[Photo: Alex Bierens de Haan]
Q: I feel like my 4-iron, 5-iron and 6-iron all go about the same distance. Is this a common problem?
A: It is a real problem for many golfers, but you can definitely do something about it. Having multiple clubs going similar distances, called distance compression, is common at the long end of the iron set, as you’re saying, and possibly elsewhere.
According to recent data from Cobra, whose Cobra Connect GPS sensors track player statistics in conjunction with the Arccos Caddie app, 42 percent of golfers have one gapping problem in their set make-up. (Cobra defined a gapping issue as two adjacent clubs within two yards in distance.) Another 19 percent have two gapping issues, and 38 percent have three, four or even five. That’s 99 percent of golfers who have redundant clubs in their bags.
Clearly you are not imagining this. The question is, what to do?
Consider what an executive from a major equipment manufacturer said years ago: “Don’t think in terms of wood sets or iron sets or sets of wedges. Think of your bag as a place you get to invite 14 friends. You’re not going to bring one along that’s useless.”
To arrive at the solution, you need to understand the problem. Craig Zimmerman, director of retail at RedTail Golf Center in Oregon, focuses on how the ball comes down from its peak height and how that affects distance. “Angle of descent is a key factor,” he says. “No matter the loft of an iron, a player should have a landing angle between 45 and 50 degrees. Anything less, and the player will most likely lose carry yardage – and have difficulty holding greens.”
In plain English, if you’re not creating enough height, especially with long clubs, you’re probably losing significant distance. This should be a discussion point between a club fitter and the player. Many players have a point in their bag at which the loft for any given type of club becomes too strong for their swing speed and shot characteristics to result in optimised ball flight.
While only you or your fitter can determine where that point is, the fix with longer clubs is almost always the same. High-lofted hybrids with their larger heads and longer shafts can typically help the trajectory-challenged golfer achieve an appropriate height and landing angle, producing ample distance differentiation.
Alternatively, you might not need another long club. Ditching that hard-to-hit 4-iron for an additional wedge you might use five or more times a round can prove highly useful.
There’s also the nuclear option: playing with fewer than 14 clubs. According to Chris Marchini, director of performance and innovation for Golf Galaxy, it’s not as crazy as you might think.
Marchini once fit a customer who was shocked by the set make-up they ended up with. “When the clubs arrived, I got a call,” Marchini recalls. “He said, ‘Chris, I have a problem. I only have 12 clubs. I’m allowed 14.’ I assured him I was well aware of that. I told him to go play and let me know if he had any gapping issues. The only call I got from him was to say, ‘Thank you.’”
In other words, the number of clubs you need is determined by the ones that are useful to you.
