With all of the work I did on the statistical analysis of golf, I have been thinking a lot of proper yardage gapping of equipment. One of the main premises I hit on with my statistical research findings is that when you’re playing top flight golf, your proficiency from the Danger Zone (175-225 yard approach shots) will have the biggest influence on score. And one of the things I noticed, particularly with top tier Danger Zone players on the PGA Tour, is that they do not carry gap wedges and instead carry a hybrid or a 5-wood.
The key isn’t really whether or not you actually use a 2-hybrid (17* or 18* loft) or a 5-wood (18* loft), it’s about consistently getting the yardage gaps correct and getting the yardage gaps correct for shots in your ‘Danger Zone.’ Again, here’s the table I came up with to determine the yardages for the Danger Zone, depending upon the length of the course and how far you hit it.
Yards….Long……Mid1…Mid2…Short1….Short2…DZ1……DZ2
7600……315……314……298……297………..277……...185……235
7500……310……309……294……293……..…273…...…175……225
7400……306……305……290……289………..269…...…175……225
7300……302……301……286……285……..…265...……175……225
7200……298……297……281……280……..…260…...…175….…225
7100……294……293……278……277……..…257…...…175….…225
7000……290……289……275……275….....…255...……175….…225
6900……286……285……270……269………..249…….…175……225
6800……281……280……265……264………..244……….175……225
6700……277……276……260……259………..239…….…165……215
6600……273……272……257……256………..236…….…165……215
6500……269……268……253……252………..232…….…165……215
6400……265……264……250……249………..229…….…165……215
6300……261……260……245……244………..224….……150……200
6200……257……256……240……239……..…219…….…150……200
6100……252……251……235……234………..214…….…150……200
6000……248……247……232……231……….211…..……150……200
5900……244……243……228……227……….207……..…150……200
5800……240……239……225……224……….204……….140….…190
5700……236……235……220……219…….…199…….…140…….190
5600……232……231……215……214…….…194…….…140….…190
5500……228……227……212……211……..…191……….140……190
So, let’s say you are playing a 6,000 yard course and your average, pretty decent driver goes about 235 yards…you should look to keep the yardage gaps ‘tight’ on your Danger Zone shots. In this case will be approach shots from 150-200 yards.
(click to enlarge pic)
Last year, Trackman provided a mathematical way to calculate yardage gapping between clubs. It took the carry of the PGA Tour average driver (269 yards) and the carry of PGA Tour’s average Lob Wedge (77 yards). Their mathematical logic went like this:
269 yards – 77 yards = 192 yards
192 yards / 12 clubs = 16 yard gap between clubs
While I like their thinking, I do find this a bit flawed. For instance, here’s what they are saying your yardage gaps should be then (all in carry):
Driver: 269 yards
3-wood: 243 yards
Hybrid/5-wood: 227 yards
3-iron: 211 yards
4-iron: 205 yards
5-iron: 189 yards
6-iron: 173 yards
7-iron: 157 yards
8-iron: 141 yards
9-iron: 125 yards
PW: 109 yards
SW: 93 yards
LW: 77 yards
I *carry* my driver about 260 yards and my 3-wood about 238 yards. But, I carry my 5 thru sand wedge much, much further than the yardage gaps prescribed. I carry my 9-iron about 143 yards instead of 125 yards (18 yards of difference) and my 7-iron about 168 yards instead of 157 yards (11 yards difference).
Here’s a few things I find flawed in Trackman’s calculation.
1. Take the driver out of the equation. With the driver, I’m not worried about distance control. I’m really not too worried about it with the 3-wood, but there is more importance with distance control on a 3-wood than a driver. And I’ll need to understand my 3-wood distance to figure out what type of hybrid or 5-wood I should use to ‘tighten up the gaps.’
2. Take the Lob Wedge out of the equation. I may use a full swing lob wedge once out of every 3 rounds. My lob wedge is there for bunker shots, chips, pitches and flops. That’s why you will see some PGA Tour pros carry something like a 66* lob wedge and a 54* sand wedge. They just will not have any use for a full swing Lob Wedge. And as I mentioned in the statistical research posts, the difference in proximity to the cup by using a Sand Wedge over a Lob Wedge is minimal compared to having the wrong club in the Danger Zone.
3. 16 yards of difference between clubs will likely lead to a lot of ‘in-between clubs’ shots and force the golfer into making half swings and choking up on irons which makes trajectory control more difficult.
4. This forgets that typically, clubs are separated by approximately 4* of loft per club. So a set may have a 4-iron with 24* of loft, followed by a 5-iron with 28* of loft, then a 6-iron with 32* of loft. And so on and so forth.
#4 is very key as to why Trackman’s calculations are flawed.
What I would suggest is probably figuring out your 3-wood’s average amount of carry (again, the driver really doesn’t matter). And we also want to figure out the Sand Wedge’s average amount of carry (again, the Lob Wedge carry isn’t important).
I would also recommend that you figure out your lofts for each of the *irons*. Why? Because we need to get them into 4* increments so we can figure out the Sand Wedge you would hit.
Let me explain.
