Discovering the distance gaps in your game When I’m helping a golfer build his or her set, one of the most important issues to address is that of the distance gap. Most golfers don’t realise the extent of their distance gapping problems, but as a simple exercise to check your bag, follow these steps. You’ll be amazed. I’m not surprised at the number of golfers whose bags suffer from this dilemma – building the set is a complex task. Feel free to ask me about yours when you’re next in the shop. Do this test yourself:

  1. List every club in your bag that you would ever play from the fairway (there should be a maximum of 12 if you leave out Driver and Putter) and then drop those that you know that you just never want to use because you can’t hit it consistently or the results are likely to mean a hunt in the trees or a swim in the lake.


  2. With the clubs that are remaining, list next to each one the distance that you feel you can hit that club on average. Please don’t write down the distance you know you should be able to hit it, or have on the odd occasion hit it. You are looking for a consistent yardage gap. For most golfers this is 10 yards, but for the fastest swingers it might be 12 – 15 yards and for the slower swingers 7 yards.


    3. If you have been very honest with yourself you will find that your yardage gaps shrink from the #6 Iron onwards, until you have a largish gap to a Fairway Wood that might be your favourite long club in the bag.

An example of a Club golfer playing off a 13 handicap:

  1. Every club in my bag that I would ever play from the fairway:


    2. My whole bag excluding Putter and Driver: Lob Wedge all the way through to my 4 Iron then my 3 Wood.

  2. The list after dropping those that I can’t hit consistently:


    3. Lob Wedge through to my 5 Iron. I’ll use a 4 Iron if I it means I can get up to the green but I struggle with consistency. My 3 Wood is more for the tee-box, the strong loft and long shaft means I almost never use it from the fairway, I can’t get it up in the air!

  3. My distances:


    4. CLUB YARDS
    Driver 250
    3 Wood 225
    4 iron 185
    5 iron 180
    6 iron 175
    7 iron 165
    CLUB YARDS
    8 iron 150
    9 iron 135
    PW 125
    GW 115
    SW 100
    LW 90


  4. What my course looks like: