Bag Gapping Calculator

Carry is where the ball lands; total is where it stops. Gapping is about carry because that is what clears a bunker or holds a green. Roll varies with firmness, wind and landing angle, so two clubs with the same total can carry very differently. If you enter totals, the page shows the roll but never uses it for the gaps.

Use the carry you can count on, not your best. A club that carries 160 once and 148 most of the time is a 148 club.

Clubs are sorted by carry and each adjacent gap is compared with two visible thresholds: more than 20 yards is flagged as a large gap (28 yards for the gap below the driver, which is naturally bigger), and less than 5 yards is flagged as too close because it sits inside normal shot-to-shot variation. Equal carries are overlaps. The thresholds are guides rather than rules: a 10 to 15 yard step through the irons and a slightly larger one at the long end is what most sets aim for.

Suggestions are arithmetic, not equipment advice: a club carrying the midpoint of a large gap fills it, an overlap means two clubs share a job. Which club, loft or shaft does that is a fitting question.

• Best: on-course shot data over several rounds. Golfonaut records shots on Apple Watch and shows distance per club; read your typical carry from those stats and type it here.
• Good: a launch monitor session with your own clubs and a premium ball, taking the median carry of five to ten good strikes per club.
• Rough: range balls and a rangefinder. Range balls fly shorter and spin less; use it only to find overlaps, not absolute distances.