When starting out in golf, there is so much for us to get our heads round in terms of technique, set-up to the ball, how we swing the club. One thing that is also essential is which golf club do we need. In golf, we have to quickly learn how far we hit the ball, and how far we can hit with each club. That is tricky when we can have up to 14 clubs in our bag, but gaining an understanding of our own distance control will allow us to choose the correct golf club for any given shot. And that will help our games to rapidly improve.
Firstly, let’s make sure we know exactly what the purpose of each club in the bag is. That is the first step to knowing which golf club we need in which situation.
Driver: The big dog! The biggest club in our golf bags and the one that sends the ball the furthest. We usually use this off every tee on a par-four or a par-five hole and occasionally on a very long par-three. Because the face of the club on a driver is so straight, we need the elevation from having the ball teed up to get our shot off the ground. Occasionally on a long hole and from a good position on the fairway, we can also use a driver. But be warned, this is a VERY difficult shot to get right.
Fairway woods and hybrid clubs: These are not really woods anymore, given their metal heads, but they can be anything from a two-wood to a nine-wood. Hybrids are a cross between a fairway wood and a long iron and are more forgiving for the golfer. For these clubs, we are looking to hit shots of distances over 150 yards and get them up in the air.
Two-irons to nine-irons: The main purpose of our iron clubs is for hitting approach shots towards the green. That usually means anywhere between 100 and 190 yards for the average golfer. To work out which is the correct club, the lower the number, the further the ball will travel. These are the clubs we generally use from the fairway or the rough, while we usually need an iron off the tee on most par-three holes.
Wedges: The correct clubs to use when we have shots from around 90 yards and under that we want to hit high into the air. A pitching wedge will go the furthest, while the aim of a lob wedge is to get the ball high into the air as quickly as possible so that it lands softly. A sand wedge is true to its name – it is the correct club for hitting out of the sand in a bunker.
Putter: On the green! The short stick is the correct club for getting the ball into the hole on the green, hopefully in one or two shots. We can also use a putter for some shots from just off the green, but make sure the ground is not rough.
So those are the correct clubs and the situations to use them in, but next we need to know how far each club will go. Obviously, there is a huge difference between a scratch golfer and someone just starting out, so here is a guide for expected lengths for different players.
|
Club |
Low
handicap (M) |
Low
handicap (F) |
|
Driver |
250 yards |
200 yards |
|
3-wood |
230 yards |
180 yards |
|
5-wood |
215 yards |
170 yards |
|
Hybrid |
215 yards |
170 yards |
|
3-iron |
205 yards |
160 yards |
|
4-iron |
195 yards |
150 yards |
|
5-iron |
185 yards |
140 yards |
|
6-iron |
175 yards |
130 yards |
|
7-iron |
165 yards |
120 yards |
|
8-iron |
155 yards |
110 yards |
|
9-iron |
135 yards |
100 yards |
|
Pitching
wedge |
125 yards |
90 yards |
|
Sand wedge |
105 yards |
70 yards |
|
Gap wedge |
95 yards |
60 yards |
|
Club |
Average
handicap (M) |
Average
handicap (F) |
|
Driver |
220 yards |
180 yards |
|
3-wood |
205 yards |
160 yards |
|
5-wood |
190 yards |
150 yards |
|
Hybrid |
190 yards |
150 yards |
|
3-iron |
180 yards |
140 yards |
|
4-iron |
170 yards |
130 yards |
|
5-iron |
160 yards |
120 yards |
|
6-iron |
150 yards |
110 yards |
|
7-iron |
140 yards |
100 yards |
|
8-iron |
130 yards |
90 yards |
|
9-iron |
120 yards |
80 yards |
|
Pitching
wedge |
110 yards |
70 yards |
|
Sand wedge |
95 yards |
55 yards |
|
Gap wedge |
85 yards |
50 yards |
|
Club |
High
handicap (M) |
High
handicap (F) |
|
Driver |
200 yards |
180 yards |
|
3-wood |
185 yards |
160 yards |
|
5-wood |
170 yards |
150 yards |
|
Hybrid |
170 yards |
150 yards |
|
3-iron |
160 yards |
140 yards |
|
4-iron |
150 yards |
130 yards |
|
5-iron |
140 yards |
120 yards |
|
6-iron |
130 yards |
110 yards |
|
7-iron |
120 yards |
100 yards |
|
8-iron |
110 yards |
90 yards |
|
9-iron |
100 yards |
80 yards |
|
Pitching
Wedge |
90 yards |
70 yards |
|
Sand Wedge |
70 yards |
55 yards |
|
Lob Wedge |
60 yards |
50 yards |
Other factors:
Of course, many things come in to play when we are lining up to decide what is the correct club for a particular shot.
