Why is Club Gapping so important?

By Luke Hodgetts May 2016

The summer season is here so this is the perfect time for you to know exactly how far you hit each club in your golf bag.
Club gapping is the second most important part of golf. I will always say that the short game is the most important because you will always miss greens, so you will always need a good short game.
The reason we need to gap our clubs is to help us hit more greens or if we do miss greens it’s not as big of a miss.
I have found since I gapped my clubs I have hit so many more greens, and I have taken at least 5 shots off my score! Who wouldn’t want that?
How to gap your clubs
I measured the distances of my clubs using the GC2 Launch Monitor at Winchester Golf Academy. The main thing that you need to know is the average carry distance. With each of your clubs I recommend hitting at least 5 good shots with each, then take the average distance from those shots. The reason I say 5 good shots is because those are the shots that you want to hit on the course so it makes sense to measure those shots. Yes you are going to hit miss hits on the course, but you don’t want to, so why include them in your averages?

This is an example of my gapping for my 7 iron. As you can see here I was pretty consistent with the carry distances. There was one shot that you can see is missing where I did miss hit hence why I took it out for the average. So now I know that whenever I get a shot that is 163 yards, I should be hitting my 7 iron and I will be landing the ball right by the flag if I hit it correctly.

When you get to measuring your wedges I recommend measuring them at 3 different swing lengths, ½, ¾ and Full. This is because, for an example, if you find yourself at a distance that is a full 60 degree wedge but you are into wind, you would want to hit a lower shot into the hole, so you would want to know how far you hit a ½ 52 degree for a lower ball flight to try and keep it under the wind but hit it the same distance.
How often should you gap your clubs?
I would recommend gapping your clubs at least once a quarter. This is because your swing is constantly changing, this means that your distances are consistently changing.
Also you should always get your gapping redone if you get new clubs. Different clubs will go different distances. For example, the angle of the face a Ping 7 iron will be different to the angle of the face on a TaylorMade 7 iron. Even if you go from the Taylormade PSI Irons to the M2 irons you will hit the ball different lengths as they are a different club and have different weightings. You would also hit different lengths if you change your shafts. Getting the correct shaft is essential for maximum control and for maximum distance.
Overall
So it is extremely important to know exactly how far your clubs are going so if you have no idea how far your clubs go, or if you only know roughly how far they go, I would highly recommend that you should come to the Academy and book a session to measure your yardages. It has definitely made my game a lot easier and it saves the confusion of “what club shall I hit here”. I’m not saying that if you do your club gapping, you are going to hit every green in regulation. But I am saying that if you do, it should make it a lot easier and give you a lot more confidence in your game.

If you have any questions or would like to know more about this process please don’t hesitate to contact me, or talk to me in the shop on.