The Fitting Process

Fitting for Loft and Set Make Up
The goal in putting a set of clubs together is to make sure you have a club for each distance you need to cover. An average male golfer will find a 10-15 yard difference between clubs. In the mid and short irons, that has traditionally dictated a 4-degree difference in loft.

Short irons and wedges are far more important than long irons because you hit a lot more shots from inside 125 yards. They are the "scoring" clubs. In the last few years, there has been a surge in popularity of "gap wedges". Let's think for a minute why.

Traditional irons used to be built around a 50 or 52 degree pitching wedge. A nine iron was four degrees less, or 46 degrees. The four degree progression held up down to the four iron where the progression usually became three degrees because the longer clubs hit the ball farther so less separation is required to maintain the 10-15 yard distance progression.

"Strong Lofts" in modern clubs (to make you think you're hitting the ball farther) are likely to have a pitching wedge at 46 degrees. The next club in the bag is usually a sand wedge at 55 or 56 degrees. That's close to a ten-degree "gap" which usually closed by adding a 52 or 53-degree gap wedge.

This whole silly "loft problem" is why we prefer to start a fitting with you hitting every club in your bag and recording the carry distance. There is no better way to discover "gaps".