Ian Poulter: How To Improve Your Distance Control

Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter offers his best tips to help improve your distance control

Ian Poulter: How To Improve Your Distance Control

Want to improve your distance control with your irons? Ryder Cup star and 12-time European Tour winner Ian Poulter shares his best tips...

First and foremost, I am not trying to swing the club at 100% with my irons.

Instead, I am trying to keep them moving at a consistent speed, giving me a consistent distance.

For me, a 5-iron goes 202 yards - that's a number I know becaue of TrackMan.

We look at data all the time and find the most frequent number.

As Tour Pros we have to be precise, and that's something every player can learn from.

I play in Pro-Ams week in, week out and it's surprising how few amateurs know the exact distance they hit the ball.

They think they hit a wedge 140 yards when they really hit it 130, and that's a big window!

Expand 18 Things You Didn’t Know About Ian Poulter

18 Things You Didn’t Know About Ian Poulter

Here are a selection of facts you may…

I understand that a lot of amateurs don't get time to hit thousands and thousands of golf balls, so if you are in a fortunate situation where you can get some data, it's always good to.

It means that when you've got 150 yards you know it's an 8-iron, or whatever club consistently gets that distance.

Speed is key, and if you want to take a little yardage off, swing it a bit smoother.

If you want to add a little yardage, hit it a bit harder.

Now you've got the options in there, if you're going to hit a cut, generally it's not going to go as far because it's got more spin on it.

If you're going to hit a draw, the ball is perhaps going to go a little longer, so bear that in mind.

If I've got a yardage where I want to land it 205 yards, perhaps, I would try to hit a three-yards draw to get that extra yardage out of my 5-iron.

And vice versa,, if you want to take some yardage off I will just hit a little cut shot.