8-iron — 2026-03-31

Average ball speed hit 107 mph today, up from 105 on 3/25, 100 on 3/24, and 103 on 3/21. The upward trend is real and accelerating. Shot 7 reached 114 mph with 152 yards of carry -- your fastest strike and longest carry across all four sessions, topping the previous best of 111 mph / 148 yards from 3/25. Three shots broke 110 mph today (shots 7, 8, 18) compared to just one on 3/25. The warmer conditions (75 degrees, up from 64) helped, but ball speed gains of 2 mph session-over-session can't be explained by temperature alone. Your swing is producing more speed.

First 3 shots averaged 120 carry at 100 mph. Shots 4-18 averaged 140 carry at 108 mph -- a 20-yard, 8 mph jump once you warmed up. This is the inverse of 3/25, where the first 10 averaged 140 and the last 10 dropped to 129. Today you got better as the session went on. Shots 13-16 were the peak: 145 carry average at 108 mph with only R4 average curve. That four-shot stretch was the most consistent, controlled sequence across any session. The takeaway: your body needed 3-4 warmup swings before the mechanics clicked, but once they did, you held quality through 18 balls without the late-session contact fade that hurt you last time.

Shots 7 and 8 were your two longest carries (152, 149) and two of your three fastest speeds (114, 111). But they went L17 and L12 offline with almost zero curve (R1 and R0). That's a pull -- face and path both aimed left, so the ball flew dead straight in the wrong direction. These aren't the draw misses from 3/25, where the ball curved left. Today the ball didn't curve at all; it just started left and stayed there. When you're generating maximum speed, your body is rotating harder through the ball, and if the club gets trapped inside, the face squares early and everything goes left. Shot 16 (L1 curve, L11 offline) shows a similar pattern at lower speed. The common thread: your biggest left misses happen on your best-compressed strikes.

Only shot 16 curved left (L1 yard). Every other shot curved right. On 3/25 you had 5 left-curving shots and a developing two-way miss. Today that's gone -- the fade is firmly your stock shape. The issue is magnitude: shots 2, 5, 11 had R15-R16 curve, and shot 12 had R13. Those are significant slices that cost distance and accuracy. Shot 2 (R16 curve, R15 offline, 115 carry) was the worst combination. When curve exceeds R10, carry drops below 136 every time. By contrast, shots 14-15 had R3 curve and averaged 146 carry. The difference between a tight fade and a slice is 10+ yards of carry and 15+ yards of offline dispersion.

Shot 12 stands out as a clear mishit: 10-degree launch angle (vs. 18-degree average), only 11 yards of height, 28-degree landing angle, and 4.1 seconds of hang time. But ball speed was 109 mph -- not a duff, a thin strike that caught the ball low on the face. The result: 133 carry but 151 total distance, with 18 yards of roll. For comparison, your average rollout today was 4 yards. This ball would have run through a green. On the course, a thin 8-iron that rolls 18 yards past the pin is a bogey maker. The positive: it went dead straight (0 yards offline), which suggests your path and face were aligned -- you just caught it thin.

3/21 (68 degrees, 5 mph): 142 carry, 103 mph. 3/24 (58 degrees, 11 mph headwind): 114 carry, 100 mph. 3/25 (64 degrees, 13 mph crosswind): 135 carry, 105 mph. 3/31 (75 degrees, 12 mph SW gusts): 137 carry, 107 mph. The warmest day produced the highest ball speed but only the second-highest carry. The 3/21 calm-day session still holds the carry record at 142. Today's 137 in a gusty SW wind suggests a no-wind carry around 143-147 at this ball speed. If you strip out the 3 cold-start shots, the adjusted average is 140 carry -- right in line with projections. Your true 8-iron number in neutral conditions is converging on 145.

1. Warm up before counting. Your first 3 shots cost you 5 yards on the session average. Hit 3-5 easy swings before going to full effort. 2. The pull is your new big miss. Shots 7, 8, and 16 all went 11-17 yards left with minimal curve. When you feel yourself swinging hard, check that you're not getting stuck inside. The pull happens on your fastest swings. 3. Curve control is the carry key. Shots with curve under R5 averaged 145 carry. Shots with curve over R10 averaged 127 carry. That's an 18-yard penalty for losing the face. Focus on keeping curve single digits. 4. The late-session fatigue from 3/25 didn't repeat. 18 shots seems sustainable. Consider adding a second club next time while you're warm. 5. Your 8-iron carry by condition: 145 calm/warm, 137-140 moderate wind at 75 degrees, 135 crosswind at 64 degrees, 114 cold headwind. Club selection should account for a 30-yard range.