Know Your Yardages
Do you know how far you hit each club in the bag?
Know your club and shot distances
Have you noticed when you watch professional golfers or very good amateur players and how accurate they are with their club selection. They may be left or right of the target - but they are a lot closer in distance than higher handicap players. This is due to a number of reasons - not least is the fact that a better players swing is more consistent and therefore the ball flight will also be more consistent from shot to shot. But, a key factor is they know how far they carry the ball with a particular club and swing. Secondly, they usually have a caddie who has paced the course or has detailed tournament yardage charts so they know exactly how far they have to the target.
You can improve your scores by finding out how far you really hit your irons and woods.
How to calculate how far you hit the ball
This is simple but takes some time and you need the right kind of practice facilities. You need to find a quite corner of the course or a practice range where you can pace out your shots. Also you should do this on a calm day not a very windy day. If doing this on the course then select the flattest and largest terrain you can with the least bunkers or obstacles in the way so you get true results of roll. I'd also suggest that as you are about to hit a hole bunch of shots from one spot that you select an area that is not going to cause a problem to other golfers and that you replace all the divots when you've finished.
Take 6-10 golf balls and hit them with your wedge. Pace out the distance and remove any completely mishit shots or if all about the same remove the longest and shortest shot.
Then average the remaining balls. If the facilities allow take the same balls and now hit back in the opposite direction and repeat the exercise and average all shots - this takes into account minor wind influence.
Repeat for all clubs. You will find that the gap between some clubs is larger than the gap between others.
If you then write all these numbers down - the next time you play you can hit a couple of shots on the range before you start your game and quickly tell if the conditions are affecting your ball flight that day. For example you may usually hit your 7 iron 150 yards carry. Then when you are warming up before playing you may find your 7 iron is consistently landing around 140 yards. You can then look at your other clubs and check to see what club you would normally use to hit that distance. Let's say it was your 8 iron. So on that day you would now know that you are playing approximately 1 club shorter than normal.
Pushed for time?
If you are short of time, concentrate on the scoring clubs. Start with your wedges and short irons. Then your mid irons. If you can't measure all your clubs in one day then come back another day to measure your long irons, utility clubs, fairway woods and driver.
