The 80% swing?

[left72]

Hi,

suppose your full swing 9 iron takes you 125m (i.e. 136 yards) and I'm not talking of ripping it off.
You are 136 yards away from the pin (ignore wind, slope, pin position, etc. for the moment). What
club would you use?

Hogan and Floyd (among others) talk of 80% swings where they feel most comfortable. I'm
a bit confused if this philosophy still holds. However, I play a 9 hcp and a buddy of mine plays
4 - he takes a smooth (or 3/4 or whatever you call it) 8 iron and puts it next to the pin. I take a 9
iron and pull it left into the bunker ;-)

-Stefan.

[Richie3Jack]

Stefan, welcome aboard.

First, I think 80% is a bit subjective in the golfers mind. I hit my 9-iron about 152 yards. If I wanted to go absolutely full bore, I would probably make some noticeable changes to the swing in order to go as hard at the ball as I can. I could probably hit it up to 160 yards or so, but the accuracy, distance control and consistency would be awful. All for 8 yards.

I like to take what I call a 'pretty good pass at it.' Like Earl Woods said to Tiger 'swing as hard as you want...as long as you can go to your finish in balance.'

As far as the situation you describe, I believe it depends on the shot at hand. Generally, I want to have uphill putts and uphill chip shots. I also want to avoid short-siding myself if I miss the green.

In this situation, if 136 yards is about my 'normal' length for a 9-iron, I would then judge what my next shot would look like if I go short of the flag.

1. Will it leave me with an uphill, downhill or sidehill putt?

2. If I miss short, will it leave me with an uphill, downhill or sidehill chip?

3. If I miss short, will I have enough room to make a reasonably easy chip shot?

A lot of times what happens is you get 136 to the flag, but the pin is cut up on the front part of the green. Thus, your 'window' is like 130 to 136 yards from the front edge of the green to the cup. And while you may hit your 8-iron 148 yards and that is 'way too much', you're better off hitting the 8-iron and leaving yourself with a 30 foot putt than you are leaving yourself with a 30 foot chip where you short-sided yourself and have a tough lie.

That's why 'going low' on Tour is sometimes dependent upon luck. I believe guys who 'go low' on Tour in a round, probably don't have many instances where they are in between clubs.






3JACK

[rohlio]

I almost never swing as hard as I can...unless it is on the range or the long drive hole in a scramble.

135 is my 9 iron yardage as well (assuming good weather, level lies, etc.) but that is my normal swing not my out of my shoes or only my good ones, that is just a normal strike.

So in your case I would hit the 9 iron normally, now there are some exceptions if it is a front pin or a tucked pin I may do something differently. I may decide to hit a real high 3/4 8 iron just to make sure I miss it long if anything (as most trouble is short of the green).

There really are a lot of variables that go into club selection, but I would agree that if you are swinging out of your shoes as your normal shot you are probably going to have a lot more stress on the course than you need. That being said I don't swing 80% of my normal swing. If I want a low stress day I just use my setup to adjust the length and hit a longer iron. So for example I could take an 8 iron choke down on it 3/4" or so and stand with my feet a bit closer together and hit it 136 consistently without any change to my tempo/swing length.