Webb Simpson 5.5 iron (+ generally non-standard iron gapping)

Billfitz · June 25, 2022

There's no way I could do that. I've got a 15 yard gap between my 5 and 6 irons, and 15 yard gaps between my 3H and 5 iron and 6 and 7 irons. If I pulled either the 5 or 6 and adjusted the remaining club to an even gap between the 3H and 7 iron that gap would be 22 1/2 yards. Oddly enough I tend not to use both the 5 and 6 irons on the same round. Some days it seems that every long approach needs the 5, other days it's the 6. If I ever left one out of the bag I guarantee that would be the one I needed that day.

me05501 · June 25, 2022

1 minute ago, Billfitz said:

There's no way I could do that. I've got a 15 yard gap between my 5 and 6 irons, and 15 yard gaps between my 3H and 5 iron and 6 and 7 irons. If I pulled either the 5 or 6 and adjusted the remaining club to an even gap between the 3H and 7 iron that gap would be 22 1/2 yards. Oddly enough I tend not to use both the 5 and 6 irons on the same round. Some days it seems that every long approach needs the 5, other days it's the 6. If I ever left one out of the bag I guarantee that would be the one I needed that day.

I’m guessing your swing speed is much higher than mine. If I have a gap between my 5 and 6 it’s ten yards, and that’s assuming both are struck optimally.

I don’t like it but I’m working on it!

Billfitz · June 25, 2022

I'm 72, so my highest swing speed is some 30 years in my rear view mirror. To compensate for that I have A flex shafts, L in my driver. I also increased the usual 1/2" shaft length difference from club to club to 3/4". That gives me a 6 iron length of 39" and 5 iron length of 39.75". I used to be 15 yards longer but still get 165 yards from the 6 and 180 yards from the 5.

Pepperturbo · June 25, 2022

Stronger lofts are fine except they present gapping and yardage problems, more difficult execution. Wider gaping is fine, presuming control and ability to push and pull back each irons yardage exists.

I've played with a lot of decent golfers. Most of them worry more about hitting the ball as opposed to manipulating their swing, so each club has various distances. They have stronger lofts but lack the shots in between each irons standard carry yardage.

I have more traditional lofts and 4' gaps. Each club has a 10-12yd short, standard carry yardage, and 10-12yrd longer, which allows me to cover just about any yardage encountered. IMO larger gaps like 15yd+ can lead to cover problems, as well as trajectory and spin control problems.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Pepperturbo

J_Tizzle · June 25, 2022

On 6/21/2022 at 5:02 PM, mryank said:

Took a page out of Webb Simpson's bag, and took out my 6i. Weakened the longer irons, strengthened the shorter irons. Loft gaps: 19/23/27/31/35/39/43. Found that this gave me the target 15yd gaps between irons, instead of the usual 11-12yd gaps, and gave me more room to beef up the top and bottom end of the bag.

Anyone else have experience widening loft gaps between irons? Any concerns/problems with it?

Yep, I have a G425 5I I have powerspec so its more like a 4.5 iron, then my 6i is 1* strong then the rest of my bag is normal. Lets me take out the 4i and put in my 62* wedge.

I know Furyk used to do it too and essentially turned 3 clubs into 2 at the top of his bag by adjusting out the gapping.

Roejye · June 25, 2022

I've never really paid attention to the lofts in my bag. I go driver, 15° 3w (mostly off the tee), 17.5° super hybrid, 23° 4 hybrid, 26° 5 hybrid into my 28° 6-9 iron with 4° gaps, 5° gaps between the pw and aw, then a 56° SW, and 60° or 64° wedge. The yardage gap between the aw and sw is about 15 yards, but the 56° is where I usually start using a majority of partial swings.

Dan Drake · June 25, 2022

I love this and if you look back at my history, I've been a proponent of it for a while. None of us actually know if we are going to hit a long iron solidly or not anyways, so if we have a shot of that length, we should be choosing the club that takes the "biggest" trouble around the green out of play as often as possible. In other words, we, the club golfer, shouldn't even be trying to cut it close to the trouble. We should be blasting it 20+ yds over the hazard and then if we make bogey from there, so be it. We'll end up with a much lower average score that way than trying to hit a great long iron.

FWIW, the gap between my "6i" and my "4i" is 21yds. And my strokes gained from these yardages is no worse than my <150yds strokes gained. It literally makes no difference.