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Proper Gapping and how it relates to Fitting

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obedt

obedt

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Admittedly, this is an off-shoot of the loft conversation. I think that deserves its own space and want to see different thoughts on how we gap. This coming post has one EASY solution - do a full bag fitting, POSSIBLY followed by an iron gapping session with your new irons. Unfortunately that isn't in the cards for everyone, so here we go... into the weird mind of obedt.

How do you gap? Do you take your driver #, and try to go down from there at x amount of yards (12 is often recommended) club to club? Do you go test 7 irons in a shop, get the one that goes farthest and gap based off that? Do you try to look at your shortest full swing club and try and gap up?

As with my swing and my game, I'm a bit unique. I try and have a driver that goes as far as I can get (around 240 according to both ShotScope and Arccos), I want to have an easy 200 yard club (HW right now) and a stock 100 yard club (50 degree wedge) that are all reliable. Then I kind of build my bag from there. That does affect what I want from my irons, or what I want from a wood, or the rest of the wedges.

If you gap around your 7i, then a lot of that loft debate doesn't really matter to you. I think in most instances, I'd go for an iron fitting and the fitter would recommend whichever model 7i I hit furthest given things like acceptable dispersion, descent angle, etc. That's where I think being very clear on what you want & how you gap is so important. There is no wrong answer here, just what's right for the individual golfer.
 
The driver will always be as far as you can. So given that, I start with my scoring clubs and go up vs starting at long irons and going down.
 
It's a big deal for me. At the top of the bag, I'm not worried about gapping from driver down. But from irons up, it is a big deal. Same with wedges. There are some who can control multiple distances with partial shots. I have limits there. I like having gaps that are relatively consistent from SW through 3W. I play much better that way.

For example, right now I don't like the gap between my 4i and 3hy. I might go 4i and 4hy instead. There are distances in that range that give me fits. I'd rather lose a little at the top and keep better distance control within that range.
 
I hit driver as far as I can.
3w, I want to see a certain ballflight rather than distance
5w, same as 3w.
Irons is where the gapping starts for me really. The last few sets of irons and wedges I've bought I've gone through a gapping session on trackman and bent them to get the gapping where I wanted them. Some were bent a little stronger, some a little weaker and some left stock.
 
I hit driver as far as I can and try to gap down to my irons. My problem lately is I’ve been struggling with my 3W and Hybrid. At times I’ll pull my 5i instead of the 3 or Hy due to lack of confidence. My wedges are an easier fit so far. Although as I’m becoming a better ball striker my distances keep changing.
 
I just did a fun gapping session yesterday:

-I start with my 56* wedge and work my way up
-I'm looking for 10-15 yard gaps through the bag
-I only care about carry distance
-As a checkpoint I like my 9i to be right around 150 carry
-I don't mind working in 3/4 swings with my 56 and AW, but beyond that I'd like the clubs to gap out properly on their own.
 
Gapping I think starts at 200 yards for me. If it’s over 200, just pray for advancing far without introducing penalty shots.

Then it’s filling in the gap between my irons and the top of the bag (say 5i goes 185, then filling in with hybrid, utility up to 200), and then slotting in wedges after my shortest set iron (say PW goes 120, then getting wedges for 110, 100, and then a 58-60 for around the green)
 
@obedt

Brilliant (y)

At the Top Driver, 3 Wood, 5 Wood, and 2 or 3 Iron. I want the clubs to go as far as possible. Period. And I don't mind a 20 to 50 yard gap. These are clubs used on the Tee boxes of Par 3, 4, and 5's. Once the ball is in play, then the fun begins.

From the 5 iron down, I prefer consistent 10 to 12 yard gaps. 15 is acceptable, but not by choice.

I have bagged any where from 2 to 5 wedges. It really depends on the gapping to fill in the gaps as described.

But unfortunately, when I go to a fitting, they have a Pitching Wedge and a 6 or 7 iron for any of the Kool new clubs. So I get fit via the 7 iron method. Not by choice. And d have to return to the fitter for club bending and sometimes even returning the set because they failed to preform from top to bottom. 3 to PW.

With wedges we get lots of choices and grinds so pick the right club is easier.

When I get fit for a Hybrids I have had to carry a 5 iron and 5 hybrid or a 6 iron and 6 hybrid to keep gapping at 10 to 15 yards.

Peace :Puma:
 
 
Fitting at ECPC was started with the 7 iron, but he was also watching me warm up with the 3w and noted those distances. He kind of worked off of both of those numbers but also asked what my normal flight was with my irons (a small fade).
I ended up with a 15 yard gap from bottom to the 5W. I do have a 20 yard gap between 5 and 3 wood but is not an issue.
I can play my wedges to 1/2 and 3/4 swings to cover any distance there as I ofter like to club up and take a 3/4 swing
 
My fitting was a bit different than most. I was fit to a 7i but coming from a clean slate. So the fitting was all about dispersion. Then I picked ou a 5W followed shortly by a 4H.

finally then I added a driver. Are there gaps at the top of my bag... yes. But I’m not consist enough for that to really be a huge hinderance. My current issue is the 6i to 4H slots. 5/6 are the same and 4H is good when I hit it properly. But short when I don’t.

If I were refitting a bag, I’d rely on the fitters advice based not my current gapping numbers.
 
mtbloco said:
My fitting was a bit different than most. I was fit to a 7i but coming from a clean slate. So the fitting was all about dispersion. Then I picked ou a 5W followed shortly by a 4H.

finally then I added a driver. Are there gaps at the top of my bag... yes. But I’m not consist enough for that to really be a huge hinderance. My current issue is the 6i to 4H slots. 5/6 are the same and 4H is good when I hit it properly. But short when I don’t.

