Play Better Golf: 8 Iron vs. Sand Wedge

• Posted on Grant
• in Course Management, Golf Fundamentals, Short Game
• on October 28, 2013
• Comments Off on Play Better Golf: 8 Iron vs. Sand Wedge

A few days ago, I was giving a lesson to Shannon, a five handicap. From where we were hitting shots, she had 34 yards to the hole. She needed to carry 6 yards of rough and she had 28 yards of green to work with.

In the past, when faced with this shot, Shannon had always hit a wedge. I suggested she use an 8-iron for this particular shot. After about ten shots with the 8-iron to get the feel, we did a test: The Sand Wedge versus the 8-iron.

We performed the test by alternating clubs on every shot. Shannon hit one sand wedge using a ball with no markings, then one 8-iron using a ball with markings on it, then back to the sand wedge, back to the 8-iron, alternating until she had hit 9 balls with each club. Then I went out on the green with a tape measure and charted where, and how far the balls had ended up from the hole.

Which club do you think had the best results?? Keep in mind she had never used the 8-iron for this kind of shot before.

Click on Diagram to Enlarge

The 8-iron blew the sand wedge away! It wasn’t even close. The 8-iron averaged 9 feet from the hole, while the Sand Wedge averaged 20 feet from the hole. On top of that, every 8-iron shot looked like it was going in, while the Sand Wedge shots never even got to the hole!

The point of this test is not that the 8-iron is the only club to use all the time. But, for this particular shot, it was the best club to use.

If you have the time to perform a test like this, please let me know how this helped you play better golf!

GB