Golf Club Selection Basics (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Club Selection Basics (Video) - by Pete Styles

So selecting the right club is essential when we’re playing an iron shot. Now let’s just consider we’ve got a standard ion shot into a standard green 150 yards away, lots of different considerations we might have here. But I think there are sort of three ideas I’d like you to consider when you’re hitting these shots in. The first thing is I never think it’s great for a golfer to be swinging 100 percent full power all of the time, I just don’t really think that’s the way we should play. Often golfers when they’re hitting the ball absolutely flat out full power with their irons, they look a little bit unbalanced, they got a little bit inconsistent. Now the problem with hitting an iron shot 100 percent all the time is you don’t really need to do that. If you’re struggling to hit an iron shot 150 yards with the club you’ve got in your hands you’ve always got another club in your back that can go the extra distance. So if you’re 150 yards out and you’ve got 9-iron, you might say to me, well, I need to hit it 100 percent P otherwise I’m not going to reach the green, my question would be why we got 9-iron, take an 8-iron, swing it within yourself and you’ll hit the green easily.

So distance is often an issue that’s kind of golfers are creating their own problems by utilizing the wrong club. So think about swinging 95 percent of your full power rather 100 percent of your full power. Now, there’s a secondary issue that goes with that and that relates to commitment. We quite often see golfers as they’re hitting into the golf ball, swing back really hard, slow down as they’re hitting the ball, and they don’t really commit and they don’t really get through the ball with full power. The issue you have with that is you’re probably going to suffer from a poor strike and potentially poor direction because you’re not committing through the ball. So although I say I don’t want you to hit 100 percent full power, I do want you to hit with commitment, so sort of considered aggression rather than just shear power. It’s just nice and committed as you turn through the ball even though you’re not hitting that ball absolutely full power. And one other consideration I’d like you to have when you’re assessing which club to hit, is never take on a shot that you’re not 90 percent sure you can pull off most of the time. We sometimes see golfers and almost talking to golfers you hear them say, well, I hate this shot because I thought I should, or I hate this shot because that’s what they would have done on TV. And in the back of their mind they know they’re not going to be able to play this shot regularly enough, that’s not to say they can’t play that shot once in a while. Let’s say we’ve got a par three over water and the flags tucked right in behind the pond, you know, a big part of the green overhead to the left, tiny part to the green where the flag is over there to the right, golfer stands on the tee and says, I’m going to try to fade an 8-iron into the wind, turn it over the pond, land it behind the flag and spin it back into the hole for the shot. And I’m thinking, well that sounds great but what’s your potential of doing that shot? About one in ten times you don’t even – well, one in times is how many times you actually hit the green, never mind getting the ball close to the flag. Whereas if we said, okay, take your seven-iron, aim to the left hand side, aim to the big part of the green, the percentage of success goes through the roof, the golfer is going to have a lot more ability to hit that shot, and ultimately that shot would produce a lower score. So let’s make sure you’re always taking on a shot that you’re comfortable hitting with a decent amount of success predicted, rather than a once-in-a-lifetime kind of best moment of your lifetime around where you try and pull off a shot that you don’t really think you got a decent success of playing. So next time you are on the golf course consider the club selection, play shots you know you can play, play nice and committed, and don’t try to hit a 100 percent power. 2016-08-24

So selecting the right club is essential when we’re playing an iron shot. Now let’s just consider we’ve got a standard ion shot into a standard green 150 yards away, lots of different considerations we might have here. But I think there are sort of three ideas I’d like you to consider when you’re hitting these shots in. The first thing is I never think it’s great for a golfer to be swinging 100 percent full power all of the time, I just don’t really think that’s the way we should play. Often golfers when they’re hitting the ball absolutely flat out full power with their irons, they look a little bit unbalanced, they got a little bit inconsistent. Now the problem with hitting an iron shot 100 percent all the time is you don’t really need to do that. If you’re struggling to hit an iron shot 150 yards with the club you’ve got in your hands you’ve always got another club in your back that can go the extra distance. So if you’re 150 yards out and you’ve got 9-iron, you might say to me, well, I need to hit it 100 percent P otherwise I’m not going to reach the green, my question would be why we got 9-iron, take an 8-iron, swing it within yourself and you’ll hit the green easily.

So distance is often an issue that’s kind of golfers are creating their own problems by utilizing the wrong club. So think about swinging 95 percent of your full power rather 100 percent of your full power. Now, there’s a secondary issue that goes with that and that relates to commitment. We quite often see golfers as they’re hitting into the golf ball, swing back really hard, slow down as they’re hitting the ball, and they don’t really commit and they don’t really get through the ball with full power. The issue you have with that is you’re probably going to suffer from a poor strike and potentially poor direction because you’re not committing through the ball. So although I say I don’t want you to hit 100 percent full power, I do want you to hit with commitment, so sort of considered aggression rather than just shear power. It’s just nice and committed as you turn through the ball even though you’re not hitting that ball absolutely full power.

And one other consideration I’d like you to have when you’re assessing which club to hit, is never take on a shot that you’re not 90 percent sure you can pull off most of the time. We sometimes see golfers and almost talking to golfers you hear them say, well, I hate this shot because I thought I should, or I hate this shot because that’s what they would have done on TV. And in the back of their mind they know they’re not going to be able to play this shot regularly enough, that’s not to say they can’t play that shot once in a while. Let’s say we’ve got a par three over water and the flags tucked right in behind the pond, you know, a big part of the green overhead to the left, tiny part to the green where the flag is over there to the right, golfer stands on the tee and says, I’m going to try to fade an 8-iron into the wind, turn it over the pond, land it behind the flag and spin it back into the hole for the shot.

And I’m thinking, well that sounds great but what’s your potential of doing that shot? About one in ten times you don’t even – well, one in times is how many times you actually hit the green, never mind getting the ball close to the flag. Whereas if we said, okay, take your seven-iron, aim to the left hand side, aim to the big part of the green, the percentage of success goes through the roof, the golfer is going to have a lot more ability to hit that shot, and ultimately that shot would produce a lower score. So let’s make sure you’re always taking on a shot that you’re comfortable hitting with a decent amount of success predicted, rather than a once-in-a-lifetime kind of best moment of your lifetime around where you try and pull off a shot that you don’t really think you got a decent success of playing. So next time you are on the golf course consider the club selection, play shots you know you can play, play nice and committed, and don’t try to hit a 100 percent power.