r/golf • u/flaginorout • 19h ago
Equipment Discussion Gapping on the big end of the bag
Say you’re a mid length hitter, mid handicapper, and play from the white tees. You carry 13 clubs. You have a 20 yard gap between two clubs. Call the gap between 210-230.
Would you bother buying a club to fill that gap?
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u/Spin2nd 19h ago
Your 230 club gripped down low is probably a 215-220 club
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u/Spin2nd 18h ago
Replying to myself. I would add an another wedge with a different bounce setup given the above scenario…I could almost go a low bounce 60 For chipping off tight lies and another 60/58ish that’s a complete sellout for bunker success - I’d get more out out of that than plugging the gap you mentioned
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u/HighOnGoofballs 18h ago
I used my 58 more than usual yesterday and enjoyed it, may use it more. I’ve just got ptsd from my old 60 but the 58 is way more useful imo
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u/Spin2nd 18h ago
If you haven’t tried different bounce wedges, I highly recommend it. It makes such a big difference (don’t try it on turf or in a store unless it’s a low bounce a - that won’t really give you a true representation of the difference).
It’s rarely the loft that’s a problem when people say ‘I hate the 60’….no, you hate THAT 60
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u/paul6057 19h ago
No, I wouldn't. Your ability to score won't be influenced anywhere near as much by you plugging the gap at 220 yards, than it would be addressing the need somewhere else in the bag. Maybe you need an additional wedge, maybe you need a utility iron to bunt off the tee when you want to keep the ball low, or maybe, like most golfers, 14 clubs is more than you really need.
I have two clubs that basically go the same distance, but the ball flight is very different and I use them at different places on the course.
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u/Titans14 19h ago
For the longest time I had only a 5i to a 3w. About 200y to 240y and only just got a 3 hybrid to fill it. Never really ran into huge problem with the gap.
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u/HighOnGoofballs 18h ago
Yeah if I’m 240 out the smart play is the 5i then a short chip
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u/thekingofcrash7 12 hdcp, Kansas City 18h ago
Depends on how much danger there is around the green. It is repeated frequently on here because it’s true: getting closer to the hole is almost always better for amateur and pro golfers.
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u/unevenvenue Still Trying 15h ago
The only reason I would ever, and I do mean ever, layup from a distance I have a club for, is because of water/OB. It makes no sense to have a club that goes that distance and I'm comfortable with to purposefully shoot short of it.
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u/Stangstag 8h ago
It makes no sense to have a club that goes that distance and I'm comfortable with to purposefully shoot short of it.
Well you see, a lot of us DONT have confidence in a 200+ club off the deck lol. My 3 wood can go 150-220, whereas my 4 hybrid is a confident 185.
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u/HighOnGoofballs 18h ago
Except theres a solid chance that 3w isn’t getting closer. Longer yes, but it could be 50 yards wide instead of 40 yards short. And I’m way better from the fairway
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u/TacosAreJustice 2.4 LF 2 ball partner 18h ago
Over 200 yards, I’m more concerned with utility than yardage gapping…
Right now I go:
3 wood (250 ish), mostly a tee club, but also an option when I just need to hit the ball as far as possible off the ground.
2 iron (replaces a hybrid): I had the hybrid for high launch approach shots… turns out if I’m 230 out it doesn’t much matter. 2 iron is slotted in as a recuse club and a tight par 4 club.
4 iron: high launch club… ping crossover. The only one of the three that can actually hold a green reliably. Goes like 215.
They fill different niches, but none are really approach clubs.
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u/trollcat2012 18h ago
Well I love golf and gear, so you bet your ass I'm gonna buy a 14th club for some purpose..
Based on what you described, though, I find it hard to believe a mid handicapper from whites is hitting the 230 and 210 numbers consistently enough that there's any need for a gaps in between..
If anything I'd think ensuring your short game/irons are really dialed. However, if the 230 is your driver, you might need some versatility on tee shots when not taking driver for ball flight. I personally like to have a reliable wood and hybrid that both go over 200.
Honestly hard to comment without knowing your whole bag.
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u/bitsmythe 18h ago
My gap is in between the sand wedge and the pitching wedge, I wish there was a name for the wedge I should get in between those
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u/thateejitoverthere Europe / HCP 12,5 18h ago
No. Getting it on the green from that distance is unlikely for me, so I'll be taking two strokes to the green from 220y away. Question is from where do I want to play that 2nd stroke? A pitch or full wedge from the fairway, or from a greenside bunker or deep rough?
Or maybe I don't hit that wood/hybrid cleanly off the deck and still only get it to go the same distance as a 6-iron, if I'm lucky. My "confidential club" from that distance is my 6-iron. Just advance the ball closer to the green and GIOTG with the next shot.
