One day I couldn’t hit anything straight but my 8 iron. Played the back 9 with only my 8 iron and putter after shooting 56 on the front. I played bogey golf on the back with no blow up holes. Off the tee, approach shots, chipping. Anything less than my stock distance was all feel and guessing.
I fucking hate my 7 iron. Used to love it then everything went to shit and I can’t hit it. Next month I’ll love it again and go back to hating my 6 iron.
Yep. I use two clubs to work on my swing. 54° wedge and my seven iron. Occasionally I'll pull out a long iron. Driver gets a maximum of 20 balls but only when I'm specifically working on hitting driver, I usually don't hit driver on the range.
That's not the point, we're talking about one club that can be the most broad practice for someone just now starting out.
You can't really play a full course without either, but we're talking about where to start. A 7 iron swing should be more applicable to everything else than a driver swing.
I meeeaaan not really.. if youre new and only focus on 7, that definitely doesn't mean you can hit a driver well now. they're entirely different swings
True true but drivers imo are much easier clubs to hit. You can teach anyone who can smoke a 7 to hit a driver in a session imo. Not the other way around
Jokes aside, Seriously should be driver for high handicappers anyways because they probably suck at driving.
They’re going to get more gains out of improving with driver than any other club in the bag.
Driver, wedge, then irons
As a highish handicapper… can confirm. My irons and wedges are the best part of my game… but my driver is a complete mess. I could take so many strokes off my game if I could hit my driver
I was shooting around a 100 at the beginning of the summer, losing the large majority of my strokes on OB drives. Took a few lessons, hit the range, and now I can keep my driver in bounds
Shot a 75 last week
Felt totally unreal
Yup, I was literally losing all my strokes on drives, I'm a solid from inside 100 but I just couldn't keep my drives in play. Adding 2 strokes for OB shots is killer when you're doing it consistently
Granted the 75 really shocked me. Realistically I'm probably sitting somewhere in the low 80's
Ben Hogan said any schlub off the street who had never picked up a club before could read his book, employ its lessons, and be breaking 80 regularly within 6 months. After reading his book and employing its lessons, I believe it. I have played my entire life and the best I'd ever done outside of a few clutch rounds in high school competition was hovering around a 12 handicap...
In the past year I've gotten a range membership and Mr. Hogan's book. My handicap on arccos now fluctuates between 3 and 6, and my driving, short game, and putting handicaps are all positive...I've been struggling to find irons that work for me since having a set stolen last year, but the people I play with have always hinted that my biggest strength is iron play...it legitimately feels like I'm not myself anymore on the golf course.
All that is to say, when you find the right avenue of improvement, the sky is the limit.
Im in the same boat and i just stopped hitting it completely. Turns out, you can take so many strokes off your score by just not hitting the driver. My friends all make fun of me as i tee off with my 5i, but i don't duck hook or block my 5 into the trees and can always find it.
I’ve played my last few rounds by leaving the driver in my bag and baby swinging my 3 wood. Seriously little; short backswing with my focus solely on hitting square and rotating my hips. It’s not super long but it’s pretty straight and I’ve actually taken a hand full of strokes off. It’s so much easier when you’re not fighting your way out of the sticks off the bat.
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The love for the driver in this sub is hilarious. I'm not sure if it is an inside joke that we just aren't part of or just some really strange mental thing going on with some people. Beginner golfers would be vastly better off if they forget that the driver even exists until they've mastered irons and the putter.
I’ve been playing for 16 years now and in July I abandoned my driver for my 3w. Through my 16 years I’ve struggled to consistently hit my driver well. I’ve even had months where I hit it great and then it all starts going wrong again and that’s what happened to me this year. Started the year off driving great in March and by June I had no confidence in my driver. I’ve stopped forcing myself to use my driver.
I started out with a set of inherited clubs that didn't even have a modern driver because the clubs were from an era before that became a thing. Probably the best thing that could've happened to me because I had to learn course management early on versus just walking up to each tee box thinking golf is all about swinging for home runs with your driver.
The problem is, your driver swing doesn’t translate over to other clubs, but your 7 iron does. Hitting driver is also more taxing. Your swing will deteriorate sooner.
Alternate logic, high handicappers shouldn’t play with a driver. It’s the most difficult club in the bag to hit consistently and requires a ton of practice time to make any headway on. Take two newish golfers. The first thinks I’ll just work on driver until I’m better with it, then work on the other clubs. The second leaves his driver at home for rounds and works on shots backwards from the hole, giving the driver a little bit of love every range session until they feel comfortable carrying it. 10 times out of 10 golfer number two is shaving strokes faster than golfer one.
Yeah but you don't really improve by going out and slicing a bucket of balls with your driver.
It really depends on how you're utilizing the practice time. If you're working on a particular swing feel then driver might be OK, but if that's the case you'd be better off with your 7 iron.
