Amateur golfers often come up short of greens for a simple reason: they don't take enough club. By judging our carry distances by only our best shots, we fail to account for the times we miss the center of the face, which in many cases, is closer to reality.

The solution, coaches and statisticians say, is to take more club, even if that means making a smoother swing. By taking one or two extra clubs, you provide yourself margin for error on your mishits and better account for your actual carry distance. But does this strategy really help?

As part of our MythBusters series, Golf Digest staffers tested whether taking more club leads to improved iron play. Here’s what we found.