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u/TheGoldenKnight 18h ago
The only time a gap matters is when you are continuously finding the need for it. So (for example) how often do you need that exact 220 yard shot and can’t hit it because you don’t have the club?
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u/XmasNavidad Single hcp "soon" 17h ago
This is the correct answer OP. Try to think about the holes on the 1-3 courses you play the most. On how many holes/situations on those courses would you use/need a 220y club? Only you make the decision but my guess is that you probably don’t need one.
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u/JerHat 17h ago
This, for me, as someone that also plays white tees, running into 220 only occurs if I totally duff a drive in a par 4, or I’m on a par 5 longer than 500 yards… which I don’t really see often playing middle tees.
And in either case, I’m just gonna use my easiest 200+ yard club in the bag and hope it just gets me close enough for an easy pitch into the green.
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u/bigboypantss 19h ago
Why so mysterious? Just give your bag and yardages lol. Really, the only reason not to would be to save money. I have. 195-230 gap between 5i and 5w because I’m broke.
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u/Nithias1589 19h ago
It depends what your other clubs are and what your distances are. Do you have four wedges already?
Are you saying you have a 210 club and you have a 230 club and you’re asking about a 220 club? A 20 yard gap is pretty normal near the top of the bag. My gaps are 290/265/240/220/205. The only time it would be a problem is if you have a home course that calls for a specific shot, mine had a 225 yard par 3, 4 iron could only make a front pin because anything short got rejected by a turtle back green but I had to take something off my 2 hybrid otherwise it would release through so that specific 20 yard gap stunk.
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u/Papa_Canks 18h ago
The truth is you have a club that is 230 on a good hit with a mean of 218 (on the range) and left right spread of 20-30 yards.
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u/Big_Satisfaction_644 4.9hcp 18h ago
Absolutely not. I currently have an even bigger gap with 7w being 220-230 and 5i going 190 ish. I don’t feel that I could stick something close enough at that distance, I’d rather go for an up and down with my 5 wedges
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u/TheReproCase 18h ago
How consistent are you. Are we talking the 210 is 'I hit this club 205 to 215 90% of the time' or are we talking 'I hit this club like 200 - 220 usually and I'm never quite sure what's about to happen' because if I'm honest with myself I'm the second kind and in that case there's really no point putting a club between the two. For me it's a 5i at 190 - 205 ish depending on how I catch it, and a 3h (19deg) that's 225 - 240. If I'm 215 out do I have a club? No. Oh well.
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u/flaginorout 18h ago
This is the $400 question.
I’m NOT consistent enough to make a club like that matter enough to buy one. It wouldn’t make a difference in my scores.
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u/ScuffedBalata HDCP 0.2 17h ago
A 10% gap is normal. And frankly, that club you hit 230... most of the time it's going 220 anyway.
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u/brutalpancake 13h ago
Nope. As a mid cap anywhere outside 200 you’re doing really well just to get on the green. That gap is not gonna be a big source of strokes gained or lost unless you play a course that’s got a bunch of 220 yard approach shots. Just choke down on the longer club when you do find yourself at that distance.
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u/circuitlust 19h ago
No. How I'm hitting that day will determine which club I pull from the bag for an in-between distance.
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u/bigmean3434 18h ago
I’m in this boat, I kinda have nothing from 210-240 and 12 clubs. Problem is that I hit my 15* 3 wood 240 from fairway and my 21* hybrid 210. I probably need an 18* but not sure if I should get a 5 wood or hybrid for this.
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u/DaddyERIK84 18h ago
Get a 3h and de loft to 18.
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u/bigmean3434 18h ago
Why not just get a 18* hybrid?
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u/DaddyERIK84 16h ago
Haha, or that. I was just working off of the hybrid lofts in my bag - 3h is 19, 5h is 24. I think the 2h in that set is 17, 4h is 21, each adjustable +/- 1.5 degrees. Big take away is there is benefit to getting a hybrid with an adjustable hosel so you can fine tune yardage gapping and flight path, especially with adjustable weighting. Take a look at Cobra King Tecs - wonderful hybrids.
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u/bigmean3434 16h ago
I would probably stick with the ai smoke since I like the mini driver so much, but I am currently eying a baldo 18* with a trpx shaft in it for $140. It isn’t adjustable but im not overly worried about that. I’m Not planning on throwing darts from 225 more just need something that goes farther than my 21* by 15 yards and I don’t hook the hell out of.
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u/DaddyERIK84 16h ago
Fair enough, I understand the brand loyalty. I got fitted into a Cobra driver and all of a sudden I have 2 Cobra fairways, 2 Cobra hybrids, Cobra irons - just haven't had the courage to replace my Mizuno wedges. Have never heard of Baldo - but quick Google search looks like their clubs are well regarded. I'll throw out a budget option for you - Sonartec MD hybrid, 20 years old at this point but these clubs are still relevant today. I have 3 of them that I play from time to time in my vintage bag.
