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waratah
4th September 2009, 09:32 AM
I'm still very new to this game, but one thing I find very challanging is being able to judge distances to greens. Even if I know the distance from course markers, knowing what club to pick, how hard / fast to swing gets very confusing. There just seems to be so many variables - club, lie, wind, height of green. Geez it makes my head spin trying to figure it out. In the end I normally just pick whatever club my hand hits first in my bag.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Courty
4th September 2009, 09:49 AM
GPS/ range-finder?

markTHEblake
4th September 2009, 09:53 AM
In the end I normally just pick whatever club my hand hits first in my bag.

Sounds like you are young to the game. Sorry, but the real answer in determining the impact of the effects of contours and wind lies in experience.

In the meantime, you will be far better off if everytime you decide which club to hit, you then hit one more. eg if you decide it is a 7 iron, hit a 6.

because the vast majority of golfers approach shots finish short of the green.

Daves
4th September 2009, 09:54 AM
It is called experience! Learn from your mistakes and also when you get it right. Write it down if you have too.

Ned
4th September 2009, 09:55 AM
Sounds like you are young to the game. Sorry, but the real answer in determining the impact of the effects of contours and wind lies in experience.

In the meantime, you will be far better off if everytime you decide which club to hit, you then hit one more. eg if you decide it is a 7 iron, hit a 6.

because the vast majority of golfers approach shots finish short of the green.

Still got that problem MTB ?:roll:




:wink:

kev
4th September 2009, 09:59 AM
Used to have this problem too.

Solved a lot of problems by going to the range and hitting full shots with all clubs - about 10 to 15 balls per club, and taking the average distance hit (ignoring topped and bladed balls!).

Write down the distance of each club and keep that with you on the course. Wind etc will then affect distances, but by how much just comes with experience.

waratah
4th September 2009, 10:51 AM
Great advice guys, thanks.

adlo
4th September 2009, 11:19 AM
I agree with everything that has been said so far.

Also, do not worry about how hard to swing it. You want to swing each club with the same intensity. So like Kev suggested find your average distance for each club with a smooth swing. The only time you might need to do an abbreviated swing is when you are within 100m, and even then you only want to vary the length of your backswing. You always want to accelerate through the ball. If you tell yourself to swing slow, often you will quit on the shot and the results will not be pretty.

Also, you will want to add a club (sometimes more than one-but you will get the feel for this) when approaching an elevated green, and vice versa for a green that is beneath you.

simmsy
4th September 2009, 11:36 AM
Yep good advice so far.
If going to your local range just be careful they don't use balls that are distance capped. some ranges use balls that don't fly as far as your normal golf ball.

BTW - love the avatar great beer.

adlo
4th September 2009, 11:40 AM
Great point simmsy. For judging distance... if at all possible, get on a very quiet course late in the day and spend time hitting a heap of REAL golf balls at greens. Much better way to calculate distances.

terrys
4th September 2009, 12:48 PM
In the meantime, you will be far better off if everytime you decide which club to hit, you then hit one more. eg if you decide it is a 7 iron, hit a 6.



I think this piece of advise is gold until you have your distances nailed down

waratah
4th September 2009, 12:49 PM
Great point simmsy. For judging distance... if at all possible, get on a very quiet course late in the day and spend time hitting a heap of REAL golf balls at greens. Much better way to calculate distances.

Are golf course people cool with this? Would I have to be a member? How should I approach it, just jump the fence and walk on to a fairway.

adlo
4th September 2009, 12:52 PM
Just go to a quiet public course and pay for 9 holes. Try and be the last person on the course. Get to a hole away from the club house and begin practice.

Chris32
4th September 2009, 02:37 PM
I found the best way was to find a big oval that doesn't get used much and hit 15-20 balls with each club and pace them off.

I'd place a cone at 50, 100 and 150m and pace off from there, and use the average for those shots to get my average distance for each club. It was mainly from 58* to 7 iron I did this for, as I ran out of oval

Ferrins
4th September 2009, 03:05 PM
Aim for the back of the green through this novice stage. If you think you can hit the green with say a 7 iron then choose a 6 iron and swing easy. When you get a bit more experience try playing a few rounds with a half set of clubs.

Daves
5th September 2009, 07:51 AM
If you are lucky your club will have a practice area/fairway you can use. We have two long par 3 set ups. I have a GPS, but one of the fairways has distance markers anyway. Footy fields are usually marked as well but not really long enough for this. When I practice I pick a distance, say 130 metres and then practice hitting 9i, 8i, 7i and 6i to the green from there. It really helps to establish your club distances plus your distance feel for when you have a bad lie etc and need to use a longer club.

markTHEblake
5th September 2009, 09:41 AM
Still got that problem MTB ?:roll:
:wink:

No because i will still take my own advice and take the longer club more often than not.

waratah
5th September 2009, 11:00 AM
Again, thanks for all this good advice. I'm going to have a go at the techniques you guys have suggested.