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Iron distance - how long is good, can long be bad?

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Castor Hades

Castor Hades

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Irons are being marketed as long, and distance is being emphasized quite a bit.

How long do we need the irons to be? I've gained a lot of distance with my irons compared to last year, and I keep getting in trouble when I'm 100 yards from the green, since I don't have enough short clubs to be able to have a full swing.

You don't hit the driver super far, but what do you do when you get a set of irons and your 4-iron is as long as your three wood? (Not that realistic, but I hope you see the point...). What I mean, we keep going further and further, but at the same time we create gaps in our distances...or do we?

How long do you want your irons to be?


Note: I don't mind distance, just a thought that popped in to my head. :)
 
I as a player you have to think about gapping top and bottom of the bag when getting a new set of irons.

If your 4i pushes out your 7wd you can throw in an extra club at the bottom of the bag(wedge) to keep that scoring area tight.

I want the distance I can control out of my irons, distance does me no good if it isn't straight and predictable.
 
My irons are clearly longer than anything I've had before, but the important thing for me was that the launch and consistency is much better..
 
I have this problem, I don't like being in the 100 to 60 yard range. It makes me think more off the tee and use many other clubs than just banging driver all day. Hitting a 300 yard bomb of the tee is fun but if that leaves me a 80 yard shot that take me 2 or 3 other shots to get on the green it leads to high scores. I have learnt to take a 4 iron and leave a 140 yard full PW or GW in to the green. Not only am I more accurate on a full wedge from 140 than a half wedge from 80 I am also a lot more accurate with the 4i than driver.

Lately I have only been pulling driver on par 5's and par 4's over 450 yards and my scores have been 4 strokes under my handicap with this approach.
 
As long a possible. Shorter irons into the greens is fine with me. But it does present a little bag make up problem at times. I think it also forces people to learn to okay more shots with the clubs they have
 
Gap your wedges to solve this
 
I never play a full swing with anything less than a PW, which for me is 125. Everything inside of 125 is less than a full swing. That helps me a ton with accuracy. I'm especially happy when the yardage hits right on one of my 3/4 swing numbers, but adjusting 5-10 yards one way or the other isn't a problem - it's the one thing I spend the most time practicing. For me, wedge selection is more about providing trajectory and spin options than it is true "gapping". So to answer OP's question I have no problem with extra length. Get me as close as possible and I have a well-practiced shot for the resulting yardage.
 
At this stage of my development, I don't need crazy distance, I want consistency and predictability. Between the SpeedBlades and Apex, the Apex are up to a 1/2 club shorter from what I've seen so far in terms of distance (might be the much heavier shaft too). What I've lost in distance I've gained in feel and consistency and I've never been hitting my irons better than I am now. What is long to me? A 230 yard 4 iron, that's freaky long for me.
 
Distance is a huge advantage if you can control it. I know what you are saying though, and I have to carry an increasing number wedges to fill the gap.

Too long is hitting over the green, too often. imo
 
I hit the ball plenty far. I would rather focus on short game and hitting particular numbers regardless of the number on the bottom of the club. I am starting to think the comment about TM R&D guys color coding clubs instead os using lofts would go a long way to getting Internet golfers to quit worrying about "stronger lofts" and focus on playing the right shot.
 
Really good question Castor and something I've definitely given thought to. I'm not sure I have a decent answer tho, because obviously I'd love maximum distance out of every club, but what am I giving up to get it? Control? Gapping issues? Just another ponder into the game of golf that is already full of ponders for me!
 
I was actually thinking about this yesterday.

Having irons goo incredibly long will lead to some major distance gaps at the bottom of my bag. I hit my 54* about 110 and my AW about 130. I can hit a knockdown with the AW that fits that 120 gap. But, if I start hitting irons further, the gap at the bottom will just be larger.

If I had to choose, I'd rather have a gap at about 225-230 than 125-130. I usually don't see the former that much during a round.
 
