PGA Tour Iron Length

General Discussion
#1

I’m really curious about some of the discussion that arose from GolfTV’s tweet about average tour pro iron yardages ([https://twitter.com/practicalgolf/status/1390638354002284546?s=20]) and thought it would be an interesting discussion. I believe these number either came from or closely resemble the 2014 Trackman post below.

As @jon 's tweet implies, there is no doubt in my mind that these numbers don’t add up. I played at Harding Park after the PGA Championship and geek out with my daughter over the tivo recording of the event, and there were clearly guys hitting 7-iron 200-ish yards in cold, foggy conditions.

I guess my question is what the discrepancy is?

Here’s a couple of possible theories assuming this all came from the trackman post:

  • These came from 2014 and the world has changed in 7 years
  • The pros regularly slow their swing speed down for certain shots but have plenty of speed and extra distance when it’s needed or when they are amped up and playing well (ie avg != typical)
  • PGA players use more traditional lofts than amateur players
  • There is a big distance difference between well known tour players and the people lower in the rankings.
  • The data represents pro’s practice time which includes swing changes, drills, etc and isn’t a great source of information.

Some of these theories I don’t think add up for me personally (ie the traditional loft argument for instance)

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#2

As a completely anecdotal story… I have pretty high club head speed (or I did)… my driver swing speed was 115ish and my 7 iron was trackman verified at 95-96 during a fitting… Just looking at the trackman numbers, pros are similar in driver speed and 5mph slower with a 7 iron…

As much as I like to believe I’m just THAT good… I’m not… my irons are only 1/2 inch over standard length, but my driver probably plays at least an inch longer than most pros (I play 45-46 inches in my driver)…

So to me, that means something is up with the data and the numbers… I’m also hitting a 7 iron 180 yards right now, and I’m not swinging well or as fast as I used to…

A quick check of Trackman’s own website confirms my biases!

Jon Rahm is swinging a 9 iron 98 mph and hitting it 174 yards… His driver speed is 117, so it’s not crazy high.

I think the data is clearly flawed, or was at least captured imperfectly.

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#3

image

I think this probably represents the upper quartile on tour decently

On tour there are only two types of player:
Long and really long

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#4

you really see crazy stuff when they are downwind with a flyer lie

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#5

Interesting topic. A question from a technology whelp… For those of you that Trackman it, do your Trackman distance numbers square with your on-course distances?

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#6

I use a gc quad and it’s pretty darn close.

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#7

My Trackman numbers are 5-10 yards longer indoors. If I’m using it outdoors it’s pretty dead on. I prefer to use it outdoors, but rarely get the chance since I don’t have a spare $15k sitting around to actually own one.
I have tested my SC300 side by side with a Trackman and it’s generally within a 1-3 yard difference. Numbers pretty close down the line for what it measures.
I’m excited to get my Skytrak to get some more accurate indoors numbers over the winter.
That was a really long way of saying outdoors it’s pretty spot on. Indoors a little inflated.

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#8

Those #'s look low for the PGA Tour. I seem to recall Champions Tour #'s looking like that though. When I watch golf I can usually guess what club a PGA pro will pull as it’s usually 2-3 club less than me lol.

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#9

Yessir; 2-3 clubs is my default as well…

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#10

I don’t think I necessarily agree with your theory that they have more normal lofts. That would vary player to player so think that can be ruled out of the equation. I just think the numbers are old or somehow skewed.

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#11

I think the numbers are definitely off… I also remember the story of someone asking Ben Hogan what he hit 150 yards and he responded by then hitting basically every club in his bag 150 yards (not sure if he took a full swing with his putter).

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#12

Yeah, that’s what got me curious in the first place. I always hear that PGA tour pros would rather swing hard on shorter club than easy with a longer club but I’m not sure that’s really true except for a case where the nerves are super high.

Taking stress out of the equation, I usually do better laying a little off on a club than trying to squeak out a few more yards by cranking on it.

My inner #decade voice also questions about how I deal with things like wind conditions. I’ve historically jumped into a “knock down 8” over a “wedge” when the wind is up but I wonder I should just play my standard shot and do a little algebra to determine the club and distance.

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#13

I think the hit it hard vs. easy debate is based on what your “stock” shot is. When you’re on the range what swing do you make? Can you go a little harder at it or not? Sometimes hitting it “easy” takes you out of your rhythm of your stock shot and can lead to squirrely shots.

I try not to ease something unless it’s into the wind and I’m trying to prevent too much spin.

Try to stick to my standard shot (not trying to crush it/ease into it). Generally speaking (and this is probably more ideally thinking than what I would actually do) If pin is front and my standard shot may come up short, I’ll take one more and maybe choke up a little but keep normal swing). Pin is back and standard shot could go long, take one less (but don’t try to crush it)

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#14

Of course playing today I had a shot I needed to push the limit a little - 185 uphill to front pin. 5 is a 195 shot but with little breeze wasn’t convinced it was the club, but if I hit 4 and went about 8yds past it was dead (goes up to second level and 2 putt is nearly impossible). Short is tough to get it close. I should have hit stock 5 and dealt with hard up and down and been ok with par, but I went after the 5 hard and hooked it OB. then hit 5 again, left it short, and hit all world pitch to tap in and save 6 … blah

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#15

I would agree that these yardages seem a off. I would assume that an average pro is one club longer than this list.

I am going to use Wesley Bryant as an example right now just as he done youtube videos with his brother where I would say he a club longer as well. So far this year he is 71st in driving distance.

I don’t think players use more traditional lofts but I will say that they are not using stronger lofted irons. For an example out of the last 7 winners on the PGA Tour, 5 of them were using a specialty wedge as their PW and the lofts were the following:

  • 46 degrees for 4 players
  • 48 degrees for 1 player

I don’t think you are going to see 44 or 43 degree PW on the PGA Tour.

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#16

I have seen this from an, admittedly gifted, former co-worker of mine when I was working at the resort. Bullseye type putter, iirc. He won a few bucks from my sillier coworkers who gave him action.

As to the OP, the LOLtastic drives at the end of the US Open should give pause to anyone considering those Trackman Tour numbers as gospel. ‘357 yds on the 18th…?!’

I can’t do that with a cannon, never mind Trackman numbers suggesting Tour Pros are only 30 or so yards better than me with a driver… Sure…sure they are buddy.

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#17

I idolized Mr Hogan’s work ethic. He certainly had a dry sense of humor, hitting every club in his bag 150yds. I did learn one thing as I was being taught to play this game. When I was learning, the trap always was play like Faldo or Norman…distances etc… It is a trap. I don’t worry about what pros do or how far Rahmbo hits his 9i. I have to worry about how far I hit 42. All the pros equipment is dialed in for them. Even if you get fitted, your equipment will never be as dialed in as theirs. I hit my clubs according to their loft, Call them what you want Niblick. Mashie etc. Mine go, 60, 54, 50, 46, 42, 38, 34, 32, 28, 23, 18, 14, 9.5 and P. Tour distances are on another planet now…