Where Is the Yardage Hole in Your Wedges?
Find the suspected hole from your wedge lofts, then confirm it with your own carry distances. Start at the pitching wedge and subtract each shorter club’s measured carry from the club above it. Four to six degrees is a useful starting screen, not proof that your distances fit.
Enter your iron set and pitching wedge carry below to explore a proposed loft ladder. Its yardages are estimates; the measurement worksheet further down checks the wedges you actually own.
Where the hole is in your ladder
Add your pitching wedge carry to estimate yardage gaps, then confirm them with measurements.
These are starting specifications, not a fitting. Confirm them against the club itself before you buy. See Terms.
What a yardage hole actually is
A useful gap check asks whether you have a dependable shot for the distance required. A wide interval between stock carries can leave you choosing between forcing the shorter club and taking something off the longer one.
That does not make every between-clubs shot an equipment fault. A controlled shorter swing may cover it; the problem is an interval you regularly need but cannot cover reliably with your current options.
Vokey’s wedge-spacing guidance recommends four to six degrees between wedges, typically giving ten to fifteen yards. Treat that as a starting range: your carries decide whether the spacing works.
- A wide loft step: investigate the carry difference before assuming you need another club.
- A small loft step: check the distances and jobs of both clubs before calling one redundant.
- Even loft steps: still measure them; neat numbers on the soles do not certify an even carry ladder.
Start with your actual pitching wedge
The letter P does not tell you its loft, and a wedge labelled gap wedge does not establish its relationship to your set. Choose the exact iron model and generation in the tool, or enter a verified loft manually if your set is not listed.
A manufacturer specification describes the standard club, not necessarily a used or adjusted club in your bag. If its build history is unclear, have its loft measured before basing a purchase on the original specification.
For choosing the number and nominal lofts of wedges, see what degree wedges you need for your own pitching wedge loft. This page checks the resulting distance intervals, rather than prescribing one universal set.
A worked example of a broken ladder
Use a hypothetical 43-degree pitching wedge carrying 135 yards, followed by 52- and 56-degree wedges. These are illustrative inputs, not measurements from a golfer tested by SpecMyBag or specifications of a named product.
Applying the tool’s simple 2.7-yards-per-degree estimate to those exact lofts gives the ladder below. This constant is a modelling assumption, not a manufacturer guarantee or a conversion that fits every swing speed.
- 43° Example PW input — 135 yd top of the ladder
- 52° Estimated carry — 111 yd 9° · 24 yd estimated
- 56° Estimated carry — 100 yd 4° · 11 yd estimated
The first loft step is 52 − 43 = 9 degrees; the rounded carry estimates are 135, 111 and 100 yards. Subtracting adjacent displayed carries gives 24 yards, then 11 yards, so the first interval deserves attention.
Those estimates do not prove that this golfer has no 120-yard shot. Measure the 52-degree wedge and check a controlled pitching wedge before deciding whether the missing option is a club or a shot to practise.
An alternative to investigate, not a guaranteed fix
- 43°Example PW input — 135 ydtop of the ladder
- 48°Estimated carry — 122 yd 5° · 13 yd estimated
- 54°Estimated carry — 106 yd 6° · 16 yd estimated
- 60°Estimated carry — 90 yd 6° · 16 yd estimated
Requesting three wedges produces 48, 54 and 60 degrees, with estimated carries of 122, 106 and 90 yards. The largest loft step is now 6 degrees, but this also adds a club and extends the bottom from 56 to 60 degrees.
It is therefore not a like-for-like test proving that three wedges are better than two. The tool generates a proposed progression; it does not know your existing 52-degree wedge merely because you selected two wedges ending at 56 degrees.
How to measure your own gaps
One pitching wedge carry anchors the model; it cannot measure the rest of your bag. Record a separate stock carry for every wedge, including the pitching wedge, and keep the underlying shots so you can judge repeatability.
- Keep the comparison consistent. Use the same ball type, units, hitting surface and measurement settings for every club; record weather or simulator settings alongside the session.
- Use your ordinary stock swing. As a practical starting exercise, record ten shots per club without chasing a longest shot; ten is an editorial starting sample, not a validated fitting protocol.
- Keep an honest record. Flag an obvious instrument misread separately and note mishits rather than automatically deleting your two shortest and two longest results.
- Calculate and compare. Find the average of the valid recorded carries, retain their range, and subtract adjacent club averages; repeat the session if the results are inconsistent.
| Club | Average carry | Gap from above | Also record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pitching wedge | A = ___ | Starting club | Shot range and sample count |
| Next wedge | B = ___ | A − B = ___ | Shot range and sample count |
| Following wedge | C = ___ | B − C = ___ | Shot range and sample count |
| Final wedge, if carried | D = ___ | C − D = ___ | Shot range and sample count |
For a separate hypothetical session with averages of 135, 119 and 102 yards, the gaps would be 16 and 17 yards. Those results would tell a different story from the model’s 24 and 11, even if the loft stamps were unchanged.
