DL's point. Ranges are ok if you want a loosener if there's no practice area.

i practice regulary on a playing field using 2 bright plastic discs.i hit 2balls first no matter what the weather is like then i pace it out by yards,ive found it very useful as i now know all my carry distances for all my clubs. a bit of walking up and down a field hitting off grass is far better than a range.

I know that I can hit a 8 iron 165 and my gapping per club is 15-20 yards.

I only go to the driving range if I cant get to play and it's mainly to keep my swing going and work on alignment or any issues I have had during a previous round. I never take notice of how far the ball goes on the range just the direction and trajectory.

There are a few driving ranges around my area that are now doing a trackman session where they will give you a printout of the carry yardage for each club in your bag.

The only time I use a driving range is if I'm using my woods. I don't like hitting my irons off the mats, it's just not the same as hitting from the grass.

From what I understand, a driving range ball goes approximately ten percent distance than a normal golf ball. Funny how many times you will see somebody take a range ball out of their bag when playing a hole with a lake in front of the green. They then hit the ball in the lake!

I also understand that the markers out on the range allow for the difference in the range balls. They bring them ten percent closer.

Russ

find a playing field or recreation ground because you need to get your distance right by hitting the ball off grass take 8 or 10 balls with start with your pitching wedge,try and stay focused. aim for a target anywhere between65 to85 yds unless you hit the ball further pace out where your balls land and take the middle of the 8 or 10 balls you hit as an average so if your average with a pitching wedge is 80 yds you will probably hit your next club 9 iron 95 to115 yds i find i hit each club 15 to 20 yds further as you go up in clubs all depends on how far you can hit the ball cleanly but my advise is leave the range,you will learn more on a field.also you can try different things with each club in your own time without buying buckets of balls,i hit at least 250 balls every time i practice which can be 3 or 4 times a week so you can imagine the money you would save,hope this helps you with your game good luck and most of all enjoy the game.

Wow Phil you hit 1000 balls a week in practise sessions ?

I bought a range card about two years ago (10 tokens that gave 75 balls each), just ran out last week .... hmmm, you'd go through one of those cards every single week!!! Maybe I could turn Pro if I practised some more

your so right mate cost a fortune,seriously though i take 8 or ten balls with me to a football field around the corner from where i live, and i take usually a wood and 2 irons varying them each time 10 balls down the field 10 balls back and i spend at least 2 hours there so its a lot of balls hit one good thing about the football pitches is the grass is kept fairly short and if you aim for the goals or atarget further on you tend not to lose your balls or spend time looking for them as some lads i have seen doing they get cheesed off constantly looking for lost balls ,that aside you will only improve your game by putting the hours of practice in , you cant practice certain shots on the golf course. ive started using my 8 iron as a sand wedge and by opening the face way open i find i can play shots around 50-60 yds more accurately and if the balls sitting up you can even play flop shots similar to what i can do with my lob wedge ,just shows what you can achieve putting the practice in good luck with your golf ,and thanks for the reply we all need as much help as we can get with this game,enjoy it while it lasts.

sorry brian .t got my numbers mixed up , went out today to practice and hit 480 balls in 2 hours maybe more not sure,had a good day though it was very windy ,after 20 minutes i was putting the balls where i wanted them to go, like i said practice is everything ,wind ,rain ,sun and a bit of each all helps with your game. get out their and practice, good look brian. t

Wow, impressive to have the patience for that many balls , and that much practise. Personally I still get bored hitting a small bucket, and only ever hit half a dozen before a comp .... I guess it works for me but realise that for ultimate consistency I need to practise more.

Maybe I'll get back the 0.3 that I need before the end of the season though

good luck with your 0.3 brian play well.