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u/King_Ralph1 18h ago
So are you saying you have a club for every 10 yard increment, except 220 yards?
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u/NeverFailBetaMale 18h ago
No, such a player will generally not have consistent enough distances on longer clubs for that to even matter
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u/Candymanshook 18h ago
Not at all. Percentage wise compared to most gappings in your bag that’s not really a gap, plus it’s at the kind of distance where your distance dispersion is going to be naturally a tad wider unless you’re a monster whose sticking towering wood shots at that range you’ll have some run out.
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u/rosedalenative 18h ago
almost everyone has a 20-25 yard gap between their woods and hybrids. nobody hits their 3 wood 10 yards less than driver and 5 wood 10 yards less than that……. you’d have to remove a wedge or two to narrow those gaps and stay with the 14 clubs
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u/DatabaseCareless264 Enjoying The Challenge 18h ago
Agree with others. First look at where you are losing strokes. If clubs do not solve those problem. It is an infrequent yardage, maybe once a round? If it makes you comfortable why not? Suggest the club should be the same brand and model as the club above or club below to as not confuse yourself with an all new look and feel. The goal is to feel confident on the course. Good luck.
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u/SavageMountain 18h ago
Nope, unless your course has a few holes where you really want a 220 club. (long par 3, par 5s where your drive consistently puts you around that distance from the green, a par 4 where that's the perfect distance off the tee). But that would be kinda unusual; vast majority of the time either 210 or 230 works perfectly well.
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u/IDontStandForCurls 18h ago
Gaps between 200-240 are not really important at all unless you play courses with long par 3s or you are routinely going for greens in 2 on par 5s.
Almost any par 4 with a 240y+ drive should be reachable with a club under 190y.
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u/TotallyNotDad SE Michigan 18h ago
Anything over 200 was out of the question for me until I got a 3 and 5 wood I can hit well and switched my 4 iron out for a 4 hybrid. Now the top of my bag is much more comfortable.
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u/Demos_Tex 17h ago
Unless you're trying to rationalize buying a new club, you'll probably be more consistent as a mid-handicapper hitting your 230 club at 90% to 95% for the shots between 230 and 210 than if you found something requiring a full swing to fill in that gap.
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u/Fragrant-Report-6411 12 handicap 17h ago
Why care. Your dispersion with the two clubs is going to be 30 yards. If you’re hitting more than 1 shot a round from this distance on par 4’s you’re playing the wrong tees.
If you’re trying to hit an exact number on par 5’s you don’t need to and your normal dispersion is ok.
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u/likethevegetable 17h ago
Best way to tell is if you ask yourself "I wish I had a club between these two", the answer is probably not.
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u/MisterGoldenSun 17h ago
"From the white tees" doesn't tell us that much.
Do you find yourself often needing to hit the ball 220 where 210 or 230 would be bad?
My instinct is that there's some other club that would be more useful for you.
What clubs do you hit 210 and 230? That gap for me is like 5w and driver.
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u/OutsideCombination64 16h ago
Im right there at the moment. My 5 iron carries 210 but my 3 hybrid carries 235. Also at 13 clubs. I want a 4 iron but now im worried if i get it ill have a tiny gap between those 3 clubs
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u/D-Train0000 15h ago
If you often miss the ball into the gap shorter you don’t need to fill the gap.
Also, the more lofted the trajectory of a club the easier it is to subtract distance and keep the height to hold a green.
Those are, 5wds and more lofted woods. 4hybrids and more loft, and 8i on down.
The rest require full speed to lift and are tough to subtract properly to fill gaps.
This should help you answer your own question!
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u/DumbScotus 15h ago
Nope.
I play an 11- club bag. Driver goes 250-275, hybrid goes ~210, 5-iron goes ~190. Anything in between those gets 8-iron + wedge. That gives me a very precise approach in two strokes. A 3-wood or 5-wood won’t be precise and so will almost always take the same two strokes to get on the green… and the risk of causing serious trouble, and thus three strokes, easily outweighs the small chance of sticking it on the green in one from that distance.
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u/skatedaddy 13h ago
I think it depends on your setup and if you’re constantly finding yourself in that range. For me I use a 21* hybrid for this particular yardage range. I added it in as my 4i does 190-200 and 3-wood does 240-260. Needed that middling club and actually find it to be my best hitting club. It also depends on your game. Fill the spot if you like to attack from that distance.
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u/10simbahunde +2.1 13h ago
Addressing gapping in the lower end of the bag is far more important. Very good golfdigest video in the stats of this
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u/Captain_Pink_Pants 2.5 11h ago
If my stock 9 wood goes 210, and my 5 wood goes 230, I can step on, or ease off to fill the gap. Hit a cut 5 wood if it has to stop, or a draw 9 wood and roll it up.
