Is Better Gapping the Key to Avoiding Hazards?

The majority of us are on the same journey: to lower scores and lower our handicaps. How we get there can be a bit of a rollercoaster ride with the highest of highs, lowest of lows and occasions where things nearly go completely off the rails.

One simple, but often overlooked, aspect of scoring better is proper club gapping. When your clubs are properly gapped, it helps to minimize shots wasted getting in and out of trouble while maximizing your chance to shoot lower scores.

What is Club Gapping?

Club gapping is the distance difference between each of your clubs. For example, if you hit your 8-iron 150 yards and your 7-iron 160, your gap is 10 yards.

I love easy math.

Fundamental to the gapping process is understanding exactly how far you hit every club in your bag.

We’ve often said every club in your bag should have a purpose and, with that, proper gapping is essential. You want to avoid overlapping distances. When that happens, you’re wasting space in your bag.

You also want to avoid gaps that are so large they create distance dead zones. You never want to be in a situation where you don’t have a club for the shot.

While all of this probably sounds obvious, looking at data from Shot Scope, we find that it’s not at all uncommon for golfers to have gaps that aref ar too narrow.

Several years ago, when we tested COBRA ONE Length irons, one tester had just a four-yard gap between his 5- and 7-irons. It’s not ideal but it’s more common than you think.

Another example: As my iron lofts progressively got stronger, I didn’t adjust my gap wedge as quickly as I should have. I didn’t have a club in my bag that could reliably hit 120-125 on a full swing.

Optimizing the gapping of your bag and removing redundancy can free up space elsewhere, which might allow you to add a hybrid or a wedge. For example, the longer hitters among us may benefit from dropping one of their woods and picking up an extra wedge to dial in the short game.

Cool, but how does this keep me out of hazards?

Good question.

If you don’t know how far you hit your clubs, how can you confidently navigate your way off the tee?

If there is a hazard in play, do you play short of it and potentially suffer on the second shot? Or do you take it on and risk the penalty stroke?

This is where having a plan is key. Shot Scope’s MyStrategy feature can help you build that plan. 

MyStrategy is Shot Scope’s data-driven strategy builder which allows golfers to use their performance data to make the best possible decisions on the course: less stress=lower scores.

The same scenario exists for approach shots.

If hitting a green requires a 190-yard carry over water, what club are you hitting? Are you laying up? If so, what club is most likely to put you in the best position for your next shot?

When you don’t know the answer, these questions managing your way around the course becomes near impossible. It is more “hit and hope” than tactical golfing.

Shot Scope Performance-Average club distances

While there are several approaches to understand your numbers, Shot Scope provides three important distance values.

• Longest – Your longest recorded shot with a given club. We don’t recommend it but if you absolutely, positively, need to gamble that your next shot is going to be perfect, this is the number.
• Average – The average of every shot you have hit with that club. It’s a solid starting point.
• Performance Average – The average distance you hit that club with extreme outliers removed (10 percent of abnormally short and long shots).

P-Avg distances are invaluable for the amateur golfer because they give you a distance you typically expect to hit that club. 

When you know your real numbers (and hopefully, trust them), there’s no more under-clubbing or uncertainty about whether you can hit the green.

Confidence. Clarity. Commitment.

Confidence, clarity, commitment: These are three things that invariably come from understanding your game. It’s why proper club gapping is a key component of your success on the course.

Seriously, how many times have you hit a good shot when you weren’t confident standing over the ball? I have hit several houses in those situations but few, if any, good shots.

The point in all of this is that knowing your numbers and having a club with which you can confidently hit is crucial to shooting your best scores.

Shot Scope offers more than 100 performance tracking stats across every aspect of the game, including Strokes Gained and Handicap Benchmarking. And with Shot Scope there are no annual subscription fees – ever.

Shot Scope keeps it as simple as you want it to be. If all you want is precise club distances, cool. If you want to dive deep into proximity stats from 25-50 yards, Shot Scope can do that, too.

Bottom line: Save strokes, stay out of trouble and shoot lower scores with Shot Scope.

Shot Scope is the Official On-Course Data Partner of MyGolfSpy.