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Are the clubs in your bag actually right? Check for free (no sign-up)

Updated: Sep 20, 2026Contains affiliate links

Some golfers carry two clubs of the 14 that fly the same distance. In the same bag, there's a hole of 20 yards or more with nothing to hit. It's not rare.

Open the Club Gap Checker (free, no sign-up)

Header image: product photo from Rakuten Ichiba (Ad) | Titleist Vokey SM11

Bottom line

Why overlaps and gaps happen

When I line up set numbers as a gear nerd, the mismatch usually falls into one of two kinds. It isn't a swing problem. It's the order you bought the clubs in. That's all.

Nobody buys 14 clubs at once. A set grows over years. You buy irons, add wedges later, slip in a hybrid. Almost nobody works out the distance step from the previous club each time. What you look at when you buy is usually the price and the reviews.

And the PW loft runs from 41° to 47° depending on the model. That's 6°, a range that would make a different driver. Even with the same "PW", the gap to the next wedge changes completely. I listed the lofts in how many wedges to carry.

Check it yourself in three steps

1. Write down the loft of each club you own (it's on the maker's official site)
2. Use the one club you hit all the time as your baseline (for me, a 7-iron at 160 yards)
3. Look at the distance step between clubs

All you need is paper and the official site. It's a chore, though, so I built a free tool where you just type the numbers in. Your clubs are saved only on your device and never sent anywhere.

Open the Club Gap Checker (free, no sign-up)

Three common patterns: how to compare your set

When you actually run the check, you'll usually land on one of these. Just three.

Distances are calculated with the common rule of thumb of about 3 yards per degree of loft (not measured on this site). If you enter two or more of your own measured distances, the tool recalculates with your numbers.

Woods and hybrids are different. Length and center of gravity change with each club, so loft difference alone doesn't set the distance. The tool lines those up with real numbers only when you enter measured distances.

Who doesn't need new clubs

If you never hit from the empty distance, you don't need to buy anything. If you only play from 150 yards and in, you can ignore the gap above that.

Finding nothing is the best result. In your place, I'd spend the money for that one club on practice balls. Learning the distances of the clubs you already have will cut your score more. That's how I see it.

About the writer and sources

Written by a gear nerd who studies golf equipment, averages a 72, and plays about 150 rounds a year.

I re-read the numbers against the sources below on Sep 20, 2026. Last updated Sep 20, 2026.

FAQ

Related reading

How many wedges to carry
PW lofts for 18 models, and how to think in 4° steps.

How to Choose a Hybrid
Why to choose by loft, not by club number.

Shot Dispersion Notebook (free)
A tool for recording the average and spread of 10 shots, so one shot doesn't decide for you.

Sources for this article

• Club Gap Checker (a free tool on this site)
• What is club loft? Loft by club and typical distances (ALBA)
• How many yards does 1° of iron loft change? (Golf Hitari)

Last updated: Sep 20, 2026

Specs and prices are the figures published on manufacturers' official websites and in press releases, and by media outlets (checked Sep 20, 2026). They were not measured by this site.