A full golf bag laid out with clubs visible

2026 Golf

Why Golf Club Gapping Is the Smartest Thing Most Amateurs Aren’t Doing

Infinite Fairway

January 13, 2026

You don’t need new clubs. You need the right yardages.

In golf, your bag isn’t just a collection of tools, it’s a system. And if that system is misaligned, even good swings can produce confusing results.

That’s where club gapping comes in.
Done right, gapping removes guesswork and creates confidence. Done wrong (or ignored entirely), it creates indecision and unnecessary strokes.

Let’s walk through the logic, calmly and honestly.

What is club gapping and why does it matter?

Club gapping is the deliberate calibration of the carry distance between each club in your bag. The goal is simple:

No two clubs should go the same distance
No large yardage “dead zones” should exist
Every club should serve a clear purpose

Kris McCormack, a clubfitting expert at True Spec Golf, explains it well:

Not knowing why a club is in your bag or how far it goes is like having “a toolbox full of random screwdrivers.” You might get the job done — but not efficiently.¹

If your 7‑iron and 6‑iron both fly 150 yards, one of them is redundant.
If your 7‑iron flies 150 and your next option goes 170, you’re missing a club — and forcing uncomfortable swings.

The real cost of poor gapping

When your bag isn’t properly spaced, you’re constantly stuck choosing between:

Swinging too hard with the shorter club
Or trying to “take something off” the longer one

Shot Scope’s data team puts it plainly: large gaps force golfers into these exact situations, and both options increase risk.²

That’s how good swings turn into:

Long misses
Short misses
And chronic second‑guessing

The goal: smooth, logical distance progression

Most well‑built sets follow roughly this structure:

Club Type	Typical Gap
Irons	8–12 yards
Wedges	10–15 yards
Woods / Hybrids	15–25 yards

A useful rule of thumb from fitting is that 4° of loft equals ~12 yards of carry for many players.³

This is why modern wedge setups matter so much.

Many iron sets now have a pitching wedge around 44–46°, while a sand wedge is often 56°. That’s a 10–12° loft jump — which can easily become a 25–30 yard distance hole.

That’s not a “feel” problem.
That’s a tooling problem.

Beginners vs. experienced golfers: two different realities

If you’re a beginner or high‑handicap golfer

You don’t need 14 clubs.
You need reliable spacing and confidence.

Most beginners:

Don’t create consistent speed differences between long irons
Often hit a 4‑iron and 5‑iron nearly the same distance
Or fail to launch the longer one at all

Shot Scope data shows that a 25‑handicap golfer’s 4‑iron and 5‑iron carry almost the same distance on average.⁴

In that case, the longer iron isn’t helping — it’s just adding difficulty.

A simpler setup (driver, 5‑wood or 7‑wood, a couple hybrids, a few irons, wedges, putter) usually produces better real‑world coverage.

Why used clubs make gapping even more important

When your bag is built from mixed used clubs (often from different brands, generations, and loft systems), gapping issues are extremely common.

Because:

A “7‑iron” from one brand might have the loft of another brand’s 6‑iron
Wedges often don’t match iron set lofts
Loft tolerances and wear can shift specs over time

Covey notes that lofts do drift with use, and many gapping problems are solved simply by checking and bending lofts back into proper progression.³

Bottom line:

The number on the sole means nothing.
Only carry distance matters.

How to check your gapping (the calm, data‑driven way)

Measure carry distance (not total)
Use a launch monitor, range with markers, or a GPS tracking system.
Chart every club
Look for:
- Clubs that go the same distance
- Gaps larger than ~15 yards
Check loft progression
Compare actual loft specs, not just club labels.
Fix with tools, not swing tricks
- Add a gap wedge
- Replace long irons with hybrids or woods
- Bend lofts when needed
- Remove redundant clubs

Titleist fitters often look for about 5 mph of ball speed difference between irons to ensure proper distance separation.⁵ If two clubs produce the same ball speed, they go the same distance — just on different trajectories.

And two clubs that go the same distance is one too many.

Sources & References