Golf Club Gapping: How to Space Your Clubs
How to measure your carries, find holes and overlaps in your bag, and fix them, plus the Ping iron-gap rule of thumb reported by Golf.com.
Golf club gapping means checking that each club in your bag flies a useful distance different from the one next to it. Too small a gap and two clubs do the same job; too big and you face a shot that fits no club. Ping’s Marty Jertson ties the gap between irons to 7-iron ball speed. The only way to know your gaps is to measure your own carries, and this page shows how.
A rule of thumb for iron gaps
Ping’s Marty Jertson, speaking on Ping’s Proving Grounds podcast, gives this rule: 7-iron ball speed in mph, “divide that by 10”, gives a good gap between irons in yards (Golf.com). Golf.com’s example, a golfer with 110 mph 7-iron ball speed, is given as roughly 10 yards.
If you know your 7-iron ball speed, divide it by 10. If you don’t, treat 10 yards as a starting reference. A launch monitor shows ball speed. Golf.com also warns that a gap that is too big between neighbouring irons leaves “tweener” shots. The rule is described for iron sets; for woods and the driver, rely on your measured carries.
How to find your gaps
- Warm up, then use the same ball for every club.
- Hit five to ten full swings with each club in similar conditions. Measure carry with a launch monitor or simulator. Without one, use a range with yardage markers and note where the ball first lands, not where it stops.
- Throw out obvious mishits and write down the median carry (and the stamped loft) of the rest: the middle shot when you line them up from shortest to longest, not your best one.
- List the clubs from longest to shortest, then subtract each carry from the one above it. That difference is the gap.
- Compare each gap with the typical gap between your irons, taken as the median of your iron gaps. As a working guide, not a published standard, treat a gap about a third bigger than typical as a hole, and one under about half of typical as an overlap.
The club distance calculator and printable card will estimate irons from one known carry and gives you a card to record the real numbers. For how your numbers compare with other golfers, see average golf club distances.
Worked example
EXAMPLE bag, not data. These carries are invented to show the method. They are not typical figures, not a target and not tied to any particular swing speed.
| Club | Carry | Gap to next club down |
|---|---|---|
| 4-hybrid | 190 | 18 |
| 5-iron | 172 | 12 |
| 6-iron | 160 | 10 |
| 7-iron | 150 | 11 |
| 8-iron | 139 | 12 |
| 9-iron | 127 | 12 |
| Pitching wedge | 115 | 15 |
| Gap wedge | 100 | 15 |
| Sand wedge | 85 | – |
In this example the irons run 10 to 12 yards apart, close to the 10 yard reference. The median iron gap is 12, so a hole is anything above about 16 and an overlap anything under about 6. The 5-iron to 4-hybrid gap is 18 yards, clearly a hole. Check the stamped lofts: if the hybrid is only a couple of degrees stronger than the 5-iron, the gap comes from the club design, so test a different hybrid or a 4-iron. If the lofts are fine, leave the clubs alone and learn a controlled three-quarter swing with the 4-hybrid, which should land somewhere near 180. The two 15 yard wedge gaps are under the line but larger than the iron gaps, so they are borderline; a partial wedge swing could cover them.
Wedges, hybrids and the top of the bag
Space wedges by loft, then measure each one’s carry and compare the gaps as in step 5 above. Use the 10 yard reference as a starting point down to the pitching wedge; below that, your measured carries decide. Partial swings are the cheapest way to fill a leftover wedge gap, and our wedge distance chart goes through each loft and has a log for them.
Hybrids and fairway woods are gapped by carry, not by the number on the sole. A hybrid often replaces a long iron, so slot it by where its carry sits between your longest iron and your shortest wood, and check that it does not fly the same distance as either neighbour. Remember that the distance you compare is carry, not total; see carry vs total distance for the difference.
Your gapping chart
Fill in your own clubs, stamped lofts and median carries, then work out the gap to the next club down. Print the page to take it to the range.
| Club | Loft | Carry | Gap to next club down |
|---|---|---|---|
Closing a gap
Start with lofts. Compare the stamped lofts of the clubs either side of the gap. A loft step that is bigger than the others usually explains a hole. A fitter can bend an iron stronger or weaker, though Golf.com advises no more than 2 degrees either way (Golf.com). Changing one loft moves the gap on both sides, so recheck the neighbouring clubs.
If lofts are fine, you can add a club that carries between the two, such as a wedge or a hybrid. The Rules of Golf allow a maximum of 14 clubs (R&A rules page on clubs), so with a full bag adding one means dropping another. Or take a controlled shorter swing with the longer club, the one above the hole, so it carries less than its full distance. If you are buying wedges, start from the lofts of your pitching wedge and your sand wedge and fill the space between them. Wedge steps are set by loft; the wedge distance chart shows each loft from 50 to 60 degrees.
If two clubs carry almost the same distance, you can usually drop one and use the freed slot to fill a hole elsewhere, or have a fitter change the loft of one of them. For a full picture of every club from driver to lob wedge, see the golf club distance chart.