Club Distance & Gapping Chart Builder
Build your carry chart, spot overlapping clubs and yardage holes, saved in your browser — the fitting check that costs nothing.
Healthy gapping runs 10–15 yards between consecutive clubs. Tighter than 8 means two clubs are doing one job; wider than 15 leaves a yardage you have to manufacture — the usual culprits are the long-iron end and the wedge gap between pitching and sand. Use carry, not total distance, and use your average strike rather than your best one: gapping built on career shots leaves you short all day.
This chart's own advice flags almost everyone
The chart scales a standard set off your driver carry, and the checker then flags anything under 8 yards as too tight and anything over 15 as too wide. Those two rules are in fixed yards; the ratios that build the chart are proportional. So the verdict depends entirely on how far you hit it.
| Player | Driver carry | Flagged tight | Flagged wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average male amateur | 215 yd | — | 1 |
| Average female amateur | 145 yd | 5 | — |
| Low-handicap amateur | 250 yd | — | 4 |
| Tour professional | 275 yd | — | 5 |
Sweeping every carry from 60 to 360 yards, exactly one band comes out clean: 159 to 193 yards, 35 yards wide. Below it something is flagged too tight; above it, too wide. None of the four typical players above falls inside it, and the further you hit it the more gaps get flagged. That is not a fault in your bag. It is a fixed yardage rule being applied to a proportional chart, and it is worth knowing before you go shopping on the strength of it.
And the widest gaps are in the scoring clubs
At a 250-yard driver carry, here is what gets flagged and what does not:
| Gap | Yards | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 5 iron to 6 iron | 12 | good |
| 6 iron to 7 iron | 13 | good |
| 7 iron to 8 iron | 12 | good |
| 8 iron to 9 iron | 13 | good |
| PW to GW | 18 | too wide |
| GW to SW | 17 | too wide |
| SW to LW | 18 | too wide |
The irons sit on a single ratio and come out a tidy 12 or 13 yards apart. The wedges are on a wider one and open to 17 and 18 — every wedge gap is flagged and no iron gap is, with no overlap between the two groups at all. That is backwards from what anyone would want. The scoring clubs, the ones you reach for when the green is in range and the pin is the target, have the loosest spacing in the bag. It is also exactly why so many golfers end up carrying a fourth wedge: the standard set leaves its biggest holes in the part of the course where ten yards is the difference between a putt and a chip. The fourth flagged gap is Driver to 3 wood, which matters far less.
Why speed is the only lever with room in it
Ball speed is club speed times smash factor, and the rules of golf cap a driver's spring effect so that smash tops out around 1.5. The typical figure here is 1.48, so a well-struck drive is already at 98.7% of what the equipment is permitted to give. There is no meaningful distance left in the club. From a sand wedge the same swing returns 1.15 — a 22% drop, because loft trades compression for spin.
| Club speed | Ball speed | Driver carry |
|---|---|---|
| 85 mph | 126 mph | 208 yd |
| 95 mph | 141 mph | 232 yd |
| 105 mph | 155 mph | 256 yd |
| 115 mph | 170 mph | 281 yd |
One mile per hour of club speed is worth 2.44 yards of carry, and every ten-mph step in the table adds the same 24.4 yards — carry is exactly linear in club speed once smash is fixed. Which is the whole case for speed training in one line, and also the reason a new driver rarely delivers what the marketing promises.
How to use
- Record carry distances, not total, for each club.
- Use your average strike, not your best.
- Look for gaps larger than about 15 yards.
- Look for clubs carrying the same distance.
Frequently asked questions
Why carry rather than total distance?
Because carry is what clears the bunker and holds the green, and roll varies enormously with conditions. A club that totals 150 on a firm summer fairway and 135 in soft winter conditions has the same carry both times — which is the number you can actually club from.
What gap should I have between clubs?
Commonly 10 to 15 yards through the set. Larger gaps leave distances you cannot cover with a full swing, which forces awkward partial shots. Smaller gaps waste a slot in the bag on a club that duplicates another.
Why do two of my clubs go the same distance?
Usually because the lofts are too close, or because one of them is not being struck well. It is very common at the top of the bag, where long irons and hybrids overlap, and it means one of those clubs is occupying space for nothing.
Should I use my best distance or my average?
Average, firmly. Clubbing from your best strike means being short most of the time, which is where the great majority of amateur approach shots finish anyway. Most players carry the ball less far than they believe, and honest numbers improve scoring immediately.
How should I measure these distances?
On a launch monitor if you can, since it gives carry directly. Otherwise, on a range with measured targets, hitting a number of balls and discarding the best and worst. A handful of shots is not enough — the variation between strikes is larger than the gaps you are trying to measure.
What do I do about a gap I find?
Usually adjust lofts or change a club — a gapping wedge exists precisely for the hole that often appears between pitching wedge and sand wedge. Sometimes the answer is a shorter swing with a longer club, but a reliable partial swing is harder to own than an extra club.
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