Distances - How to calculate

I am looking for a good and as accurate as possible way to find my distances, I recently upgraded my irons and the distances are significantly different.

When I go to the range it seems a false indication and when on the practise ground I tend not to go full hearted and concentrate on the rythm.

 Is there a set routine that anyone has or is it just a case of practise, practise, practise?

 I look forward to your comments and ideas.

The only distance that is important is the carry distance.

Why is that John?

An easy way to estimate what you are doing with your new clubs is simply to see what club you are using for a given distance.

If you took a 6 iron on a par three hole and you now take a 7 iron then you've probably hit the ball ten yards further.

The best way to find your distances is to get down the practice ground with a friend.

Take a dozen golf balls, ideally the same balls as you would normally play golf with.

Get your friend to mark where your balls land, not where they end up. As has already been suggested by JP, you need to know your carry distance.

Once you have hit your dozen balls and your friend has marked them all for you, ignore any bad or mishit shots. Find what is the center of your grouping and then get the distance using a GPS, or pace it out if you haven't got one.

Do this for each club.

It might take you a while but if your friend is a golfer then maybe you could help each other to work out the distances you hit each club.

To be accurate with this you should really pick a warm, calm day. Remember to adjust which club you hit for any wind when you are playing golf.

Hope this helps.

Russ

All good advice above and I agree carry distance is of the upmost  important. Carrying on from Russ: if you want to know the difference between each club, lets say between a 6 & 7 then hit your 6 iron with white balls and hit the 7 with yellow balls. 

Thank you, there are a few tips here that I had not thought of. I will try and adapt these and see what the results bring.

The main thing is to ignore any shots you don't hit correctly.

Out on the course if you hit a bad shot you may be in a pond/bunker or other hazard.

But if you take the correct club for the distance and you make a good contact then the ball will reach.

Russ

Has anybody ever heard of a boom box?

Apparently you can hire these from a good pro/shop and it sits behind you on the range and gives a really accurate guide to the distance. I think I might pursue this a little more when the weather is hotter and hopefully this will give me a good guide. I am asking all these questions and as yet have not played a competitive round with the new bats! Who knows maybe it will all come together in a comp..... it hasn't yet in practise.

How can a guy who had a boom box and a mk3 escort be off a handicap of 0?

I would have thought you would be more at home with robbing cars and grannies!!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

hi shaun.dont know anything about your home course but presumable you have yardage indicators in the middle of the fairway?? 200/150/100 yards to the middle/front edge of the green.hit an iron from each and see how they compare to your old distances.also does your course have a stroke saver card?same story again.choose a random tree/bush/bunker that gives you a yardage and go through the same routine.completely agree with Colins comment above about tha ball.each ball performs differantly in differant conditions.i find the callaway moves a lot more in the wind than the pro v 1.As for the comment that only the carry distance is important,cant dissagree more.if you hit the ball say 150 yards and it stops on a sixpence then great.however if i hit it 150 yards with 20 yards of run ie into the rough/burn/bunker/ob then thats a problem.the vast majority of golfers hit shots that hit the apron before hand then run onto the green.thats known as carry and run.thats what you need to work out.

You can disagree as much as you like, Alan, of course is is essential to know how far one cartries any club.

One has to work out whethere the ball needs to be stopped quickly or whether a run out will be OK, but without the most essential one of knowing the carry for each club then everything else is just down to luck and good fortune.

The flagstick position and any intervening hazards will decide the shot requirement and then the player has to make the decision on which club, and how to flight it, to achieve the desired result.

Modern golf course design has taken away all the old fashioned aprons and run ons are not easy to achieve with any accuracy as the ground conditions vary so much.

Personally I get very little run so I tend to fly everything all the way in, or attempt to.

i take it john you play an inland/parkland course.you say you need to work out if the ball needs to stop quickly or run out.you have the good fortune in being able to toss the ball in from the heavens with little or no run.most golfers tend to hit the ball with run.playing links golf in the north east of scotland with large,hard fast greens and tightly cropped aprons you have to adapt your game to allow for run.my post to Shaun mentions i know nothing about his course.he may well play an inland course where the ball run is of no consequence.landing the ball short of the green and allowing for run is hardly down to luck and good fortune.surely thats down to a well judged and executed shot.yes the occasional good bounce helps.i agree with you in respect that to know how far you carry the ball is needed but for the vast majority of golfers its how far the ball carrys and rolls.if say a bunker protects a pin close to the front of the green then course management dictates you play long or decide to lay up to leave a short pitch.landing the ball just short in the hope the ball skips over the bunker is not an option.the high floating shot is but a distant dream.

So it would appear, Alan that you have no need to know any exact distances for your clubs as you play on the links, where it is all down to touch and a feel for distance.

I have been fortunate to have played plenty of golf on links courses during my 55 years of playing this wonderful game and there have been many occasions when I have been able to hit a links green and stop it, after all, the pros manage to do it a lot of the time.

Club selection on a links course is entirely different to that when playing a parkland/heathland course.

So it is an advantage to know the max. distance you can make your ball travel with your consistent strike.

It would be an advantage if it were possible, but your later paragraphs confirm that even you cannot do this, because, as you rightly say, there are many other factors to consider.

I agree with everything you have just said, Colin.

You need a start figure in order to work out any formula.

Knowing how far you CARRY any given club gives you that start figure.

Then knowing how much to add or take off in any given conditions gives you distance control, on any type of course.

The "old way" used to say that each club differed by 4* and 1*= 3yds so each club hit the ball 12yds further. Yes, that is carry.

TheLyth

My goodness, Lyth, a long while since I heard that, it was always the yardstick when I first started playing.

Of course there is not that amount of difference now, more likely just afew yards ifference between clubs. I flight the ball relatively low anyway.

Sorry Wayne.me and computers dont get on.will try to correct this in future!

A very easy way to know your distances with your irons.  If there is distance markers on your course say 150 metres/165 yards to the middle of the green see what iron will get you there.  Then walk off 10 paces towards the green for each iron.  I use a 5 iron for 150 metres/165 yards and a 7 iron for 150 yards and an a easy pitching wedge from 100 yards. it works for me when I go to other courses especially on par 3's.