Knowing your distance to the pin is one of the most important aspects of a steadily improving golf game. But just being able to pace off yardage, which anyone can do, is only half the battle. You have to know exactly how far you hit each club. You have to know how to make small adjustments in your swing to tweak that distance. Let's go through some key considerations that will help you peg your distances and lower your golf score.
First, you'll need a baseline distance for each golf club. For this, we use the humble driving range. There are probably several driving ranges nearby where you live. The trick is to find one that has a well laid out yardage marker system. Some driving ranges are hopeless as far as yard markers go. The best have 50 yard increments all the way out to 300 yards - in multiple directions. When you're standing on the tee, you'll want to see yard markers out to your left, straight ahead, and off to the right. That way, you'll have a good idea of distance even if, like most golfers, you don't hit perfectly straight every time.
Once you find a good practice facility, then you're going to go through a distance drill. The drill is a simple one, but may take a few tries to get right, but with a little concentration, should be easily accomplished by golfers with even rudimentary skills. Start with your Wedge. Grab a full Wedge - not a lob or sand wedge, we won't need those clubs for this exercise. Address the ball and take a full swing at the ball, in the direction of the yardage marker. Be sure to note your swing speed - we want it to be as consistent as possible swing to swing, club to club. Hit five golf balls and estimate your average distance in yards.
Now move on to your 9 iron. You're going to do the same thing - hit five golf balls and take your average distance of the five. Then, move on to your 8 iron, and then your 7 iron and so on all the way to your longest iron. If you are playing with a hybrid, finish up with that.
This exercise should allow you to not only note your distances for each club, but it will help you identify the differences between each club. Armed with this knowledge, you'll always know exactly what club to use in your varying yardage circumstances.
You can do the same exact exercise for your wedges and short game specifically. If you carry two or three wedges, go through the same exercise but focus on the smaller differences between these clubs. You'll find that you can really get used to which wedge to use in which circumstance.
If you're keeping your swing speed constant, and you should be, you can then hit longer or shorter just by decreasing your backswing. Again, get used to how much a three quarter swing decreases your distance.
Lastly, finding yardage markers on the golf course is usually easy to do. It is well within the accepted norms of golf to pace off your yardage before a stroke. Always be sure to maintain the speed of play. It is not a good idea to take an exorbitant amount of time trying to determine yardage. A fun way to get this data without taking any time to do so, is to use a range finder. Golf GPS units like Bushnell's Yardage Pro are cropping up all over the place. Don't worry - they are legal for play and can really add a fun dimension to your game.
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