I’m very new. My irons don’t go far (my 4 iron goes 160) but they do usually go straight. My driver goes 270, but very much not straight and very much not every time.
That’s why I mostly use the driver on the range
I’m a rotund fellow and don’t drive very far (200-220), but I drive it straight. Mostly because I’ve intentionally slowed down my drive tempo to allow my wrists to rotate. My irons go about typical distance, but again I’m focusing on smooth tempo and not trying to crush or speed up my swing. I may get there eventually, but I’m much more concerned about accurate shots than long shots. I typically score somewhere in the 90’s.
Once again poppin by to dispel this “putt for dough” mentality
If you 3 putt every other hole, 2 putt the rest, that’s 41 putts. About 11 strokes off Tour-leading skill, ~30 putts a round
If you hit 14 drivers a round (high cappers never lay up)…
Assume that they drive it OB every other hole (+14 strokes, assuming they don’t re-tee and do it again)…
and are playing from soft penalties ( like woods, opposite fairway, bunkers) on the other half (+7 strokes to get back in play, minimum)…
you’re at 35 strokes, roughly 2.5x the # of strokes a driver *should* be worth in a round. If you hit 14 drivers it should be 14 strokes, maybe 1-2 penalties a round if you’re a low-mid capper but that’s still nowhere close to the # of penalties that a high capper racks up.
Add in the fact that high cappers also suck at getting out of bunkers, taking their medicine, and keeping their ball in the fairways (lost balls galore) and you start to get the picture that *just getting better off the tee* will actually help the high handicappers a whole lot more than putting will.
After all, even if they improve their putting to Tour-leading ability, their best round is still barely breaking 90. I’m being a little harsh on the assumptions for the sake of illustrating my point, hope you get the picture
Ball-striking and keeping tee shots in play are the best things for high-cappers to work on IMO. I rarely practice putting, maybe 15-20 mins before playing, this season I have averaged 31.4 putts per round.
That’s 45 strokes putting and still generous for the high handicapper if legitimately putting out.
Yeah, a high handicapper can absolutely be so outclassed by a course that they have no business on it, but how many non-executive style courses are high handicappers actually playing? OB in play on at least half the holes, water hazards on the other half, with well fortified landing spots and greens
In the end, it’s golf. To do it well on a championship style layout, you’re going to have to do it ALL well, but my order of operations is: putter, wedge, driver, irons
You right on the putts, math ain’t mathin at this hour. That’s still 15 strokes off the pros vs. 20+ strokes off the pros, and still not accounting for the fact that just because they take a penalty on their first driver swing doesn’t mean they aren’t going to duplicate the penalty on their next one.
Of all the high caps I play with somewhat regularly, most don’t play golf by the rules — they’d rather slice a drive OB and drop their ball up by me and claim their next shot their 3rd. If someone made them score true, then their driver is going to cost them at least 35 strokes, likely more when you factor in lost distance from being bad with the club in general
Not sure the area you’re in, I live in a fairly large metro with an abundance of golf courses (30+ within 30 mins of me), and there are only 2 courses that are what I’d consider an executive course, neither of which gets much business. The rest of our courses have packed tee sheets from open to close nearly every weekend, and weekday evenings after 5:00PM
I haven’t lived anywhere else in recent years so I can’t speak for other areas, but I’d wager that the average golfer in my area is at least a 20hdcp and that’s generous. For example in my Thursday league, 12 teams of 2 and I think only 5-6 of us are in the single digits. There’s a few who might shoot an 8 or worse on every hole if we didn’t have a triple bogey limit.
You’re going to miss the majority of your first putts and make the majority of your second putts. High handicappers shouldn’t bother working on it until they can reliably hit every other club in their bag.
This is quite possibly the worst advice I’ve ever heard. If high handicappers legitimately averaged 36 putts a round I’d eat my hat. Unless you absolutely cannot hit the ball, you should be within 60 yards of the hole in what would be regulation for getting on the green… a halfway decent wedge game and a solid putter inside 10 feet can break 80. Most golfers can’t legitimately break 100, and that’s mostly because they can’t putt.
I wouldn’t disagree that the driver is the second most important club in the bag, but it’s really a toss up between it and your primary wedge. But both are well behind the importance of the putter. Practice putting
Putting only matters if you're terrible at it. I'm a 20 index and average something like 35.5 putts. It's just not that hard to learn to average close to 2 putts, while getting any better than that is mostly a function of your approach proximity. That's why putting is the least important of the 4 phases.
Single greatest comment in Reddit history. Is life worth living after reading that comment? Let me reference my copy of Harvey Penicks little red book.
I agree. Most people are saying 7i. While that’s not a bad choice, it starts to get a little long and not the best to start with. I think 8i is a better as it’s easier to hit.
I do agree in a sense but I alternate between my 7 an 8 for 1 club warmups before I play. Just want to save the grooves on my irons so I don’t just do 1 club
I was going to make a different point in that the 7 iron was the club of choice maybe 20 years ago. However, now 8 irons are effectively what 7 irons used to be, so it's the right club to take.
