Playing Shots Between Yardages

You may have each club in your bag worked out.  Having spent time at the driving range you know what to expect in terms of distance from each club in your bag and when you are left with that distance on the course, you are confident.

However, there will be times when the distance remaining to the green does not match the distance you can hit with the clubs in your bag.  The yardage to the green will sit somewhere between the wedge and 9 iron for example.  What do you do when this situation arises?

Using the example above, if the distance left to the green is between a wedge and 9 iron for you, there is no point in considering the wedge for this shot.  You can immediately rule it out because there is no way you are going to reach the green and swinging the club harder is not going to create more distance, only lead to problems.

So, you need to use the 9 iron but cannot afford to hit it the full distance because the ball will travel over the green.

In this instance, the best thing to do is to take a shorter back swing.  Knowing how much to take off the backswing to hit the ball the desired distance is not easy and takes a lot of practice but it can be done over time.

When at the driving range, try playing shots with the 9 iron at three different stopping points on the back swing.  Always come through and play the rest of the shot and you normally would, do not be tempted to move slower through the ball as this will result in a poor shot.  Always swing through the ball at the same pace, regardless of the distance you want to hit the ball.

Try playing 10 shots with the 9 iron stopping when it is parallel to the ground on the backswing.  Do the same thing again but this time when your forearms are parallel to the ground and measure the distance the ball travels when it lands each time.

Using this information, you can work out an average distance you can hit the ball for each of the two backswings.  You can do this for every club in your bag if you wish and you will be armed with the knowledge required to play shots between yardages on the golf course.

Just remember never to slow down on the swing speed and rely on the backswing to generate the desired distance on the ball.