Do not buy a wedge because one average is a yard outside a guideline. If each club’s ordinary shots vary more than the difference you are trying to resolve, gather better evidence before interpreting that difference as an equipment problem.
Use comparable carry, not mixed distance labels
Trackman defines carry relative to the ball’s starting elevation. On sloping ground, that flat-carry number can differ from where the ball actually lands; compare like with like across clubs.
Do not mix one club’s total distance with another club’s carry. Carry against total, and which one to club off explains the separate decisions.
Why loft gaps do not always match yardage gaps
Loft alone does not specify the shot you deliver. Trackman identifies ball speed, launch angle and spin as important to carry, none of which the loft ladder measures.
- Different delivery: your stock swing with two clubs need not produce the same speed or impact conditions.
- Different builds: compare the actual shaft, length and head specifications instead of assuming a set wedge and a specialist wedge behave identically.
- Different measurement conditions: a windy outdoor session and a normalized indoor session are not a controlled comparison.
- Different strike patterns: inspect the recorded spread, not just the best strike or the loft stamped on the sole.
There is no supported automatic adjustment here for a heavier shaft or an extra fraction of shaft length. The useful sequence is to flag a suspected gap from the lofts, measure the carries, then investigate the reason if the two disagree.
Fixing the gap without guessing
- Check an existing shot first. Compare a controlled shorter swing with the distance you need; retain it if its carry and spread make it a dependable option.
- Check the club’s actual loft. A measurement may explain an unexpected interval, especially if the club was bought used or previously adjusted.
- Consider an approved adjustment. Ask a qualified clubmaker whether that exact head, material and condition permit the proposed bend, and what else changes.
- Compare a candidate wedge. Measure it beside both neighbouring clubs before treating its stamped loft as a solution.
Mitchell Golf’s club-angle guide explains that loft and bounce change together, degree for degree. A hypothetical 52-degree wedge with 8 degrees of bounce bent to 50 would have about 6 degrees of bounce, not the original 8.
Mitchell also makes bendability dependent on the head’s construction and warns that breakage can occur. There is no universal safe two-degree allowance here, and no recommendation to attempt a bend yourself.
Retest both sides of any change: improving the pitching-wedge-to-gap-wedge interval can worsen the next one. If you add a club, also check what leaves the bag and whether that creates a new problem above your irons.
What loft fairway wood closes the gap above your irons handles that separate top-of-bag decision. Do not replace a working iron set solely because one wedge interval still needs investigation.
What to check before buying
Shop for the interval your measurements identified, not a compulsory 48- or 50-degree label. Ask for the exact model, loft, shaft and length, and whether the head has been adjusted; verify the current loft if that history is uncertain.
Inspect face, grooves, shaft and grip condition, but do not treat a visible mark as proof of a particular loft change or a clean sole as proof of an untouched club. A return or trial option is useful when you cannot compare carries before purchase.
50-degree wedges
A candidate loft to compare with your measured gaps, not an automatic recommendation.
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48-degree wedges
Another candidate when the first interval needs attention; confirm both neighbouring carries.
We earn a commission if you buy through the retailer links below, at no extra cost to you. It never changes the specification we recommend. How this site makes money.
These links run a search for the specification, not for one club. Used clubs are one-of-one and sell within days, so nothing here is tied to a single listing that can go out of stock.
Once the wedge distances work, check what your irons should carry at your swing speed for the model’s broader context, or return to the full-bag tool on the homepage. Keep the distinction intact: a proposed specification is a starting point, while your recorded carries test whether it works for you.
Common questions
Gapping questions
What is a yardage hole in a golf bag?
An interval between your repeatable stock carries that leaves a shot you need without a dependable option. A large loft step is a reason to investigate, not proof of an unusable distance; measure both clubs and check any controlled shorter swing you already use.
How big should the gap between my wedges be?
Vokey recommends four to six degrees as a starting point, typically producing ten to fifteen yards. Your measured carries and the shots you need decide whether that spacing works; neither a smaller loft gap nor a larger one proves that a club must go.
Why do my wedge distances not match the loft gaps?
The loft stamp does not describe the ball speed, launch and spin you produce. Compare each club with the same stock swing and measurement settings before treating a predicted distance as your actual carry.
How do I measure my real wedge carry distances?
Record several ordinary stock shots with every wedge under comparable conditions, using carry rather than total distance. Keep the shot records, note mishits and equipment misreads separately, and compare both the centre and spread of each club’s results; repeat an unclear comparison before buying.
Should I fix a yardage hole with a new wedge or with a part swing?
Check whether a controlled shorter swing already covers the required distance reliably. If it does not, compare a candidate wedge or a professionally approved loft adjustment with your existing clubs, and retest both adjacent gaps before changing the bag.