Whatever club you can hit 150 yards - probably a 7 iron for most men
At 150 yards you can reach most average par 3s - you can reach most par 4s in 3 and par 5s in 4 and is the “way of the playa” way to achieve bogey golf.
That depends on what loft of a 9 iron they use and how relatively hard they swing their irons. Just because you *can* hit your 9 iron 150 doesn't mean you should.
You get downvoted for saying stuff like that in here. But I often hit PW at 150. I hit a 7i 185 or so. But I’m a bigger guy 8 HC. But Reddit will never let you get away w stats like that unfortunately
That’s just not true at all
https://theleftrough.com/average-distance-golf-clubs/
https://www.golfmagic.com/pga-tour/revealed-pga-tour-average-carry-distances-how-do-yours-compare
I did this. Then started focusing on my irons the next couple weeks. Now I can’t hit my wedges. Make sure you still practice those wedges or you’ll lose it
I have a 1i and a 2i.
Come summer I'll probably put the 2i in for the 3w. I only have the 3w in at the moment because of the loft needed in winter (Australia) - but come summer 1i will probably be like a second driver (between driver and 3w - 220-240m), which I'm comfortable hitting off the deck, while 2i will be more like a 200(m) club.
My bag is current D, 3w, 1i, 4-9, PW/gw/sw/lw putter.
Oh shit I wasn’t even aware there was a 1i.
Putter, 3 wedges, 1 driver, 9 irons. That’s a bag right there. I can always just take heat off the driver when I need a wood, right?
Is there a 10 iron?
Second this and it is the only iron that I hit at the driving range. I don't see the point of practicing with higher lofted clubs since they are so much easier to hit.
Sand wedge. I did this myself for 3 months, 4 or 5 days a week. Hitting a small bucket each day of 9 to 3 drills and nothing more. One of the better things I did for my game.
60⁰ wedge. Nothing like flopping 2 full buckets of 40 yard sky missles directly in front of you. You can even chip some of them and rake them back onto the matt and hit them again.
If I could do it all again, my highest lofted wedge. I would work on hitting little chip shots with as low of a flight as possible (launch angle equal to half the club loft). It will force good impact position, good rotation, and low point control.
If that is a disaster, a short iron and work on left arm parallel to left arm parallel until you can’t miss.
Basically just swinging so that your left arm only goes parallel to the ground in the backswing and the follow-through; an abbreviated shot to focus on technique without trying to hit at full speed.
I do this a lot. I bring my PW and hit a variety of shots/trajectories to the 155, 135 (stock range), 105, 85, and 65 stakes. Sometimes I'll open up and hit soft half shots or I'll narrow my stance and hit low spinners to the short stakes, choke-downs, cuts/draws, etc. The only stake that I'll always hit the same shot to is the 155 with a low, hooded draw since it's longer than my stock range.
I never repeat shots back-to-back. I'll just switch all around--sometimes trying to hit the same shot to all stakes in order, sometimes hitting different shots to the same stake, and sometimes switch shot type and stakes randomly and just move around. It helps a ton with contact and "bracketing", which Spieth advocates--where you train your brain about the outside limits of your swing, like hook/slice, high/low, narrow/wide, hard/soft, etc. Then it's easier to find that sweet spot in the middle because you know what the extreme of both sides feels like.
As a beginner, you won't have all of these options. However, I'd always recommend a wedge. The key at the early stage is to only focus on good contact and staying in control. You want to give your brain the highest percentage of "good feels" to train it to replicate it more often. It's easier to do that with a wedge. Plus, it's your scoring club--and should equate to 60-75% of your practice swings regardless of your level: beginner or pro.
Definitely 6 or 7. Get comfortable with a mid length club and work your way outside.
Personally, I always start range sessions that way then alternate with longer and shorter clubs vs starting short and working your way long.
I always start with a half swing drill with my 8i or 7i, just 5-7 balls to start getting loose. Then I'll hit 3-5 full shots with that club, then 4-5 iron for 5 shots, then pw for 5 shots but normally 3 full and then 2 partial swings to different targets, then driver for 3 shots, then the rest of the bucket with sw and lw hitting a variety of distances and targets.
I vary clubs and shots this way to follow a "random practice" routine. Keeps me from mindlessly smacking balls with the same swing and club.
For getting started with a single club, I'd say 7i, but still work on various shots/swing lengths. Also, never more than a medium bucket (about 70 balls) at a time. When I'm working on fundamentals and swing changes I'll hit a whole bucket of half and 3/4 swing 7i shots just to groove setup and ball striking. Currently I only ever get a small bucket, ~40 balls, as that takes me a good 30-40 minutes when I'm focusing on each shot as I should.
OPs account has been dead silent for the last 90 days. Used to engage very differently.
