How do you play a Tweener?

[PARETO]

Curious if you all are dead in between clubs, are you gearing back hitting the stronger iron or upping the speed and hitting the weaker iron. I’ll always rip at it as bad things happen to me when I gear down. You? 

[tatertot]

Choke up on the longer club and stand a little closer. Normal swing.

[Louis_Posture]

Just about always swing the longer club.

If you struggle with this I suggest playing a round or two of golf selecting a cub longer than your instinct tells you to play; and soon you will become comfortable swinging 6-iron instead of 7-iron, 9-iron instead of wedge etc...

[tatertot]

4 minutes ago, Louis_Posture said:

Just about always swing the longer club.

If you struggle with this I suggest playing a round or two of golf selecting a cub longer than your instinct tells you to play; and soon you will become comfortable swinging 6-iron instead of 7-iron, 9-iron instead of wedge etc...

What else helps is playing some rounds with half sets of irons ... You'll soon get comfortable hitting cut down 7s when you don't have an 8 in the bag.

[Haroputt]

Depend on the pin location and wind condition but generally I prefer to take one extra club and swing like fleetwood and knock down 

[JJFWebster]

I feel really comfortable hitting 3/4 shots so I’ll always pull the longer club. I used to up the speed on the lesser club but there is so much more that can go wrong.

[DrizZzY22]

It depends on the wind, but I generally go with the longer club and choke down about and inch. 

[SnowbirdTom]

Generally pull the longer club, but - slope of lie, wind direction and strength and grass depth all take a part in it.

[elwhippy]

Hit the weaker club harder. I find taking something off a shot usually leads to a drag left. 

[bcjim]

Longer.

[mat562]

Generally I favour the the longer club, but if the shot's downwind, I tend to prefer taking the shorter club and hitting it hard to get a higher flight and a bit more spin.

 

If the lie's a bit grassy, and there's the potential for a flier, I'll also go with the shorter club; particularly if the green is open-fronted, the pin's at the back, or if there's trouble over the green.

 

If the pin's left, and I'm looking to turn my shot over, I'll also tend to draw one in with the shorter club - and vice versa.

 

If I'm looking to bank an approach shot into a crosswind, to get a softer-landing shot, I'll tend to go with the longer club. If I'm moving the ball on the wind, conversely it's generally the shorter club that gets pulled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 1, 2023 by mat562

[Louis_Posture]

9 hours ago, tatertot said:

What else helps is playing some rounds with half sets of irons ... You'll soon get comfortable hitting cut down 7s when you don't have an 8 in the bag.

Yes absolutely a half set of irons is a great way to learn to play less than full shots. In fact after a bit of doing this many(most) players may come to realize their "stock 7-iron 160 yard shot" consistently ends up closer to the hole when playing a 6-iron.

[lchang]

If the long miss is a better situation than the short miss, take the longer iron. And vice versa. 

[tips09]

Depends on a variety of things but more often than not I will go with the longer club. Last season I really worked on a low cut while taking one extra club to hit my number and it works out for me most of the time. 

[hackinghokie]

I’ll typically pull a longer club and pull some off it. Either limiting the backswing and choking up or slowing everything down. 

[EddieEdwards]

Downwind shorter club, into wind longer.

Pin in back shorter, in front longer.

No reason to go one way or the other longer club.

[Christen_The_Sloop]

Old age is kicking in with a lot of my golf these days. Back in the day it was always take one more, make an aggressive swing. 

 

The last few years, I've come to appreciate taking a little off and it's basically become my standard shot.

 

Some points that haven't been raised are;

 

make a full shoulder turn - if I don't, I'm going to get steep and come across it 

Make sure to make a full finish, mainly concentrating on balance, staying aggressive through the ball 

 

Also, choke down

I aim for about 90% of my usual "full swing"

 

I play mostly tournaments, so when I get near the end and I've got a good round going I get a little excited. In these cases, when I've got a little adrenaline pumping, I'll go with a more full swing.

[lance1420]

13 hours ago, lchang said:

If the long miss is a better situation than the short miss, take the longer iron. And vice versa. 

This right here

[phizzy30]

I usually grip down a bit on a tweener shot.  Usually takes off 5-8 yards.  Problem with taking the longer club and taking something off it is for me is that it often leads to a shut face at impact and the result is a hook. 

[SNIPERBBB]

Trouble long short club. Trouble short, long club. 

[dsmil]

For the higher lofted clubs, I’d rather take something off of my swing because I already have the height that I need. If I’m in 4-6 iron range, I may choose to swing harder because I don’t want to sacrifice height.

[Dan Drake]

IIRC, someone did a study on this and just about everyone, even golfers who thought they did better swinging the shorter club harder, had better proximity results taking the extra club and doing something to take a smidge off.  Of course there are specific times (flier possibilities, downwind, back hole location w/serious trouble long, etc.) where the shorter club is the smarter play, but for just normal shots, go with the longer club.  

 

And I say all that as a "swing as hard as possible at virtually everything" guy.  

[ezra76]

Choke down on longer club and cut it or go up closer to 100% on shorter club and hit a draw (my draw is more a slight pull on purpose). From practicing with a prgr I know my smooth 7i is 80-81mph, regular 83-84 and shut face and rip it is 89-90.