If you have an iron set that looks like this for lofts:
3-iron: 21*
4-iron: 24*
5-iron: 28*
6-iron: 32*
7-iron: 36*
8-iron: 40*
9-iron: 44*
PW: 48*
If you have a Sand Wedge with 54* loft, that may not be the sand wedge loft you need. We need to continue to split it off into 4* increments.
So we would need to figure out how far you would hit a 56* sand wedge, not a 54* sand wedge (because it would go PW 48*, Gap Wedge 52*, Sand Wedge 56*).
Now, let’s say my average carry with a 3-wood is 243 yards. And my average carry with a 56* sand wedge is 108 yards.
243 yards – 108 yards = 135 yards
135 yards / 11 clubs = 12.27 yards per gap
You may have noticed that I ‘took out’ 2 clubs..the 3-wood and the Lob Wedge.
In Trackman’s calculation, they went from Diver to Lob Wedge, and divided it by 12 clubs. Again, that formula looked like this:
269 yards driver carry – 77 yards lob wedge carry = 192 yards
192 yards / 12 clubs = 16 yards per club
As you can see with my formula, I took out 2 clubs (driver and lob wedge), but instead of dividing that number by 10 clubs, I divided it by 11 clubs.
Why?
Because I added the gap wedge (due to the 4* increment rule).
Now, my yardage gaps would look like this:
Driver: ?
3-wood: 243 yards
Hybrid/5-wood: 231 yards
3-iron/hybrid: 218 yards
4-iron: 206 yards
5-iron: 194 yards
6-iron: 182 yards
7-iron: 169 yards
8-iron: 157 yards
9-iron: 145 yards
PW: 133 yards
GW: 120 yards
SW: 108 yards
LW: 96 yards (theoretically)
These yardages are much more reasonable. They would still be a little long with the longer clubs for me, but from 6-iron thru Sand Wedge, they are pretty much spot on.
Since we can only carry 14 clubs in the bag, we would need to get rid of 1 of the clubs listed above. Again, I believe that statistically you want to keep the yardage gaps ‘tight’ on the longer clubs and there’s no real need to keep a Gap Wedge around.
In order to find the sand wedge that I wanted, I would try to use the example I listed and find something that is between the distance I hit the PW (133 yards) and the Lob wedge theoretical distance (96 yards). That would come out to a SW going 115 yards of carry. (133 + 96 / 2 = 114.5 yards)
Now, I would recommend going with a sand wedge loft you feel most comfortable with, but if you want to split the difference between yardage gapping and having enough loft to hit shots around the green, that’s how I would do it.
Thus, the new bag with the yardage gaps would look like this:
Driver: ?
3-wood: 243 yards
Hybrid/5-wood: 231 yards
3-iron/hybrid: 218 yards
4-iron: 206 yards
5-iron: 194 yards
6-iron: 182 yards
7-iron: 169 yards
8-iron: 157 yards
9-iron: 145 yards
PW: 133 yards
SW: 115 yards
LW: ?
3JACK
4 comments:
Brilliant analysis! I have a gap analysis session with Trackman next week and will bear this in mind when I get the final results. I am not happy with my 3 wood and hybrid distances as I sense they go more or less the same distance. I've also got a big gap between my PW (48 degrees) and my 52 degree wedge and a big gap between my 52 and 56.
Interesting. Tom Kite and David Pelz say the lob wedge was invented exactly for the opposite reason of that here: specifically to improve distance gapping at the low end. I believe the claim is that the distance to the hole is significantly better with better wedge gapping. I think Pelz's argument is basically that the miss pattern should be circular to be maximally efficient and at the short distances, players are much more accurate in direction then distance. Multiple wedges supposedly fix this.
Not many tour pros use a gap wedge. they more or less use a 54 or 55 or 56* sand wedge and then anywhere from 58* to 63* Lob wedge.
I figure if there's a sizeable gap between PW and SW, they probably value the SW more for shots around the green and don't worry about the yardage gap too much. If they do go 48* PW and 54* SW, then I think they are obviously factoring in the yardage distance while trying to have something with enough loft for around the greens.
Personally, I think most of them have the right idea. Danger Zone play is far more important for these guys, so it makes sense to get the gaps right with the longer clubs.
Pelz can say what he wants, but the stats say a different story.
3JACK
Good post. But here are my thoughts.
Yardage gap is more important at the low end. Because you need to be more precise. This is the scoring area. Simply choking down an hybrid or 3 wood is much easier to control distance. Your goal with a 3w or hybrid is not to knock it stiff, but give yourself the best possible next shot. With wedges distance control is the name of the game, you expect to be close.
Personnally, I have the titleist 910 3w, and hybrid (I can modify the loft +1.5 or -.75 of a degree). This is important becaues depending on where I am playing it gives me options. Sometimes I will take my 3 iron out, and add loft to my hybrid to lessen the gap between hybrid an 4 iron. Other times I will take out the gap wedge (52 degree). I have found that there is now perfect yardage gap for me.
Right now I am realizing this post could keep rolling, but I'll stop it here.
Basically, you need to create managable gaps, and control the scoreing zone.
Post a Comment