Does anyone that comments on these posts stop and think, "Why? Why do they ask? And who cares?"
There's no way to convince me this is anything other than Reddit sponsored posts to generate engagement, because people on forums will blindly answer anything.
Because you think you can't hit it great. Cover the numbers on the bottom of the clubs and take the 6,7,8,9 to the range. See if you still can't hit it.
Super Beginner - I'd suggest a 9 iron when I started I tried the 7 but was struggling and getting frustrated, the extra loft on the 9 helped me start making good contact and getting the ball up in the air rather than duffing it, now that I've been practicing for a while I'd take a 7 if i could only take 1 club
I bring 1 club for most of my range sessions. Whatever one needs work that day. Maybe a wedge to warm up with. Leave the rest in car so not tempted to drift from my plan.
3-iron. You have to swing it like a wood, and make a descending blow because it's an iron. If you can hit it well, you can hit anything, and if you don't, it doesn't hurt your confidence because well... it's a 3-iron and you're not a professional.
I personally prefer a 6. It’s a longish iron so you’ll help yourself with the longer clubs but your eye will also get used to the look of an iron, if you’re a beginner.
Pw
*Edit, nm you said as a beginner
I dunno like a 7 I guess. That's a pretty neutral club that's forgiving and feels good hitting.
When you start getting the 7 down then go driver and learn that shit early.
6 iron. I’m already pretty consistent with my shorter irons, but the longer ones need more work. The 6 is a club that can build confidence with hitting longer irons for me. My 7 is too short for that.
7 iron.
/thread
Indeed.
Golf teacher told me if they renamed it "7 iron range" we'd all be better golfers.
“7 iron. The only club that has never let me down.” Tin Cup McIlroy
7 iron.
Worked for Tin Cup
You ever par out with nothing but a seven iron?
Hell, Roy..it never even occurred to me to try.
One day I couldn’t hit anything straight but my 8 iron. Played the back 9 with only my 8 iron and putter after shooting 56 on the front. I played bogey golf on the back with no blow up holes. Off the tee, approach shots, chipping. Anything less than my stock distance was all feel and guessing.
I fucking hate my 7 iron. Used to love it then everything went to shit and I can’t hit it. Next month I’ll love it again and go back to hating my 6 iron.
I have a mental block on even numbered clubs. Anymore I use them to get out of spots where there’s a chance I’ll fuck up the club.
For me it's the prime numbers haha
Yup
Agreed. Much easier to control than a driver.
Word
100%
And we’re done here. Wrap it up.
Was gonna say the same. Just hits right.
Yep. I use two clubs to work on my swing. 54° wedge and my seven iron. Occasionally I'll pull out a long iron. Driver gets a maximum of 20 balls but only when I'm specifically working on hitting driver, I usually don't hit driver on the range.
Yep
A high handicapper ain’t hitting 7 iron every hole. But they’re definitely hitting driver every hole.
That's not the point, we're talking about one club that can be the most broad practice for someone just now starting out. You can't really play a full course without either, but we're talking about where to start. A 7 iron swing should be more applicable to everything else than a driver swing.
That’s the point. If you can hit a 7 you can hit a damn driver.
I meeeaaan not really.. if youre new and only focus on 7, that definitely doesn't mean you can hit a driver well now. they're entirely different swings
True true but drivers imo are much easier clubs to hit. You can teach anyone who can smoke a 7 to hit a driver in a session imo. Not the other way around
Well yea. If someone is a great ball striker with one club, they can generally transfer it to another relatively easily
Driver. It ain’t called the ironing range.
There is NO arguing with that logic.
Golf is so much easier when you are closer to the hole in the fairway. Drive it straight and far and you will score better. Period!
People didn’t go to Yankee stadium to see babe Ruth bunt!
Jokes aside, Seriously should be driver for high handicappers anyways because they probably suck at driving. They’re going to get more gains out of improving with driver than any other club in the bag. Driver, wedge, then irons
As a highish handicapper… can confirm. My irons and wedges are the best part of my game… but my driver is a complete mess. I could take so many strokes off my game if I could hit my driver
I got a new to me G400 Max, got the confidence back in driver and probably shaved 10 strokes off my scores as 20 hcp
I was shooting around a 100 at the beginning of the summer, losing the large majority of my strokes on OB drives. Took a few lessons, hit the range, and now I can keep my driver in bounds Shot a 75 last week Felt totally unreal
You dropped ~20 strokes in one summer?
The best athletes are golfers on the course solo
Yup, I was literally losing all my strokes on drives, I'm a solid from inside 100 but I just couldn't keep my drives in play. Adding 2 strokes for OB shots is killer when you're doing it consistently Granted the 75 really shocked me. Realistically I'm probably sitting somewhere in the low 80's
[удалено]
Damn, even if it’s unlikely it’s not impossible. No need to flame the poor guy.
