Selecting a Golf Club

Video Transcript

"Okay, now we're at my shot here, and I've got about a hundred and eighty yards to get to my target. So if it's a perfectly still day, and I've got a nice lie, to hit the ball a hundred and eighty yards I might use a five iron normally. Okay, so that'd be a nice day, not much of a breeze at all, I've got a great lie, I use a five iron. However, if I have a wind, a reasonably brisk wind in my face directly at me, I might have to take a four iron to counteract that wind. And if the wind's real brisk, I might need a three iron. So that might be what's called a two club wind or a one club wind. Now let's say the wind is at my back. So normally I would use a five iron and the wind is at my back, so that will add distance to my shot. So if I use the five iron, I hit and I strike it well and the wind is at my back, I'm going to go further than the target that I want. So I might go and get a six iron or a seven iron out of my bag instead of a five iron because the wind changes can change your shot that much. So now if I'm at a cross wind, that may or may not affect my shot that much as far as the distance goes, but it could. And then there's variations. If the wind's a little bit this direction and a cross wind, so you have to through experience and practice, you're going to learn exactly how the wind's going to affect which club you use. Now let's say I've got a little bit of rough. So if I had a perfect lie, I'd use a five iron but I'm in the first cut of rough so I might grab a four iron. And if I'm in thick rough, I might grab a three iron. It might be a two club lie. So through experience, you're going to start figuring this stuff out. Now if I had a downhill lie, I might actually instead of using a five iron, I might use a six iron because the six iron is going to hit the ball further than normal on a downhill lie. So you've got to learn this stuff. Club selection is incredibly important and it's not something that you just learn in one day."