What Does Choking Down on a Golf Club Do?
- Control. When you choke down on the golf club, you can gain quite a bit more control. ...
- Distance. Choking down on the club will reduce the distance you can hit the ball. ...
- Wind. When you are hitting into the wind or even downwind, it is good to keep your ball flight lower. ...
- Getting Out of Trouble. ...
What is the advantage of choking down a golf club?
May 06, 2020 · However, there are other possibilities that can come with choking down on a club and the type of results it can provide. The most common reason a golfer will choke down on the club is to reduce the distance of a shot. If you want to take a few yards off your usual distance that you get from your club, then choke down on it.
What does choking down on the club mean?
When you choke down on the golf club, you can gain quite a bit more control. Choking down shortens the club by about an inch or a half-inch. If you have a shot into a green that requires some precision, choking down is a great choice. You can also choke down on the driver when you are hitting shots off the tee.
Why do golfers choke down their irons?
Mar 24, 2022 · What is Choking Down in Golf? Choking down on a golf club means moving your hand farther down the grip, which allows you to make varying distance shots with different clubs. There are a number of reasons golfers choke down. Yes, we did mention that choking down is usually a bad habit but if done in the right situation, it can lead you to victory. Choking down …
What is the downside of choking down the shaft?
Choking down on the golf club changes its swing weight. It also makes the shaft a little stiffer, which results in a lower ball trajectory and a reduction in distance. This is ideal on days when you’re not at the races or if the wind is up.
What does choking up on golf club do?
When should you choke up on a golf club?
If you need to take a few yards off the typical distance that you would get from a given club, you can choke down. For example, if you usually hit your 7-iron 150-yards, but you need to hit a 145-yard shot, you could choke down an inch or two and make a comfortable swing.Feb 20, 2019
Will choking down on driver Help?
Does choking down change swing weight?
Is it OK to choke down on golf club?
What does choke down mean?
informal. : to eat (something) with difficulty or without enjoyment The meal was overcooked, but I managed to choke down a few bites.
Should I choke down chipping?
How far should I choke down on my driver?
How far down should a golf club shaft be?
Should you choke down on long irons?
What does hovering the driver do?
What Does Choking Down on a Golf Club Do?
Most of the reasons behind choking down on the golf club have to do with control.
Can I Choke Down if My Clubs Are too Long?
We talked about all the effects of choking down on a golf club and how it can help your golf game from time to time.
How Far Down the Club Should You Grip?
Most of the time, you are going to want to grip the club about a half-inch down the shaft.
Can I Choke Down on Wedge Shots?
Around the green is where you will see the majority of golfers choke up on their golf club.
Conclusion
Hopefully, now you can see that choking up on the golf club is something all golfers should try from time to time.
What happens when you choke down on a golf club?
When you choke down on the club by half-inch or an inch, your shot into the green has precision. You can also start with the tee shot by choking down to gain more time to develop a strategy.
Why do you choke down on a 9 iron?
As mentioned earlier, the primary purpose of choking down is to reduce the distance. It’s the same as using a 9-iron which is shorter than your 6-iron. They affect the distance but if you choke down on bigger iron, you will achieve the same results.
What does it mean when you choke down on a golf club?
Obviously, if you are going to choke down on your club – which means moving your hands down the grip at address – you need to have a good reason. If there wasn’t anything to gain by choking down, after all, you would just keep your standard grip and hit a normal shot. So, what can you gain by choking down?
When to use a choke down shot?
Choke down shots are also used often when the wind is blowing. A shot played with your hands down the grip will usually come out lower and fly lower as it heads toward the target. That’s a great thing when the wind is blowing and making it difficult to move the ball around the course accurately.
Is golf boring?
Golf would be a pretty boring game if you hit every single shot the exact same way. It’s the variety of the game that makes it interesting. The fact that you need to be able to produce many different shots in order to rise to the various challenges you’ll encounter on the course is what makes this game so addicting.
When you make a full swing while keeping your hands up at the top of the club, you are likely to produce
When you make a full swing while keeping your hands up at the top of the club, you are likely to produce a significant amount of backspin. That is particularly true if you are hitting a short iron from a fairway lie.
Should you cut the finish of a golf swing?
If you are choking down as a way of hitting the ball lower, it’s a good idea to cut off the finish of the swing. Rather than swinging all the way up to a full finish with the club wrapped around your back, cut it off on the way through and finish with the club out in front of your body.
Is a golf club shorter than a normal swing?
Remember – the club is now effectively shorter than it would be for a normal swing. That means you don’t have as much club between your hands and the ground, so you will need to do a good job of staying down through impact if you are going to make clean contact.
The Test
Based on the success I had going with a shorter driver, I was interested to see what kind of results I would get if I choked down a bit on my irons.
Sand Wedge
Hitting full shots with my sand wedge surprisingly did not alter my ball flight all too much. Here were some of my key findings:
Seven Iron
My dispersion was tighter in both directions. I had better distance control (8 yards between shortest/longest shot vs 13 yards). Looking at my dispersion left to right, I also had a tighter dispersion of about 10 yards.
Four Iron
With the longest iron in my bag I started to notice even more significant changes:
Driver
Just for fun, I did try to grip down on my driver. My shaft is already shortened down to 44”, which is about 1 ½” to 2” shorter than standard. It’s been one of the greatest changes I’ve made with my clubs. It has given me more accuracy off the tee without sacrificing too much distance.
How I Will Use This Information
After I had performed this test I had a bit more confidence over what I can expect when choking down on my irons. It’s not something I really ever did during rounds, but I tried it out several times on the course since then.
What Can You Learn From This
I want to reiterate that not all of you will see the same results as me. However, doing tests like these helps remove question marks in your golf game. If I can get reliable data on how making these small changes will affect my ball flight, I’ll have more confidence on the course.