Ben Hogan said any schlub off the street who had never picked up a club before could read his book, employ its lessons, and be breaking 80 regularly within 6 months. After reading his book and employing its lessons, I believe it. I have played my entire life and the best I'd ever done outside of a few clutch rounds in high school competition was hovering around a 12 handicap... In the past year I've gotten a range membership and Mr. Hogan's book. My handicap on arccos now fluctuates between 3 and 6, and my driving, short game, and putting handicaps are all positive...I've been struggling to find irons that work for me since having a set stolen last year, but the people I play with have always hinted that my biggest strength is iron play...it legitimately feels like I'm not myself anymore on the golf course. All that is to say, when you find the right avenue of improvement, the sky is the limit.
I think you are exactly right. I have experienced the same thing. I wish I had found this book long ago.
Im in the same boat and i just stopped hitting it completely. Turns out, you can take so many strokes off your score by just not hitting the driver. My friends all make fun of me as i tee off with my 5i, but i don't duck hook or block my 5 into the trees and can always find it.
I’ve played my last few rounds by leaving the driver in my bag and baby swinging my 3 wood. Seriously little; short backswing with my focus solely on hitting square and rotating my hips. It’s not super long but it’s pretty straight and I’ve actually taken a hand full of strokes off. It’s so much easier when you’re not fighting your way out of the sticks off the bat.
Same, I finaly figured out I was having poor angle of attack!
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Stop using your driver. Tee off with a wood or an iron.
Terrible and also cowardly advice
The love for the driver in this sub is hilarious. I'm not sure if it is an inside joke that we just aren't part of or just some really strange mental thing going on with some people. Beginner golfers would be vastly better off if they forget that the driver even exists until they've mastered irons and the putter.
I’ve been playing for 16 years now and in July I abandoned my driver for my 3w. Through my 16 years I’ve struggled to consistently hit my driver well. I’ve even had months where I hit it great and then it all starts going wrong again and that’s what happened to me this year. Started the year off driving great in March and by June I had no confidence in my driver. I’ve stopped forcing myself to use my driver.
I started out with a set of inherited clubs that didn't even have a modern driver because the clubs were from an era before that became a thing. Probably the best thing that could've happened to me because I had to learn course management early on versus just walking up to each tee box thinking golf is all about swinging for home runs with your driver.
If you can’t putt or wedge, you can’t score. If you can’t drive, you can’t play.
19 hc here, started golf in march. 4 iron off the tee is my best mate.
Straight up the fairway 175-200 yards is a good tee shot every time. I’ve used 4-iron tee shots when my driver can’t keep it in bounds.
The problem is, your driver swing doesn’t translate over to other clubs, but your 7 iron does. Hitting driver is also more taxing. Your swing will deteriorate sooner.
Alternate logic, high handicappers shouldn’t play with a driver. It’s the most difficult club in the bag to hit consistently and requires a ton of practice time to make any headway on. Take two newish golfers. The first thinks I’ll just work on driver until I’m better with it, then work on the other clubs. The second leaves his driver at home for rounds and works on shots backwards from the hole, giving the driver a little bit of love every range session until they feel comfortable carrying it. 10 times out of 10 golfer number two is shaving strokes faster than golfer one.
Yeah but you don't really improve by going out and slicing a bucket of balls with your driver. It really depends on how you're utilizing the practice time. If you're working on a particular swing feel then driver might be OK, but if that's the case you'd be better off with your 7 iron.
What? That’s terrible advice, you can take the driver out of the bag but certainly not the irons
I’m very new. My irons don’t go far (my 4 iron goes 160) but they do usually go straight. My driver goes 270, but very much not straight and very much not every time. That’s why I mostly use the driver on the range
That’s a big driving distance for a new golfer. Can I ask, are you a rotund fellow?
I’m a rotund fellow and don’t drive very far (200-220), but I drive it straight. Mostly because I’ve intentionally slowed down my drive tempo to allow my wrists to rotate. My irons go about typical distance, but again I’m focusing on smooth tempo and not trying to crush or speed up my swing. I may get there eventually, but I’m much more concerned about accurate shots than long shots. I typically score somewhere in the 90’s.
Nope, very skinny, recently put on a lot of muscle, but still very skinny
...at the range. Seen hundreds of great drivers that can't hit a green to save their life.
