How many of the clubs in your golf bag do you use? The likelihood is that some are redundant, so here Becky Gee explains the importance of gapping correctly.
How many of the clubs in your golf bag do you use? The likelihood is that some are redundant, so here Becky Gee explains the importance of gapping correctly.
By Becky Gee
Most of us are guilty of carrying round at least one or two clubs that we’d probably take a good few rounds to notice were gone if we inadvertently left them in the locker room. For some this may be a case of preference, but for many of us it simply comes down to not correctly gapping our golf bag.
What is Gapping?
You might be surprised to find that distance gapping is much more than simply dialling in your wedges.
While making sure that your scoring irons are optimised for success is imperative if you wish to make the most out of your game, concentrating simply on your highest lofted clubs is likely to leave your game exposed to some serious yardage flaws. Put simply, gapping is the distance between each club in your bag, stretching all the way from your driver down to your highest lofted wedge.
Identify How Far Your Hit Each Club
While you may think that this is done for you when making a purchase, particularly when buying the same brand throughout your bag, it’s essential that you take the time to find out, not only how well and far the new clubs will travel, but also how any new addition will interact together.
For example, while a new hybrid may fly much further than your current model, it is likely to hinder rather than help your game if its increased yardage creates a big distance gap further down your set.
Don’t fear, if you go and get fitted, then much of this will be done for you, although be sure to ask plenty of probing questions; how far would my lowest lofted iron compare with my hybrid? Can I continue to use my current woods, or will they be rendered obsolete by my new purchase? These questions become even more important if you are mixing and matching models and brands.
Even if you feel confident that the new addition is the best club for you, don’t feel shy to ask your pro to take you down to the range or put you on a launch monitor, just to guarantee the new model is best suited to enhance your performance.
Cover Every Yard
For the world’s best players, making sure that there is not a single yard uncovered could be the difference between winning and losing. The average amateur golfer may not need to spend countless hours honing their yardages to the finest degree, but those wishing to perform to their best are still well advised to take gapping seriously. After all, nobody wants to find themselves 80 yards out in a pivotal club match only to discover that this yardage leaves them with an uncomfortable half shot which they would rather leave back at the clubhouse.
"Making sure that there is not a single yard uncovered could be the difference between winning and losing."
Brands That Work Out the Science For You
For brands like PING, much of the work behind the scenes goes into plugging any potential gaps throughout the set, whether that’s paying special attention to progressive length and lofts or ensuring that the longest irons blend seamlessly with the wedges and woods in the rest of the range. PING’s most recent family of women’s clubs, the G Le, come as standard as part of a combined hybrid/iron set. The idea not only being to make the longer irons easier to hit but also to create a seamless transition between every club in the bag.
Because it is so essential to guarantee that this flow continues all the way through to your driver, optimising the interaction between clubhead, performance, ball speeds, and ball flight, it has become nothing short of a science for equipment manufacturers.
The G Le features several innovative new technologies designed to make the ball travel further. In fact, all of the brand’s latest models, including the new G400 series, feature COR-Eye Technology, designed to increase face flexing in a catapult-like fashion for faster ball speeds that launch shots higher and farther. Combined with lighter and better-distributed weight, particularly in the women’s models, the result should be lots of extra yards. Regardless of how well they travel however, analysing and testing the configuration of every club in your bag is essential before you commit to a new set. Once you do so, you’re likely to see your scores tumble.
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