Full iron versus flighted iron - when?

[bortass]

Background: Been playing for years and have always been a short knocker as in 9i is my 120 club. Went to a Monte clinic in late April of this year and find out all my swings are partial backswings. When he was showing the other guys how to flight an iron, he told me to just make my normal swing and club selection, lol. I've been playing more of a flighted shot with all my clubs. I've gotten better with taking a full swing with driver and woods and it's made a big difference.

 

Irons( not wedges) leave me scratching my head a bit though. I'm coming from the opposite side of the guys that smash irons/wedges as hard as they can and need to learn to take some off at times. All I'm used to is hitting more flighted shots, so besides the top end with my 5i, which I will hit full out for one tee shot on a par 4, I almost never hit a full iron. So I must be missing out on something... Right?

 

Assume an actual full swing is one club longer that a flighted iron to just keep it simple. I'm using 8i and 9i in the question but it could be 6i/7i, etc. I asked something similar in another long running thread but thought it's get more feedback on it's own.

 

When/why would I want to hit a full 9i instead of a flighted 8i? The yardages are the same and my flighted 8i will handle whatever wind there is better. I tend to hit a high ball in case that matters unless I thin it.

 

 

 

 

 

[TLUBulldogGolf]

Wind would be the main thing. If the greens are really soft and you want to keep spin off flighted is better. Front pins a higher shot might be preferred to stop it quicker, back pins flighted is probably a better way to attack them. 

[SNIPERBBB]

Full when you need the extra height or spin to hold the hreen

[getitdaily]

Flighted for me 

 

- wind and the need to keep the ball down

- tweaner yardage and I want to hit the longer club softer

Edited August 9, 2023 by getitdaily

[bortass]

1 hour ago, TLUBulldogGolf said:

Wind would be the main thing. If the greens are really soft and you want to keep spin off flighted is better. Front pins a higher shot might be preferred to stop it quicker, back pins flighted is probably a better way to attack them. 

So for the back pin, you're looking to land the shot closer to the middle of the green and letting it release to the back. I understand green size and how much release you get can change the middle landing spot but that's the general concept, correct?

[TLUBulldogGolf]

6 minutes ago, bortass said:

So for the back pin, you're looking to land the shot closer to the middle of the green and letting it release to the back. I understand green size and how much release you get can change the middle landing spot but that's the general concept, correct?

 

If the greens allow for it that's the idea, I play with a lot of spin even with a knockdown shot so I don't get much release at least from the fairway, but it still feels like a safer way to go at a back pin. 

Edited August 9, 2023 by TLUBulldogGolf