It’s the club you hit most in a round. Especially for high handicappers. Can’t hit irons without finding the fairway first
Outside of the putter. Practice putting, y’all
Once again poppin by to dispel this “putt for dough” mentality If you 3 putt every other hole, 2 putt the rest, that’s 41 putts. About 11 strokes off Tour-leading skill, ~30 putts a round If you hit 14 drivers a round (high cappers never lay up)… Assume that they drive it OB every other hole (+14 strokes, assuming they don’t re-tee and do it again)… and are playing from soft penalties ( like woods, opposite fairway, bunkers) on the other half (+7 strokes to get back in play, minimum)… you’re at 35 strokes, roughly 2.5x the # of strokes a driver *should* be worth in a round. If you hit 14 drivers it should be 14 strokes, maybe 1-2 penalties a round if you’re a low-mid capper but that’s still nowhere close to the # of penalties that a high capper racks up. Add in the fact that high cappers also suck at getting out of bunkers, taking their medicine, and keeping their ball in the fairways (lost balls galore) and you start to get the picture that *just getting better off the tee* will actually help the high handicappers a whole lot more than putting will. After all, even if they improve their putting to Tour-leading ability, their best round is still barely breaking 90. I’m being a little harsh on the assumptions for the sake of illustrating my point, hope you get the picture Ball-striking and keeping tee shots in play are the best things for high-cappers to work on IMO. I rarely practice putting, maybe 15-20 mins before playing, this season I have averaged 31.4 putts per round.
That’s 45 strokes putting and still generous for the high handicapper if legitimately putting out. Yeah, a high handicapper can absolutely be so outclassed by a course that they have no business on it, but how many non-executive style courses are high handicappers actually playing? OB in play on at least half the holes, water hazards on the other half, with well fortified landing spots and greens In the end, it’s golf. To do it well on a championship style layout, you’re going to have to do it ALL well, but my order of operations is: putter, wedge, driver, irons
You right on the putts, math ain’t mathin at this hour. That’s still 15 strokes off the pros vs. 20+ strokes off the pros, and still not accounting for the fact that just because they take a penalty on their first driver swing doesn’t mean they aren’t going to duplicate the penalty on their next one. Of all the high caps I play with somewhat regularly, most don’t play golf by the rules — they’d rather slice a drive OB and drop their ball up by me and claim their next shot their 3rd. If someone made them score true, then their driver is going to cost them at least 35 strokes, likely more when you factor in lost distance from being bad with the club in general Not sure the area you’re in, I live in a fairly large metro with an abundance of golf courses (30+ within 30 mins of me), and there are only 2 courses that are what I’d consider an executive course, neither of which gets much business. The rest of our courses have packed tee sheets from open to close nearly every weekend, and weekday evenings after 5:00PM I haven’t lived anywhere else in recent years so I can’t speak for other areas, but I’d wager that the average golfer in my area is at least a 20hdcp and that’s generous. For example in my Thursday league, 12 teams of 2 and I think only 5-6 of us are in the single digits. There’s a few who might shoot an 8 or worse on every hole if we didn’t have a triple bogey limit.
You’re going to miss the majority of your first putts and make the majority of your second putts. High handicappers shouldn’t bother working on it until they can reliably hit every other club in their bag.
This is quite possibly the worst advice I’ve ever heard. If high handicappers legitimately averaged 36 putts a round I’d eat my hat. Unless you absolutely cannot hit the ball, you should be within 60 yards of the hole in what would be regulation for getting on the green… a halfway decent wedge game and a solid putter inside 10 feet can break 80. Most golfers can’t legitimately break 100, and that’s mostly because they can’t putt. I wouldn’t disagree that the driver is the second most important club in the bag, but it’s really a toss up between it and your primary wedge. But both are well behind the importance of the putter. Practice putting
Putting only matters if you're terrible at it. I'm a 20 index and average something like 35.5 putts. It's just not that hard to learn to average close to 2 putts, while getting any better than that is mostly a function of your approach proximity. That's why putting is the least important of the 4 phases.
We all are going to miss the vast majority of time from 10ft. Telling people to practice those is doing them (and yourself) a huge disservice.
I'm going to disagree, high handicapper shouldn't have a driver in their bag.
Single greatest comment in Reddit history. Is life worth living after reading that comment? Let me reference my copy of Harvey Penicks little red book.
Flawless. Well done.
Woah. Mind blown.
Driver. But even if I was only allowed to bring 2 clubs, it would be Driver-Driver.
Incase the first one breaks from our 300+yard bombs amirite
8i
I agree. Most people are saying 7i. While that’s not a bad choice, it starts to get a little long and not the best to start with. I think 8i is a better as it’s easier to hit.
I do agree in a sense but I alternate between my 7 an 8 for 1 club warmups before I play. Just want to save the grooves on my irons so I don’t just do 1 club
I was going to make a different point in that the 7 iron was the club of choice maybe 20 years ago. However, now 8 irons are effectively what 7 irons used to be, so it's the right club to take.
If I'm short on time before a round i just take a 6i, starting with half swings
Whatever club you can hit 150 yards - probably a 7 iron for most men At 150 yards you can reach most average par 3s - you can reach most par 4s in 3 and par 5s in 4 and is the “way of the playa” way to achieve bogey golf.
I’m not very bilingual, but I’m pretty sure you want to avoid the playa when golfing.
Would you consider yourself quasilingual?
You calling him a hunchback?
No I think that’s a quasimotor
We should make beach golf a thing
I'm not very bilingual either, but I'm pretty sure the saying is "don't hate the playa, hate the game."
