Between clubs: hit it hard or take some off?

[G56788]

All other things being equal, if you are between clubs, are you more likely to try the “hard” shorter club or take something off the longer club?

I usually go the latter route, choking down or making a three-quarter swing only to catch it flush and fly the green anyway. If I try the “hard” shot, it usually spins a bunch, flies higher and ends up short. It’s the 50-50-90 rule in full effect (if you have a 50-50 shot at getting it right, you’ll pick wrong 90% of the time).

How about everyone else?

[null]

Depends on the conditions.

If it is windy, I drop down as swinging harder = more spin and potential for ballooning or being pushed off line more.

Where is the trouble?  When I take something off, I tend to get handsy and hook it.

 

In general, I like to use the "make an aggressive swing to a safe target" approach.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I find that I am more accurate if I use the longer club and take something off. Using the shorter club usually does not work out well for me. If I go at it harder I tend to pull it left a bit. Coming around in the club path instead of coming through. Since most of the trouble is in front of the green to guard it, it’s better to be longer. Just be careful not to take to much off the longer club or you will be in the same trouble.

[MWL_9]

I've been trying to be disciplined and taking the longer club although what's around the green plays a factor.  Is there water short, is long going to be an impossible up and down, etc.

[GolfSpy_APH]

Could have sworn I saw this same thread a few months back.

Anyway for me normally take some off. Pin location matters tho. 

Arccos showed i come up short more often then not so it also seems to be the smarter play for my game. Have a bit extra club usually doesn't hurt too much.

[GolfSpy TCB]

I am pretty categorically a "take more club" player.  But with my swing speed, one could say that I take 3/4 swings all the time  

But when I try to really get into a shot and hit it 5 yards farther than my "zone" yardage... I have a tendency to drive my body through the swing, which causes me to block the shot because I don't release the club... and that ends up being equal equal distance or short to my "normal" swing... AND well right of the target.  

'taking a little off' really only works for me on the shorter irons... this is actually one of the things I improved most on this past season... the 3/4 shots with the short approach irons/wedges.   Long irons (say 7 and above and into the hybrids) if I'm in between distances I take more club, and accept being past the hole if I flush it.

[G56788]

3 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

 

Could have sworn I saw this same thread a few months back.

 

My bad if I’m repeating a previous thread. I should have learned my lesson about checking for previous topics before I walked into that Blade Irons for practice snake pit. I will accept any punishment you and the other mods hand down. (I assume there is some kind of forum disciplinary committee?)

[GolfSpy_APH]

3 minutes ago, G56744 said:

My bad if I’m repeating a previous thread. I should have learned my lesson about checking for previous topics before I walked into that Blade Irons for practice snake pit. I will accept any punishment you and the other mods hand down. (I assume there is some kind of forum disciplinary committee?)

Not at all! Often threads tale similar routes or discussions but the questions asked are slightly different. 

I normally use the search function first, but not a worry on my end. Good discussion for us to have!

[TylorJudd]

I find if you're going into a green and you have to swing harder than I am going to lose where the ball is going, much rather have more club. If I'm at the top of the bag, it is what it is. I have hit driver off the deck on very rare occasions though ..

[Jim Shaw]

wow, great topic, a real "tool" to get your index down and potentially lower scores and beat the heck out of your buddies lol... 

So, having said that, my advice is to work hard on this" in between" shot, whatever works for you, go with it , fine tune it, put it on your list of "must practice at least 2 hours every week" list, or, like I do, in your warm up before you play. 

once I decided on the 'longer club, clock method" and got comfortable with it I have practiced it, fine tuned it, and put it in my arsenal, for about 3 years now and it has shown in my scores and in my competitive scores. 

And dont' kid yourself, it is very rare that 100% of your numbers going into the pin will be exact, full swing numbers...I would say more like 10% exact numbers all the rest are "tweeters"

Thank you for bringing up this important thread and good luck to all the players finding their Niche...

[GolfSpy TCB]

31 minutes ago, G56744 said:

My bad if I’m repeating a previous thread. I should have learned my lesson about checking for previous topics before I walked into that Blade Irons for practice snake pit. I will accept any punishment you and the other mods hand down. (I assume there is some kind of forum disciplinary committee?)

Hey G, that Blades for Practice thread was well attended... nothing wrong with some healthy debate!!    

[GolfSpy TCB]

24 minutes ago, TylorJudd said:

I find if you're going into a green and you have to swing harder than I am going to lose where the ball is going, much rather have more club. If I'm at the top of the bag, it is what it is. I have hit driver off the deck on very rare occasions though ..

Are you NOT supposed to do that????     How else am I going to reach the green from 220 out of the fairway???  

[fozcycle]

I read somewhere that if you are using an 8 iron through wedge just lean on it. If you are using 7 iron or less take an extra club.

[G56788]

25 minutes ago, Golfspy_TCB said:

Hey G, that Blades for Practice thread was well attended... nothing wrong with some healthy debate!!    

Thank you and I agree. That was a great discussion. I just wasn’t expecting both sides to have such strong opinions when I posted it. 

[G56788]

1 hour ago, Golfspy_TCB said:

'taking a little off' really only works for me on the shorter irons... this is actually one of the things I improved most on this past season... the 3/4 shots with the short approach irons/wedges.   Long irons (say 7 and above and into the hybrids) if I'm in between distances I take more club, and accept being past the hole if I flush it.

