The distance you hit your 9 iron will depend greatly on your clubhead speed and the quality of the contact you have with the ball. As your golf game changes, you will notice that distances are also impacted.

Beginner

Beginner golfers are the most inconsistent, and therefore distance is not something you can calculate quite as easily. Some beginners have very high clubhead speeds, while others are slow.

However, most beginners can get about 115 yards of distance from their 9 iron. You may start slow with this club and notice only about 100 yards, which is entirely acceptable.

Once you start making contact with the center of the clubface, you can expect to reach 115 yards more consistently from each of your swings with a 9 iron.

High Handicap

Higher handicap golfers have some of the same issues that beginners have. They may hit a 9 iron shot that travels 120 yards and then another that travels 110. Most average swing speed high handicappers will try to get the 9 iron to fly between 115 and 120 yards.

The key for golfers in this handicap range is to ensure that they are getting more consistent distance and slightly higher clubhead speed.

Mid Handicap

Mid-handicap players will consider the 9 iron to be a 125-yard club. Some mid-handicappers start to develop a lot of clubhead speed, and you could end up seeing a 130-yard shot from this group.

However, the mid handicappers will still want to ensure they are getting a higher trajectory, plenty of spin, and control with the total distance of the 9 iron.

Mid-handicappers often start to pay more attention to things like carry distance and total distance. Although your total distance for your 9 iron may be 125 yards, the carry distance may only be 120 yards. Keep that in mind when going over a hazard.

Low Handicap

Low handicap players often get about 130-140 yards of distance from the 9 iron. Most lower handicap golfers have more consistency in their swing, and they can get the ball to make contact with the center of the clubface quite often.

Low handicap players with higher speeds can see distances up to 150 yards with their 9 iron.

It’s important to remember that lower handicappers playing with power lofted clubs will see more distance than lower handicappers playing with blade style golf irons. The golf club you are playing with certainly comes into play when determining total distances.

Here’s a summary of what we covered above:

PGA Players

PGA Players have tremendously high clubhead speeds. Although it’s not a requirement to be a professional, it’s nearly impossible to compete on the PGA Tour unless you have high clubhead speed.

The PGA Tour Players will hit a 9 iron anywhere from 150 to 190 yards. A golfer like Bryson DeChambeau can get up to 190 yards of distance with his 9 iron because of his incredibly high clubhead speeds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YevOs-c5nlE

At some point, I think PGA Tour players are more concerned with their accuracy than their total distance. If you think about it, when your 9 iron can travel nearly 200 yards, what will be your 100-yard club?

The point is only a certain amount of distance is beneficial. At some point, it makes sense just to have control and spin and a distance you can trust.

Tips for Hitting Your 9 Iron Further

If you feel like you’re not currently maxing out on distance with your 9 iron, there are a few ways that you may be able to increase it.

Recently, I had trouble with distance and determined that it was actually the golf ball I was using that was causing the problems for me. So let’s start there…

Check Your Golf Ball

Some golf balls are distance golf balls, and others are built for spin and control. If your swing speed is not entirely high and you are using a four or five-piece golf ball, you may not be maximizing your distance potential.

I encourage you to have a good idea of your swing speed and the compression of the golf ball you are playing with. For slower swing speed golfers, the lower compression golf ball is a better fit.

Ensure Full Rotation

The 9 iron is a shorter club than your long irons or driver. Sometimes when golfers have this shorter club in their bag, they rotate a little less and struggle to get that full turn in their swing.

I like to think about my left shoulder turning underneath my chin. If my left shoulder makes it to that position, the club will be in the right place at the top. This full rotation gets your club to parallel and allows for a bit more extension and speed.

Work on Accuracy

Speed is often the ultimate factor in increasing distance in your golf shots. Speed is essential, but so is the accuracy of the strike.

In fact, if you have a ton of speed and you apply it to the clubhead and miss the sweet spot, don’t expect impressive results.

The closer you strike the ball to the center of the clubface, the easier it is to get the distance. It’s as simple as that.

Clubhead sweet spots have gotten bigger, but the golfer still has to do quite a bit of the work.

Practice Smart Strength and Conditioning

Golfers that spend some time in the gym almost always have higher clubhead speeds than those that don’t. When you work out and spend time increasing your speeds, you will see more distance from your 9 iron.

I highly recommend sticking with golf-specific exercises. If you take things too far with muscle building, it can result in a lack of mobility. Speaking with a trainer and letting them know you want to gain distance in your game is also a smart idea.

Proper Ball Position

I like to play the ball in the middle of my stance. When I do that with the 9 iron, I seem to have the best chance for solid turf interaction, a good divot, and improved total distance.

