"Distance Accuracy" & Club Fitting

I heard a great new term the other day - Distance Accuracy. It's not a particularly new concept. During my time as a golf professional I have used a similar term - Distance Control. I think Distance Accuracy more succinctly sums up a golfer’s ability to hit the ball the correct distance. Golf instructors have long debated what is more important distance or accuracy.

I am reframing this debate as Distance Accuracy versus Directional Accuracy. My professional opinion is that the former is more important than the latter.

In every iron fitting I conduct, one of the many questions I ask a player is how far they hit a specific club. Almost every reply is something like, "135-150 yards."  

As a fitter and a golf professional I can say that's a rather poor answer given that distance accuracy is extremely important. One service we offer here at the Dallas Golf's Fitting Center is the 14 Club Bag Evaluation. So you will know what to expect before you try it yourself, I recently put myself through the process. Here's my own data using my own equipment.

You might be asking why distance accuracy is important? And how can a fitting help your distance accuracy? 

There are several factors to focus on. 

We want to make sure that each club in our bag does different work (a.k.a. goes a different distance).

We want to make sure we have even gaps between each club (identifying any loft issues) all the way through the set.

Ultimately we are trying to establish the best way for you to "build" your bag. This includes selecting the proper lofts for your wedges to maintain even gapping and how to select hybrids and fairway woods to fill the gaps between driver and your longest iron.

As you can see from my data above, the gaps between driver and 5 iron are just about perfect - evenly spaced at 15 yards (carry distance) different for each club. (That's pretty close to optimal.) 

Conversely, I have also learned that my wedge gapping needs a little work. The gap between PW and GW is only 10 yards where the other gaps are 15-18 yards. I've already made that adjustment. I'm a Golf Professional with unlimited access to equipment and technology. If my clubs aren't quite right, can you imagine what issues your set might have?

Come see us at Dallas Golf. We will help you dial in your distance accuracy.