Same here. I’m pretty comfortable hitting short irons with a partial swing. I may choke down on a mid or long iron if I want to take a few yards off or attempt to hit it lower, but a partial swing on those clubs for anything other than a punch out has disaster written all over it. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

I've found that when I try to take some off a club, I end up coming out of my posture and thinning the heck out of the shot, which usually causes it to cruise right on over the green anyways . Definitely something I will be working on, but I've found that playing the club that I know is going to be short and taking a full swing gets me close enough where I can put myself in a position to try and chip to pin high or putt from the fringe in a best case scenario. 

[Jim Shaw]

10 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

I've found that when I try to take some off a club, I end up coming out of my posture and thinning the heck out of the shot, which usually causes it to cruise right on over the green anyways . Definitely something I will be working on, but I've found that playing the club that I know is going to be short and taking a full swing gets me close enough where I can put myself in a position to try and chip to pin high or putt from the fringe in a best case scenario. 

it does take a lot of work to get it figured out.

[G56788]

6 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

I've found that playing the club that I know is going to be short and taking a full swing gets me close enough where I can put myself in a position to try and chip to pin high or putt from the fringe in a best case scenario. 

I think I do something similar. If there is trouble short, or long is not a bad spot, I’ll look at the distance to the back of the green and pick the club that will get me closest to that number without going over. That way I know I can swing aggressively with very little chance of going long and that a mishit has the best chances of clearing the trouble. My scores would probably be lower if I did this on every approach shot, but it’s easy to think rationally like this when I’m not on the course…

[YourKillingMeSmalls]

When you say "take some off" does that mean you swing easier or choke down on the longer club? I find when I try to swing easy it doesn't generally go well, I do better taking the longer club and gripping down a bit.

[GolfSpy_KFT]

50 minutes ago, G56744 said:

I think I do something similar. If there is trouble short, or long is not a bad spot, I’ll look at the distance to the back of the green and pick the club that will get me closest to that number without going over. That way I know I can swing aggressively with very little chance of going long and that a mishit has the best chances of clearing the trouble. My scores would probably be lower if I did this on every approach shot, but it’s easy to think rationally like this when I’m not on the course…

I really like this thought approach. It has never occurred to me to work off the distance at the back of the green if the pin location isn’t an ideal club distance. Isn’t it amazing how these thoughts don’t occur on the course?! Haha

[G56788]

3 minutes ago, YourKillingMeSmalls said:

When you say "take some off" does that mean you swing easier or choke down on the longer club? I find when I try to swing easy it doesn't generally go well, I do better taking the longer club and gripping down a bit.

“Try to hit the longer club a shorter distance” is probably a better way to say it. When I first started playing, that meant swinging easier with disastrous results. Now it means choking down and partial swings. For example, 100 yards is  an in-between distance for me. My 48 degree wedge goes 110-115; my 54 goes 90-95. I’ve learned that if I choke down two inches on the 48 and take a 3/4 swing, I can hit it 100 yards pretty consistently. 

[cnosil]

Very scenario dependent.  Back pin, I am probably hitting it harder.  Front pin, I am hitting the longer club with a choked down grip and swinging normal.  It will also depend on where the trouble is around the green.  

[Stuka44]

I will always choose the longer club and swing softer. Swinging harder, almost always decreases control for me. Now even if their is a back pin, I am shooting front, or middle, even if that means coming up short of the green, most of the time (excluding a pond).  Almost without exception on the public, muni courses we play, we have a saying... "over is NEVER GOOD".  Most holes I've found your lucky if there is 10-20' beyond, and then its woods, brush, or something else that is going to cost a stroke.

[David Leighton Reid]

If between clubs, I will (a.) use the shorter club and swing longer, not harder or (b.) use the longer club, choke up a bit, and try to take a normal swing.  

[GolfSpy TCB]

3 minutes ago, David Leighton Reid said:

use the shorter club and swing longer, not harder

Love this comment David.  

[CarlH]

On average, I'd take more club...but first one must ask:  Where's the trouble, long or short?

[Tom the Golf Nut]

1 hour ago, stuka44 said:

  Almost without exception on the public, muni courses we play, we have a saying... "over is NEVER GOOD".  Most holes I've found your lucky if there is 10-20' beyond, and then its woods, brush, or something else that is going to cost a stroke.

At the new club I joined the Pro told me the same thing.  Do not be long into any green. So of course, I was 10 yards short on everything on my first round.  At least I listened! But I looked over the back of each green once I got up on the putting surface. Because of the doubting Thomas that I am, I had to see for myself. He was correct. There were ball eat em ups everywhere. Creeks, deep traps, woods, OB. It's going to take a bit to figure this course out.     

[Siamese Moose]

3 hours ago, Jnoble89 said:

I've found that when I try to take some off a club, I end up coming out of my posture and thinning the heck out of the shot, which usually causes it to cruise right on over the green anyways . 

As "The World's Most Interesting Man" once said, "I don't always hit a sand wedge 150 yards, but when I do it's from a greenside bunker!"

[TylorJudd]

6 hours ago, Golfspy_TCB said:

Are you NOT supposed to do that????     How else am I going to reach the green from 220 out of the fairway???  

Last time spelled the end of my driver at the start of 2022 hahahah

[The 19th Hole]

Why not take 2 clubs extra then play a cut shot that will drop the yardage by about 15 yards thus giving you your in between shot? Seems simple enough...