iron loft

At the beginning of the golf season or if you recently purchased new irons and have been able to go out to the range and get a few rounds under your belt, it might be wise to have your iron distance gaps checked. Why? By gapping your entire set of clubs or at least your irons and wedges correctly, it can help you score better by not having two clubs with overlapping distances or in other cases creating large gaps between two adjacent clubs in your set.

What is distance gapping?

It is the process of evaluating your clubs and making sure you are spreading out the distance gaps better between consecutive clubs.

What to know about golf club iron lofts

I first started playing golf in college almost 40 years ago. The year was 1984 and Miami Vice and the Cosby Show debuted on TV, you could see Ghostbusters, Revenge of the Nerds and The Karate Kid at the movie theater, or one could rock out to Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" or not to Wham! Life was good and it was going to be a lot better with my newfound sport.

After I became proficient to know how far I could comfortably hit each club, I would rely on a #7-iron if I had 150 yards to the flagstick. At my peak when I played a ton of golf and was in great shape, I would use an #8-iron. Surprisingly today or 38 years later, I vacillate between a 7 or 8 iron depending upon the conditions for that same distance. How can that be? Did I drink from the Fountain of Youth or make a pact with the devil? I know it is not because I kept up my gym membership either. Of course, I no longer have those same clubs to see how I would perform with them today. So, what has allowed me to maintain or even increase my distances after all these years?