What to do when you’re in between clubs, according to a top instructor

When you’re in between clubs, it can be difficult to decide what to do: Should you club up and choke down, take a three-quarter swing, or be aggressive with a higher-lofted club? Oh, and don’t forget to be relaxed about whatever you choose. The anxiety is immense! It’s no surprise these shots don’t often end well.

While approaches can obviously vary by player, GOLF Teacher to Watch Jonathan Buchanan doesn’t recommend going with the hit-it-hard method.

“When people try to hit it too hard, that’s a problem,” he says. “Bad things happen.”

According to Buchanan, the real key to conquering in-between shot indecision is knowing your carry distance with each club.

“Just because you go on TrackMan and hit one 8-iron that goes 150 yards, that doesn’t mean every swing is going to be that way,” he says. “I think most people should get an understanding of what their carry distance is, because what a lot of people don’t understand is that it may be 150 yards to the hole, but it’s just 142 yards to cover it.”

The cover distance is key here, because as Buchanan says, if you don’t cover that distance with your shot, then the total distance is irrelevant.

“If you know how far the ball is gonna fly in the air, that’s a big thing,” he says.

In addition to having a good handle on each club’s carry distance, Buchanan is also a fan of honing in your distance knowledge on less-than-full swings.

“I’m a big fan of half shots, learning how to hit half shots, because I think it improves your technique,” he says. “But also helps in those in-between situations. Often, taking more club and learning how to hit a three-quarter punch shot is the best route.”

Knowing your carry distances can benefit your game in many ways, and now you can add eliminating indecision on in-between shots to the list.

For more tips from Jonathan Buchanan, click here.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.