Dialing in Distance on New Irons
I recently bought new irons. If you must know, I walked out of a Golf Galaxy in Greenfield WI with some brand spankin new Callaway Steelhead XR Pro irons.
I went in thinking I would buy the Taylor Made M2 irons, even though I had read some reviews where users complained about the face caving in. In my mind, it was Taylor Made we were talking about, and they are a house name in golf so it had to be a fluke, right? Well, long story made short. I saw the Taylor Made M2s and also noticed the sleek look of the Callaway XR Pro’s, so I decided to test them both out. Both felt great, but you would not believe it, the M2s face caved in right there after hitting a few 7 irons into the simulator!
I quickly said, well, I am not buying these and proceeded to keep hitting the XR Pro’s. I also saw a set of pre-owned Titleist AP 17 irons that caught my eye. I hit them and they felt great, but they were blades and less forgiving so I decided to go forward with the gunmetal black Callaway irons.
I Got My New Clubs – Now What
I was pumped up. I got my new clubs and was happy about the purchase. I went from a 15 year old set of Cleveland TA4’s to some 2018 new technology irons. Some good friends that are pretty avid golfers brought it to my attention that I would most likely have to start from scratch to figure out exactly how far I hit each club. I suppose it was second nature to me with the old clubs because I was using them for so long. The feeling was that I would hit these new irons farther.
How I Nailed Down My Distances
Late March in Wisconsin. Not exactly prime golf weather, however a sunny 55 degree day was in the forecast and my golf buddies and I wasted no time making a tee time. One of my good friends had told me that he had been researching online and via https://golfwatchreviews.com, he treated himself to a snazzy new GPS golf watch at Christmas time.
I hadn’t even taken the new clubs to the range, and I had no idea how helpful this tool would be but let me tell you, it was unreal. He had a Garmin Approach S60, and this watch had all the bells and whistles. I suppose it should, because he told me the price and it is not a cheap little toy you get on whim!
He rode in the cart with me for my round and let me take advantage of all of the cool features this watch had to offer. What this did was helped me nail down my exact distances I was hitting each of my new irons really fast. Since we did not have time to hit a bucket at the range prior to our round, I had nothing to go on and this quickly helped me determine exactly how far each club was going. ASide from the things like distances to hazards, as well as front back and middle of green it tracked previous shot distance. All I did was jot these numbers down and I was set, new irons dialed in!
I don’t know much about all of the other watches on the market, but the S60 is bad ass. Using the watch that day prompted me to read the Approach S60 review and I am now really close to pulling the trigger. My wife might not like that, so I have to keep it hush hush!!
Final Thoughts
If you buy new clubs and need to dial in your distances try to find a pal with a golf watch, it is an awesome way to get the precise data you need to feel confident that you have the right club when you stand over your shot.
Check out this cool promo vid by Garmin showing some features of the watch I used that day. Enjoy.