If I were refitting a bag, I’d rely on the fitters advice based not my current gapping numbers.
Click to expand...
Would a 5 Hybrid help?
 
I start with a 6/7 iron and work down to my wedges, then work up from my mid-irons. I want 10-15 yard gaps. I don’t much care about any gaps above my 3h, since I’m really just looking for advancement at that point. From my highest lofted set wedge (AW/GW) I want 10-15 down to my bladed wedges, and I want as many as I can fit in the bag, usually 1-2. Anything shorter I work on partials with my wedges to cover the gaps.
 
obedt said:
Admittedly, this is an off-shoot of the loft conversation. I think that deserves its own space and want to see different thoughts on how we gap. This coming post has one EASY solution - do a full bag fitting, POSSIBLY followed by an iron gapping session with your new irons. Unfortunately that isn't in the cards for everyone, so here we go... into the weird mind of obedt.

How do you gap? Do you take your driver #, and try to go down from there at x amount of yards (12 is often recommended) club to club? Do you go test 7 irons in a shop, get the one that goes farthest and gap based off that? Do you try to look at your shortest full swing club and try and gap up?

As with my swing and my game, I'm a bit unique. I try and have a driver that goes as far as I can get (around 240 according to both ShotScope and Arccos), I want to have an easy 200 yard club (HW right now) and a stock 100 yard club (50 degree wedge) that are all reliable. Then I kind of build my bag from there. That does affect what I want from my irons, or what I want from a wood, or the rest of the wedges.

If you gap around your 7i, then a lot of that loft debate doesn't really matter to you. I think in most instances, I'd go for an iron fitting and the fitter would recommend whichever model 7i I hit furthest given things like acceptable dispersion, descent angle, etc. That's where I think being very clear on what you want & how you gap is so important. There is no wrong answer here, just what's right for the individual golfer.
Click to expand...

Fantastic thread my man!

Driver - as far as it can possibly go,
Doesn’t have to have the best dispersion, ideal but prefer distance.

Fairway wood(s) - playing a 5w currently not really a tee club - want it to fit the 225 (give or take 10 yards) more of a focus for off the deck shots

Utility iron - 215 plus off the tee - importance of this club is accuracy- need to hit the fairway and be in play, distance definitely isn’t the priority, I’m happy if it gets
To 200 yards

Irons - 4i 200-210 off the deck - 10 yard gaps from there
5i 190
6i 180
7i 170
8i 160
9i 150
PW 140
GW/50° - 120-130
54° 95-115
60° 90 and under

The loft numbers and club numbers don’t matter as long as the gapping matters above is a reference
 
@OITW - I've seen you play, and think you may be underselling those iron distance #s. You crush your irons dude.

I started the thread because of the response from the loft thread. Iron lofts are important to some, and not to others, but I think at least some of that is because of how we like to build out the bag and manage our gaps. I don't think there's any wrong answer there. This thread so far has a ton of variety, more than I expected, and I love it. Fun to see how we all think.
 
obedt said:
@OITW - I've seen you play, and think you may be underselling those iron distance #s. You crush your irons dude.

I started the thread because of the response from the loft thread. Iron lofts are important to some, and not to others, but I think at least some of that is because of how we like to build out the bag and manage our gaps. I don't think there's any wrong answer there. This thread so far has a ton of variety, more than I expected, and I love it. Fun to see how we all think.
Click to expand...

Tried to clarify at the bottom - that lofts/iron number and irons as long as the gap is there I don’t care about the other stuff
 
I look for the clubs at the top and bottom as tools selected to do certain things and then look to the meat of my bag to target the gaps. I like how my bag plays out in that regard right now even if every gap isn't exactly the same and that I'm carrying two clubs with almost identical lofts. Numbers per Garmin Golf.

Dr > 3W+ = 21 yards (3+ is lofted down to 12.5 so eats up yards with the added roll, rarely goes left)
3+ > 5W = 11 yards (5W goes high and lands soft, I know it'll carry hazards and hold greens or landing areas, never goes right)
5W > GAPR MID 3 = 15 yards (GAPR same loft as 5W but flies much lower, won't balloon off tee into wind, straight every time, amazing punch out option)
GAPR MID 3 > 4 iron = 16 yards
4 iron > 6 iron = 14 yards (my set 5 iron just didn't gap well enough to hold spot in bag - just 4 yards longer than the 6 iron)
6 iron > 7 iron = 13 yards
7 iron > 8 iron = 12 yards
8 iron > 9 iron = 12 yards
9 iron > PW = 10 yards
PW > GW = 11 yards
GW > SW = 21 yards (SW has a few degrees more bounce than LW or GW so I can select best wedge based off lies/shot etc...)
SW > LW = 26 yards

I'm not concerned with the bigger stock shot gaps down in my wedges because I use a 'wedge/short iron matrix' to provide me 5 yard gaps on everything inside 150 down to 40 yards. 145...140...etc... I'll often have 3 or 4 ways to hit the same number and choose based upon the factors presented me for a given shot.
 
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IMO, gapping isnt all that important. I think that its much more useful to pick clubs based on the yardages that you typically find yourself in.
 
Usually, the full set of irons is not available in the store (as we all know), so I usually hit whatever is in the fitting cart, a 7 or 6 iron, to test the set, knowing what numbers I would expect/hope to see. However, once I have a set of irons, I start from the lob wedge and go up from there, wanting gaps of between 10 and 15 carry yards between each club up through my hybrids. Usually, there is almost a 20 yard gap between my 58 degree wedge and my next wedge, though. I want the gaps to be really nice through the scoring clubs and fully expect the gaps to be larger with fairway woods and driver.
 
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