Iron Lofts

[Guest]

What is the spacing on your lofts for 5iron and 4iron? Would you recommend on having them 3degrees or 4degrees apart?

 

Thanks.

[bombs]

Mine are 3 degrees.

[Justsomeguy]

Gap distances not lofts. Depending on the clubs, your ss, and other swing characteristics, you might hit a 26* 5i and a 22* 4i the same distance.

[Tasals]

3 degrees 22 and 25 degrees. One is 215 yard carry the other is 200ish. I play that because its a good gapping. If I had to the gap could be a 5 iron and a 5 hybrid if that gave me a proper distance between clubs.

[Tommyj]

As the other guys have mentioned, go with the loft spacing that gives you the proper distance gap. The loft difference will probably be more if you have a slow swing speed and less if it is faster. Most common between 4 and 5 from OEMs is currently 3*, don't think I've ever seen higher than that except for Hogan.

[Loomis13]

Can someone explain why it is 3 degrees? You often hear about amateurs not being able to hit a 4 iron that much further than their 5 iron because they can't launch it properly (or you could say 3 and 4 iron). So why do they make them 3 degrees of difference? Why not 4 or even 5?

[cgasucks]

I totally agree. For people with fast swing speeds, the yardage gapping will be consistent regardless of the length of the iron. For me, I'm no Bryson DeChambeau so the longest iron I can get a gapping distance is an 18 degree 2 iron. If I hit a 1 iron, the gapping is diminished and it goes the same distance as a 2 iron. That is where FW come in and take over.

[Justsomeguy]

Typical driver is about 10 degrees. Typical pitching wedge is about 45ish. 10ish clubs in-between, total of 35 degrees to cover, there's your 3 or 4 average to be spread out. Nothing arcane, just inevitable math.

Bigger gaps make sense at the top of the bag which aren't scoring clubs that need more precise distance control. Ie, 10.5 degree driver to 15 degree 3w is 4.5. Then skip the 5w up to the next club around 20 degrees.

[Drewhill44]

I have a 4* gap between my 4(22*) & 5(26*).

[NRJyzr]

 

It's loft creep. 3* gaps didn't exist in long irons until the short irons started getting stronger.

Before someone gets too excited, I'm referring to the 60s-70s, generally speaking, not more recent efforts.

To answer the original question, my gap is 4*, 25* to 29* or 28* to 32*, depending on the set in play.

[ChipNRun]

4i = 22* // 5i = 26* /// And, all shaft lengths are a half-inch apart.

I had my 4i refit with graphite hybrid shaft to improve launch.

And...

[Moonlightgrm]

My irons are 21-years old. Here are the lofts which gap at 3* until they reach the 6-iron.

2- 19*

3- 22*

4- 25*

5- 28*

6- 31.5*

7- 35*

8- 39*

9- 43*

PW- 47.5*

[Guest]

Good question as put the following pic together when looking up some specs after trying a some new sets a few weeks back. Had always wondered why my current 5 iron felt good, little easier to hit and not far behind my 4iron... Only 1.5 degree difference . What the?

[North Butte]

My current set has a 20 degree 4-iron and 23 degree 5-iron and they are 5/8" different in length. I play for 160 yards carry and 165-170 total with the 5-iron and about 165 carry and 175-180 total for the 4-iron.

So in terms of planning a shot, they are just about 10 yards apart (165 vs. 175), similar gap to the other irons in that set. Carry distance is only 5 yards or so because there's more rollout with the 4-iron.

The way I look at it is like this. My first wedge goes about 100 yards and I know from experience there's no such thing an an iron that goes more than about 175 yards. So I expect a set of irons to split that 75 yard range into six or seven increments of around 10-12 yards per club. It's up to the OEM to figure out lofts and lengths that accomplish that.

And it's total playing distance that counts, for my game I know that any iron which goes more than about 150 yard is going to land and run out some. I don't expect 10 yards carry-distance gaps because that would make for much wider gaps in total playing distance.

I've only had my current set for a month but as far as I can tell my playing distances are pretty close to: 108-120-132-145-155-165-175 which is just about perfect for a 7-club set.

My previous irons had eight clubs to cover the same range and they were: 105-118-130-140-150-158-165-172 which I considered a little too close together spacing. No need to carry that many irons when some of them only play 7-8 yards different from club to club. That's part of the reason I switched.

 

[juststeve]

Bending the lofts stronger only increases carry distance to a point where you no longer have enough loft to achieve an adequate launch and level of spin. If you start with a strong pitching wedge of 46 degrees and decrease the loft by 4 degree through out the set you will come to long Irons no one cane hit. That's one reason the loft gaps shrink as the irons get longer.

Steve

[Deuce78]

Older topic but a really good one with loft gaps in standard sets and the why.  I still dont understand.  I just bought a new 4 iron to try that is 22 degrees and my current gamer is 24.  Hoping for just a hair more out of the longer irons so changing them to 4 degree gaps all the way to a 47 degree wedge.  Is that not the most consistent way to get equal yardage gaps?  Why are stock gaps 2 or 3 deg apart in the long irons.  4 in the mid.  And 5 in the short?   

[Deuce78]

Older topic but a really good one with loft gaps in standard sets and the why.  I still dont understand.  I just bought a new 4 iron to try that is 22 degrees and my current gamer is 24.  Hoping for just a hair more out of the longer irons so changing them to 4 degree gaps all the way to a 47 degree wedge.  Is that not the most consistent way to get equal yardage gaps?  Why are stock gaps 2 or 3 deg apart in the long irons.  4 in the mid.  And 5 in the short? 

 

Here are the prospects:

 

 

[Stuart_G]

13 hours ago, Deuce78 said:

Older topic but a really good one with loft gaps in standard sets and the why.  I still dont understand.  I just bought a new 4 iron to try that is 22 degrees and my current gamer is 24.  Hoping for just a hair more out of the longer irons so changing them to 4 degree gaps all the way to a 47 degree wedge.  Is that not the most consistent way to get equal yardage gaps?  Why are stock gaps 2 or 3 deg apart in the long irons.  4 in the mid.  And 5 in the short?   

 

No, the best way to get proper yardage gaps is to test and look at actual yardages (e.g on an LM) not by looking at loft gaps.   How loft gaps translate to distance gaps will be different for different swings and can easily be different across the set for the same individual.