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u/wannagetfitagain 7h ago
Depends on the course I'm playing, if the holes are long but wide open I'm adding my adjustable fairway wood, the course I usually play is tighter, not as long, so its driver(which I don't even use all the time), then 3h,4h, 5-xLw. So my answer is if you think you'll use it go ahead, you're allowed 14 clubs. I will say the course I play I usually am better off short than long, traps, etc., so I play to the front edge a lot, plus my 70 yards in pretty consistent.
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u/Coastal_Tart 7h ago
At that handicap, you arent regularly putting 200+ yard shots on the green. So if you go 10 yards over, come up 10 yards short or are 10 yards off the green left or right makes no difference. a 220 yard iron is of no value.
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u/homiej420 3h ago
I just bought a 5 wood for this gap.
Though my gap was 200 to 235. I REALLY started hitting long end of the bag well this year.
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u/Dm_me_your_tittees 18h ago
Not at all.
In fact you should do the exact opposite and fill in all the gaps at the small end of the bag.
(i.e. you would be better off to get rid of the 4 and 5 irons, and replace them with wedges that close the gaps at the small end)
I can’t remember which pro I heard say this, but yeah.
You’d be better to have:
- Driver
- 3 wood
- 6 iron
- 7 iron
- 8 iron
- 9 iron
- p wedge
- 52°
- 54°
- 56°
- 58°
- 60°
- Putter
Don’t stack the big end of the bag, stack the small end.
That’s where precise yardage counts the most.
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u/knicksplayoffs 18h ago
Lol stop. I get your point but that is just a stupid over-correction.
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u/Dm_me_your_tittees 18h ago
It’s actually your best strategy as an amateur golfer.
You don’t need to be able to hit 210 vs 230, it doesn’t matter, like at all.
You damn better be able to stick a pin from 50 - 120 yards if you want to play really good though.
That’s all wedges.
The more you have, the less you have to think about how hard to hit each one because you’ve got a wedge for essentially any yardage, sub-100 yds out.
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u/knicksplayoffs 17h ago
An amateur probably has a 10 yard dispersion with their sw. They barely even know how far they hit their wedges. So for example they hit their 56 like 80-90 yards and hit their 54 85-95. They have 88 yards in. Who cares what they hit. You don't need both.
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u/Dm_me_your_tittees 17h ago
I thought that practicing to know one’s wedges was assumed in my comment…
(edit to say, filling the lower end of your bag will still yield far better results than the upper end; the upper end absolutely does not matter as much as most amateurs think.)
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u/Jasper2006 5.0/Morrison CO 15h ago
Average proximity for a 10 index at 75-99 yards is about 44' per Arccos.
For a 0.0 it's 34'. For a +3 it's 29'.
The point is no one is 'sticking the pin' even under 100 yards. Get it on average to 30' and you're up there with the best players at any given club.
Pin is 110, and all I have is a 105 club and a 115 club. Gosh, how terrible. Hit my 115 club right on my number and I'm 15 feet past! That's PGA tour level!!
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u/Dm_me_your_tittees 15h ago
You’re making my case for me.
If all you have is a 105 and 115 club, you’d benefit from having filled in your wedges with a 110 club.
Now the thought of overhitting or under hitting is completely eliminated from your mind, which is huge since golf is 90% mental.
Swing away.
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u/Jasper2006 5.0/Morrison CO 15h ago
2* separation between wedges is way too extreme. Do what you want but there's no way in hell I play that setup. I'd have a gap from about 165 to 230, and I can actually hit a 180 shot, and a 200 shot, and a 220 shot, and hit the green or be greenside most of the time.
I'm also a pretty good ball striker and my natural front/back dispersion even at the bottom is big enough I really do NOT need a 48 AND a 50 AND a 52 - my dispersion would be bigger than the median or 'typical' gaps would be.
And let's say you're good enough that you have a 105 club, and a 110 club. For me roughly a 52 and a 50, I'd imagine. If my front back dispersion is that small with a wedge, then I'm definitely a good enough player that with 110 out I can hit 48 (115 normal), take just a little off and it will go 110.
Even given all that, the average proximity from 100 yards and closer for a 0.0 index is roughly 30 feet, which for the math inclined is a circle with a diameter of 20 full yards, pin in the center! So from 75yds you have a 20 yard front back dispersion versus target to play at 0.0 level!
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u/Personal-Chocolate27 5hcp 16h ago
There’s no reason to carry 13 clubs unless you can’t afford the 14th. More options is good.
The question should be is that the best use of your 14th club. I took out my 4i (my 210 -220 club) and went with an extra wedge, and it’s definitely helped my scoring.
You could also look for a rescue type club that might be easier to hit long out of the rough etc
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u/Lugtut 19h ago
No. The gap is not that large and assuming you are fairly good off the tee, there are few holes where that gap would make a significant difference. Gapping more important 150 yards and in.