Club Distances
How far each club should carry for a golfer like you. Start from your handicap, or better, one club you know.
What this answers
How far should each club in my bag carry?
- Pick whose numbers to start from and your handicap, or type how far one club you know carries.
- Read your carries club by club. The bar shows the range each estimate could be off by.
- Save as my bag, and every Lab tool starts from these numbers. Replace any club with your own later.
Reopen it any time with ? Guide
Your starting point
Your 7-iron carries about144yd
Published startFrom TrackMan Combine’s driver average for a 14.5 handicap (TrackMan’s “average golfer”) (195 yd). The other clubs are our model.
No published driver average is close enough to this band to start from. Enter one club you know above, and the rest of the bag is filled from it.
| Club | Carry | RangeRangeHow far each estimate could be off: 6% either side of it, the error our spacing between clubs can have. It is not the spread of your own shots. |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | 195 yd | 183–207 |
| 3-wood | 181 yd | 170–192 |
| 5-wood | 175 yd | 165–186 |
| Hybrid | 171 yd | 161–181 |
| 5-iron | 161 yd | 151–170 |
| 6-iron | 155 yd | 146–164 |
| 7-iron | 144 yd | 136–153 |
| 8-iron | 134 yd | 126–142 |
| 9-iron | 124 yd | 117–132 |
| Pitching wedge | 114 yd | 107–121 |
ModelCarry in the air, on a solid strike, at sea level in calm air. The range is ±6%, how far our spacing between clubs can be off. Replace any club with your own number in Gapping.
Using it
What to do with your numbers
Club up when in doubt
Amateur approach shots tend to finish short of the target, as Mark Broadie’s research found (GOLF.com). If you are between clubs, the longer one is usually the better choice.
Find the holes in your bag
Saved numbers open in Gapping, which shows where the distance between two clubs is too wide or too narrow, and which lofts would fill a gap.
Gapping & Bag BuilderReplace the estimates
Each estimate is a starting point. Hit a few balls to a known target, or check a shot with a rangefinder, and type your own carry over ours.
My Lab
Your speed
What the makers say for your speed
Shaft and ball makers group golfers by driver swing speed. Few publish numbers, and the ones that do don’t agree, so here is each one as written.
| Handicap | Driver speed | UST Mamiya flex |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5TrackMan’s 5 handicap | 101 mph | Stiff (S) |
| 6–12TrackMan’s 10 handicap | 95 mph | Regular (R) or Stiff (S) |
| 13–20TrackMan’s 14.5 handicap (TrackMan’s “average golfer”) | 94 mph | Regular (R) or Stiff (S) |
| 21–28TrackMan’s bogey golfer | 92 mph | Regular (R) or Stiff (S) |
| Handicap | Driver speed | UST Mamiya flex |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5TrackMan’s 5 handicap | 87 mph | Regular (R) |
| 6–12TrackMan’s 10 handicap | 83 mph | Senior (A) or Regular (R) |
| 13–20TrackMan’s 15 handicap | 79 mph | Senior (A) |
Shaft flex. UST Mamiya’s bands overlap by 5 mph, so many golfers fall in two flexes (one UST shaft’s chart; other shafts differ). PXG goes by driver distance instead: regular for 195 to 240 yards, stiff for 240 to 275, senior for 130 to 195 (PXG).
Driver loft. PXG suggests a 9 to 10.5° head between 95 and 105 mph, and says slower swings often do better with 12° or even 16°. TrackMan’s average golfer launches the driver at 12.6° (TrackMan).
The ball. Every average above is under 105 mph, and Bridgestone makes its TOUR B RX for swing speeds under 105 mph (Bridgestone). Titleist says there is no performance benefit to choosing a specific compression, and that it comes down to feel (Titleist).
Method
How the numbers are built
The start. From a handicap, the driver carry is the TrackMan Combine average for the nearest published handicap, from TrackMan’s published averages. For men at 21–28 we use TrackMan’s bogey-golfer average, the nearest it publishes. TrackMan publishes nothing nearer for men at 29+ or women above 20, so those bands ask for one club you know instead. From a club you know, that club is exactly your number.
The gap between driver and irons. Amateurs gain less from a driver over a 6-iron than tour players do. The ratio we use comes from the USGA and R&A’s report R22-01 for golfers in your handicap category (categories as described by Golf Magic).
The clubs in between. Each club sits where TrackMan’s PGA and LPGA Tour averages place it between the driver and the 6-iron, or as a share of the 6-iron below it. This spacing is our model, not a measurement, which is why each club shows a ±6% range.
Why not R22-01’s own distances? They average every shot in a test session, mishits included, so they run well short of a solid strike: a male category-3 golfer’s driver averages 163 yd there, against 195 yd in TrackMan’s average for a 14.5 handicap.
All carries are in the air, at sea level in calm air. The Conditions Lab shows how weather and altitude change them.