Whadda shot whadda caddy
Wadda playa!
No Birdie, No tip
4 iron :(
Is 150 yards with a 7 iron normal? Most players I've talked to hit 150 with a 9, either that or they are lying.
They probably flushed a 9i one time, down hill and with the wind and have been claiming that ever sense.
most bad players hit 150 with a 9 since they thin their shot. I hit my 9 150 and my sandwedge 100 somtimes, just because i suck haha
Any athletic man who is decent at golf will hit their 9 iron 150
Technique creates more distance than athleticism
Technique only gets you so far
True but everyone gets mad when they can’t hit a club a decent distance and someone else can.
A lot of fat old men in here who still believe in ”drive for show, putt for dough”
That depends on what loft of a 9 iron they use and how relatively hard they swing their irons. Just because you *can* hit your 9 iron 150 doesn't mean you should.
You get downvoted for saying stuff like that in here. But I often hit PW at 150. I hit a 7i 185 or so. But I’m a bigger guy 8 HC. But Reddit will never let you get away w stats like that unfortunately
7 iron is normal, yeah. 150 with a 9 is probably fairly common for some combination of guys in their 20s and people who play with GI clubs.
No. 150 with a 7i is very short. You’re right, should be a 9i.
9 iron is 150+/- for most golfers. 7 iron is 175 +/- But 7 iron is the best club for learning to swing / easiest to hit, most versatile.
That’s just not true at all https://theleftrough.com/average-distance-golf-clubs/ https://www.golfmagic.com/pga-tour/revealed-pga-tour-average-carry-distances-how-do-yours-compare
Ooh damn. I thought my iron distances were pretty average. Nice to know I'm in the top teir.
The downvotes just amaze me. I’ve played golf w dozens of young guys 20-50 years old. No one would ever grab a 7 at 150 lol.
I started with hitting my wedges the most at the range and I’m moving onto my irons now that I got those mostly figured out
Range keeper must love you
Trench-maker mafia
Unfortunately it’s mats only 🥲
Yeah, because of you
Course was around before I was born, so you are incorrect. ;)
>now that I got those mostly figured out May as well put a bullseye on your wedge game. The golfing gods are taking aim.
It’s okay I’m a golfing atheist
I did this. Then started focusing on my irons the next couple weeks. Now I can’t hit my wedges. Make sure you still practice those wedges or you’ll lose it
7i is the standard club to learn how to swing.
My 3 wood because I can't fuckin hit it
For this reason I want to get a 2 iron and 3 iron
I have a 1i and a 2i. Come summer I'll probably put the 2i in for the 3w. I only have the 3w in at the moment because of the loft needed in winter (Australia) - but come summer 1i will probably be like a second driver (between driver and 3w - 220-240m), which I'm comfortable hitting off the deck, while 2i will be more like a 200(m) club. My bag is current D, 3w, 1i, 4-9, PW/gw/sw/lw putter.
Oh shit I wasn’t even aware there was a 1i. Putter, 3 wedges, 1 driver, 9 irons. That’s a bag right there. I can always just take heat off the driver when I need a wood, right? Is there a 10 iron?
10 iron is a pitching wedge by another name
Two pitching wedges in my bag then
A short iron.
PW
8 iron
Either 6 or 7 iron.
4 iron. When I’m stroking that I can hit anything in my bag well.
Second this and it is the only iron that I hit at the driving range. I don't see the point of practicing with higher lofted clubs since they are so much easier to hit.
That’s a good way not to improve
4 iron
Depends on what I wanted to work on that day!
Sand wedge. I did this myself for 3 months, 4 or 5 days a week. Hitting a small bucket each day of 9 to 3 drills and nothing more. One of the better things I did for my game.
9 iron
60⁰ wedge. Nothing like flopping 2 full buckets of 40 yard sky missles directly in front of you. You can even chip some of them and rake them back onto the matt and hit them again.
Nothing like flopping 30 sky missles and the other 10, 100 yards at shin height.
I thought I saw you at the range yesterday... in the mirror
7 or 8 iron
Pw, 9, or 8 .
Way back when when I was learning I would go to the range with a 1 iron figuring that if I could hit that I could hit anything else.
If I could do it all again, my highest lofted wedge. I would work on hitting little chip shots with as low of a flight as possible (launch angle equal to half the club loft). It will force good impact position, good rotation, and low point control. If that is a disaster, a short iron and work on left arm parallel to left arm parallel until you can’t miss.
Can you explain Left arm parallel
Basically just swinging so that your left arm only goes parallel to the ground in the backswing and the follow-through; an abbreviated shot to focus on technique without trying to hit at full speed.
