We’re going to talk a little bit today about flying your golf ball into those cold winds. There’s an old saying in golf that there’s really no such thing as a one-club. We’re going to take a look at that today.
Davis Lamb is here with me. Davis carries his 9-iron about 148 yards.
Our TrackMan numbers say that launched at about 22 degrees and carried about right on the number, 147 or so. So it launched pretty low; height total was 102. And we’re going to put a 7-iron in his hand, and we’re going to grip the 7-iron the same length as a 9-iron. We’re going to ask Davis to make his same 9-iron golf swing. So he’s gripping down quite a bit on it ball positions not going to change, we’re just going to let him make the same swing.
Our original height with the nine iron was launched at around 22° and it was 102 feet high. We brought that launch down to 16° and the height down from 102 to 78 feet. And the carry only went up by about seven yards and that seven yards with no wind.
So if we added the wind to that the carry is going to be about the same, but it launched a lot lower, he didn’t have to put the ball back and potentially spin it more. He just made his same golf swing with a 7-iron at 9-iron length with the same ball position and we got quite a bit of difference in the launch characteristics of that golf ball without adding spin into the wind.
If you want to play better in the wind, try not to put the ball too far back in your stance, which steepens the swing and adds spin. Keep the ball in the same spot, but go down two clubs and then grip it the length of the club you would normally hit. Make your normal swing and the ball will launch lower without that spin getting up on it.