Weather conditions are a huge factor. If playing a hole into the wind, the ball will not travel as far. When we use the term a ‘one-club wind’, it means we think that the wind will affect the ball to the tune of one club. If we would normally hit a six-iron from that distance, we would instead choose a five-iron and so on. Alternatively, playing a hole downwind, we would pick a seven-iron instead of a six-iron. While a ‘two-club wind’ would mean it is a breezy day and we need to choose two clubs more or less than normal.
If we are playing on a cold day in winter, then the ball is not going to fly through the air in the same way as on a hot day in summer. We have to recognise that in our club selection. In terms of course conditions, if the course is wet and heavy because of rain or the time of year, we have to take more club than if the course is dry and hard and the ball will run a lot when it hits the ground.
Age also plays a large part in what club to select. If we are in our twenties, congratulations, we can probably hit the ball as far as we like. If we are in our forties and fifties (or older), we probably have a few more aches and pains and can’t swing through the ball as well as we used to do. So let’s not fool ourselves and recognise that in deciding what is the correct club for us. That means taking more club than when we were younger.
How to Work out your club distances:
Unfortunately, the distances in the table are only a rough guide for us to follow. There is no magic formula for knowing exactly how far we hit each club and for knowing what is the correct club for us in any given situation.
To understand our own game, the distances we hit, and the correct club we need takes time and effort. That means putting in some practice. That could be at the driving range, the practice ground or on the course itself, but it is only from hitting lots of shots with each different club that we begin to understand the exact distances that the ball will travel from a well-struck shot.
One tried-and-tested method for woods and irons is to hit 50 shots at a time. Try to hit the same shot, with the same swing, technique, grip, etc. Rule out the best five shots and the worst five shots. Then try to find the middle of the pack of shots that we hit. That gives us a pretty good idea of what our average distance is with the particular club.
Working out the distances on the course:
So, now we know what is the correct club for any given situation and we have an idea of how far we can hit each club. But how do we work out how far we need to hit a certain shot out on the course?
On the tee, it’s easy because there will be a tee marker telling us how far we are from the green. But once on the fairway (or the rough), we have to start using our own eyes. Many courses will have a distance marker situated 150 yards from the centre of the green. It could be coloured posts at the side of the fairway or a disc located on the ground. Some courses will also have markers at 100 or 200 yards from the green. There will usually be a note on the scorecard, or ask in the pro shop before the round about what distance markers to look out for on the course.
For a ball that is lying a few yards either side of the distance marker, we can use an old-fashioned method. Work on the basis that one normal step in walking equates to a yard or just under, take the number of steps from the marker to our ball and then do the calculation. It’s not an exact science, but it should give us a good idea of what is the correct club for that distance.
For the very keen golfers who want a more sophisticated answer, there are now a high number of golf GPS watches, rangefinders and handheld GPS devices which give us the technology to work out how far away we are from a hole at any given moment.
But a golden rule to remember: whether we use new technology or old fashioned methods to work out distance, when we stand over the ball, we still need to hit the right shot to get the ball in the right place. And unfortunately there are no guarantees of that!
About the Author
Adam Lanigan - Golf Writer
Adam is a freelance news and sports journalist who has written for the BBC, The Sunday Post, The I, The Times, The Telegraph and more. He has been writing about golf for nearly two decades and has covered 13 Open Championships and two Ryder Cups. Not only does Adam cover golf, but he has played golf for as long as he can remember. He was a member at Northenden Golf Club for around 25 years until his children arrived and his last official handicap was 11, although on any given day his form fluctuates anywhere between eight and 18.