Best Way to Judge Distance and Take the Right Club on Golf Course

Judging distance well and taking the right club are essential to good scoring. Men tend to judge distance better; it is a psychologically proven phenomenon. It is noticeable on the golf course.

The first stage with your long game is to know how far you hit the ball with each club. Ideally for a reasonably long hitting woman golfer there should be a 9-metre (10-yard) gap in distance between adjacent irons.

A good amateur golfer would probably hope to carry the ball 135 metres (150 yards) with a 5 iron, and then up or down 9 metres (10 yards) from there. Most are unlikely to have a 10-yatd gap between the 3 and 4 iron, but the 7 wood and 5 wood take over from there. Learn to judge distances, either by pacing off the distances with well-hit shots, assessing where they land and not where they run, or use the par 3 holes on your home course for reference.

Club golfers invariably under-club. Be realistic. Firstly, remember that most trouble around greens is at the front. If you pitch to the flag you avoid most of the bunkers. Secondly, the distance from the front of the green to the flag is often foreshortened. But mote important, if the flag is anywhere behind centre on the green it will probably look far nearer to the back of the green than it really is. You may think there is a space of 5 or 6 paces to the back of the green, with bushes or rough beyond. In reality the distance is usually much greater than we imagine. There are probably 20 paces between the flag and the trouble beyond the green. Get used to looking at the positions of flags on the green as you pass them when playing other holes.

Under-club by one club – 10 paces -and you risk three-putting. Convince yourself that there aren’t man-eating tigers over the back of greens. The world is round, not flat, and there is just as much space beyond the flag as in front of it. When you watch players approach the green from the side it seems ridiculous that they are constantly short.

In order to improve, try to pass the flag on every single shot you play. Keep a note on your scorecard. Give yourself a point every time your shot to the green finishes on the green beyond the flag. Professionals find this scoring zone far more often than club golfers. Many club golfers soon discover that they never, ever pass the flag.

To judge distance well, do not select the club to be used until you are right at the ball – not even 10 metres before you get to it. Don’t think ahead of yourself.