I've started to use my PW and 9I for 1/2 and 3/4 shots on shorter distances. Progress has been good and a lot more comfortable from 120 and in. My wedges have become more of a green side tool and rarely take anything more than a pitch or chip with them.
 
I faced this exact dilemma last year. I opted for longer irons, as long as they went high and still stopped.

Sure, I still have trouble with shots 6O-100 yards, but I did before too. I'm happy that I'm able to stretch my reach with each club by ten to fifteen yards and now can finally handle those difficult 215 yard Par 3's and hit driving irons that find the fairway past 225.

As far as gaps go, I don't consider it a gap if it's below 90 or above 215. Those are the ends for me. If my suite of irons covers all the yards in between those limits, then I'm okay and need to work on those touch or specialty shots required for success at the ends.
 
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My irons are longer than most but a I felt like my game is more similar to my 14 year old daughters after watching JB Holmes on Saturday hit a 19* steel shafted Tour Exotic hybrid iron off the tee into a slight breeze on a 456 yard par 4 last weekend and hit 9 iron in to the elevated green. Wow! I probably would have hit driver, 6 iron or more.
 
I honestly never worry about longer with irons, though admittedly I'm what I believe to be above average lengthwise (150 9i, 200 4i, 95 60° wedge). However, I'd love to see true length gains in iron sets, only b/c it means (in theory) I can hit my gap ideals with more loft for more control. Ideally, I'd like 15 yard gaps from 80 right up, so distance doesn't matter so much as having the proper clubs to me.
 
I have played with a great many people and I don't think people hit as far as they think they do. So the length they see actually makes them competitive but not too long. When I hear guys like Tomo hitting 4i 260 I believe it and that is too much length. But the average player doesn't even stiff that. For me there is not such thing as too much length.
 
I have finally got over worrying about the number that's on the bottom of the club. If you pull out an 8 and I have to use a 6, I'm ok with that. Just reliable distances is the key--as long as the set gaping is good I should be able to fill in the lower side between 3/4 shots and wedges.
 
I'll take the yards. I can gap my wedges fine.
 
Doesn't matter how long a pw is, that just means I need more wedges and less hybrids/woods more likely
 
Personal opinion, hitting your irons "too long" is a matter of course management. Know your distance, and, if necessary, adjust what club you hit off the tee. If you are upset at being 90 yards away and not having a shot with a cub to that distance that you're comfortable with, maybe you should have taken a fairway wood or hybrid off the tee and gotten to a gap you like better. Like the TS, I've recently gotten a healthy amount of distance with my irons & wedges, and I love it. Means I can hit a 4-iron or a 3-wood off the tee more often and still be at comfortable distances.
 
No I don't think they can be to long. I think with more and more hybos being in peoples bags I think distance irons shorten the gap between 4h to 5i or whatever you change hybos into irons. You can also buy wedges in every loft available to fill those gaps on the other end.

For me personally I have a sweet spot for my distances, I want a set of irons that have my 4 iron go xxx to xxx distance and my 9 iron to go xxx to xxx. This is why I haven't changed irons in a long time, I haven't found something that I enjoy hitting as much as my current sticks in that distance range, however the FG M3's have a lot of potential.
 
Let me be one of the first to say that they can be too long.

The game is hard enough as it is, if you have to hit a 5 iron from 220 yards out you'll probably have to use it from the rough more often too. And hitting a longer iron from the rough is harder then hitting a hybrid :)

But it's all course management, like Paladin says: maybe you should grab a shorter stick once in a while to get to a nicer distance for you. In my case the 20-40 yard shots I don't like. So I either grab something longer to make it a chip&put situation or grab something shorter to be able to hit something I feel more comfortable with into the green :)
 
I have found myself hitting 3w or the RBZ 4 iron off the tee alot lately.

My driver is rarely straight (all on my swing lol) but usually a nice 4 iron shot (depending on hole length) will leave me with a more confident yardage.

I'm currently going from a 50 degree A wedge straight to a 60 degree lob wedge so I have a considerable gap in the 70-110/120 yard range. I need to go get a 54/55 degree wedge to fill in the middle there at full swing.

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