When the ball is too far forward, the shots are thinner and don’t have as much total distance. Hitting the ball from too far back in the stance can cause issues with the clubface angle.

Hit Down and Through

We need the 9 iron to go up high when we hit shots, but to get this ball flight. It is essential to hit down and through the golf ball. For golfers that are still trying to lift the ball up in the air, long distance becomes an issue.

If you need some help learning how to hit down and through and compress a ball, simply lean a little on your left side and take some half swing shots. This should give you the feeling of compressing the ball to get a higher and longer final result.

Hitting down and through the ball is a challenging concept at first, but all great players will need to learn it.

Brittany Olizarowicz

Britt O has been playing golf since the age of 7. Almost 30 years later, she still loves the game, has played competitively on every level, and spent a good portion of her life as a Class A PGA Professional. Britt currently resides in Savannah, GA, with her husband and two young children. Current Handicap: 1

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Dreaded fat shots are some of the most frustrating shots in golf.

Sometimes you will hit a great drive setting yourself up for an easy 100-yard shot into the pin. In your mind, this ball is going to land about ten feet from the hole setting you up for an easy birdie.

However, if you hit the ball fat, chances are your shot ends up about fifteen yards ahead of you.

Hitting fat shots can be stopped. You can improve your ball striking with a few adjustments to the ball position, address, and spine angle. What causes a fat shot in golf?

Another way to cause a fat shot in golf is to take a divot in front of your ball instead of behind it. It is common for golfers to make fat shots. This could be due to improper weight transfer, excessive head movement or even a wrong mental image of how to launch a ball into the air. How Does Hitting a Thick Shot Compare?

How does this compare to Hitting A Thin Shot

When hitting a fat shot the golf club strikes behind the ball, before it even makes contact with the balls. Hitting a “thin shot” means that you only strike the ball, or at least partially towards the middle. Here are some tips to stop hitting your golf balls fat. The common causes of hitting the ball fat can usually be fixed with a few sessions at the range.

Keep Your Head Stationary

One of the most common causes for hitting behind the ball is that your head moves up and down or side to side in your golf swing. If you look at videos of great players, you can see that there is, in fact, a bit of head movement.

However, most of the time, the head stays level, and it can return to the same exact position when it’s time to strike the ball. This head movement is a major problem for many players. This movement is never made. If you keep your head still and stay right over the ball, you are less likely to hit a chunk. We understand that it can be boring to focus on the ball position during your golf swing. However, it’s incredible how one tiny golf ball positioning can make or break your ability to have the clubhead strike in the proper position.

Ball position that is pushed too far forward towards the left foot (for right-handed players) can become a problem. It is better to keep the ball a little closer to the middle. Use a series of alignment sticks to help you

map out the proper feet position and ball position.

Move Weight Towards Left Foot

The goal of every golf swing is to finish with your weight forward on your left foot, standing square to the target with a full rotation. Most players tend to get stuck on the back leg. This leaves them feeling like they can’t get full distance, and it often results in hitting fat shots.

Sometimes golfers get lazy and have a bad swing habit that keeps their weight back. Some golfers have a tendency of overswinging, which makes it difficult to move the weight forward. Do not load up your setup so that 90% of your weight is on the left foot. Take a few swings like this and see if you can feel that weight making its way to the left side a little easier.

Play with this balance and transfer until you can find a happy medium that allows for a cleaner and crisper transfer of weight.

Mental Perception Changes

Are you one of the golfers that believe you need to lift the ball up in the air? You need to let go of that idea. If you take a divot after the golf ball and hit it at the bottom part of your swing arc, then the ball will fly and the distance will be great. Start visualizing the correct impact position. Don’t overcomplicate the process by trying to lift the ball yourself.

This concept is really easy to learn when you practice chipping. You will notice that it is much easier to hit a crisp and clean golf shot when you keep your hands in front as opposed to flipping the arms to lift the ball. It is not always the swing that causes fat shots. You can set yourself up to hit a fat shot by the way you approach the ball. You may find it difficult to transfer your weight if you have a wide stance. There are not too many downsides to a more narrow stance as long as you have some balance and stability.

In fact, many golfers that are struggling with their swing will take a narrow stance to see if they can control things and get it back to the standard position.

Next, make sure that you have enough room to swing the club. You will hit the ball behind if you stand too near it. You will hit the ball behind it if you stand too close. The longer your club is, the farther you stand from the golf ball. In addition, make sure that you can fully transfer your weight and get to the forward position with all of your weight on the left side.

Brittany Olizarowicz

Britt O has been playing golf since the age of 7. She still plays golf, has competed at every level and has spent a large part of her career as a Class-A PGA Professional. Britt lives in Savannah, GA with her husband, and their two children. Current handicap: 1

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