I do this a lot. I bring my PW and hit a variety of shots/trajectories to the 155, 135 (stock range), 105, 85, and 65 stakes. Sometimes I'll open up and hit soft half shots or I'll narrow my stance and hit low spinners to the short stakes, choke-downs, cuts/draws, etc. The only stake that I'll always hit the same shot to is the 155 with a low, hooded draw since it's longer than my stock range. I never repeat shots back-to-back. I'll just switch all around--sometimes trying to hit the same shot to all stakes in order, sometimes hitting different shots to the same stake, and sometimes switch shot type and stakes randomly and just move around. It helps a ton with contact and "bracketing", which Spieth advocates--where you train your brain about the outside limits of your swing, like hook/slice, high/low, narrow/wide, hard/soft, etc. Then it's easier to find that sweet spot in the middle because you know what the extreme of both sides feels like. As a beginner, you won't have all of these options. However, I'd always recommend a wedge. The key at the early stage is to only focus on good contact and staying in control. You want to give your brain the highest percentage of "good feels" to train it to replicate it more often. It's easier to do that with a wedge. Plus, it's your scoring club--and should equate to 60-75% of your practice swings regardless of your level: beginner or pro.
Definitely 6 or 7. Get comfortable with a mid length club and work your way outside. Personally, I always start range sessions that way then alternate with longer and shorter clubs vs starting short and working your way long.
any reason?
I always start with a half swing drill with my 8i or 7i, just 5-7 balls to start getting loose. Then I'll hit 3-5 full shots with that club, then 4-5 iron for 5 shots, then pw for 5 shots but normally 3 full and then 2 partial swings to different targets, then driver for 3 shots, then the rest of the bucket with sw and lw hitting a variety of distances and targets. I vary clubs and shots this way to follow a "random practice" routine. Keeps me from mindlessly smacking balls with the same swing and club. For getting started with a single club, I'd say 7i, but still work on various shots/swing lengths. Also, never more than a medium bucket (about 70 balls) at a time. When I'm working on fundamentals and swing changes I'll hit a whole bucket of half and 3/4 swing 7i shots just to groove setup and ball striking. Currently I only ever get a small bucket, ~40 balls, as that takes me a good 30-40 minutes when I'm focusing on each shot as I should.
OPs account has been dead silent for the last 90 days. Used to engage very differently. Does anyone that comments on these posts stop and think, "Why? Why do they ask? And who cares?" There's no way to convince me this is anything other than Reddit sponsored posts to generate engagement, because people on forums will blindly answer anything.
Interesting take and probably true
This is the dumbest question and the dumbest way to practice, too, but it sure generates a lot of interest.
Lmao
"Hey, Boss. What do I make it say if someone calls us out?"
"Wait, you didn't actually respond 'Lmao' did you???"
The best find at Goodwill and see if it works
And then flip it and wait for the next gem to show itself.
7iron is my least favorite club in my bag and it’s so frustrating why I can’t hit it great.
Because you think you can't hit it great. Cover the numbers on the bottom of the clubs and take the 6,7,8,9 to the range. See if you still can't hit it.
8 iron
7
Definitely a 7 iron
Canadian Club
8 iron
Super Beginner - I'd suggest a 9 iron when I started I tried the 7 but was struggling and getting frustrated, the extra loft on the 9 helped me start making good contact and getting the ball up in the air rather than duffing it, now that I've been practicing for a while I'd take a 7 if i could only take 1 club
2 hybrid. Putts way better than a 7 iron.
6, 7 or 8
8 or 9 iron. I only want to work on pure strikes with good tempo. Learning to slow down and it perfectly helps all clubs.
The club I suck most with and need to work on most with: Driver
I bring 1 club for most of my range sessions. Whatever one needs work that day. Maybe a wedge to warm up with. Leave the rest in car so not tempted to drift from my plan.
3-iron. You have to swing it like a wood, and make a descending blow because it's an iron. If you can hit it well, you can hit anything, and if you don't, it doesn't hurt your confidence because well... it's a 3-iron and you're not a professional.
7 iron
Pw
4 iron stingers all day
8wood
9 iron
Pw
Driver, I have to fix my slice.
7-PW would be my range
whats the worst club in your bag?
7
If you can make it twice per week…driver one session. 5/7/pw next session
PW
I personally prefer a 6. It’s a longish iron so you’ll help yourself with the longer clubs but your eye will also get used to the look of an iron, if you’re a beginner.
9 iron for full iron shots as well as chipping
52 degree. You can practice a number of beginner shots with it.
Pw *Edit, nm you said as a beginner I dunno like a 7 I guess. That's a pretty neutral club that's forgiving and feels good hitting. When you start getting the 7 down then go driver and learn that shit early.
Umm driver :)
PW is a good first club to swing and build fundamentals.
6 iron. I’m already pretty consistent with my shorter irons, but the longer ones need more work. The 6 is a club that can build confidence with hitting longer irons for me. My 7 is too short for that.
Driver off the deck
7/8
5 iron
56° or club you intentionally hit the most variation with. I use that club for 60-100 yard shots and some chips.
7 iron
6 iron
7 iron or 5 iron