We’ve all been there – standing in the middle of the fairway, you laser the pin, and sigh: The distance is right in between clubs.
Whether you’re a weekend warrior or competing to take home the PGA Tour’s season-long FedEx Cup, one thing is for sure: it helps to have proper gapping between your clubs in order to play better golf.
For example, take a look inside the newly adjusted setup of Webb Simpson – who has been working with our team on the Titleist Tour Truck over the past couple of weeks to dial in his yardages to make a late season charge during the 2021 PGA Tour season.
“What we did was, we got a piece of paper out and we said ‘If I could pick my yardages and the gaps between them, how far would I hit it?’” Simpson said of his discussion with caddie, Paul Tesori.
He then brought that sheet of paper to J.J. Van Wezenbeeck, Director of Player Promotions and Aaron Dill, Titleist Tour Rep for Vokey Wedges, to help him meet the certain distances that he had written down. The result – Replacing his 54° wedge with a 52° and 56° wedge, a 7-iron adjusted one degree strong, and a 5.5 iron – yes you read that right.
“Webb had a pretty big gap between his MB pitching wedge (47°) and that 54° Vokey Wedge, which would often force him to throttle back on his pitching wedge or hit hard on the 54°,” said Aaron Dill, Titleist Tour Rep for Vokey Wedges. “This third wedge just tightens that all up and makes it a little bit easier to let [caddie Paul Tesori] know that if they lay up to a certain yardage that’s in that uncomfortable zone between pitch and sand wedge, now they’ve got that club that fills that gap.”
So, why a 5.5 iron? To accommodate the new wedge, Simpson worked with Van Wezenbeeck to adjust the top end of his bag by removing his 620 MB 6-iron – which then left a significant gap between his 5 and 7 iron. By weakening his 5-iron by two degrees (moving from 27° to 29°), strengthening his 7-iron 1 degree (from 35° to 34°) and adding loft to his hybrid (moving from 24.25° to 25°), Simpson was able to dial in his distances with his mid to long irons.
“I guess I’d never really thought of the concept of pick your numbers, and then build the set,” said Simpson. “But for me, I want to hit as many full shots in a round as possible.”
We caught up with Webb and Aaron Dill earlier this week ahead of the BMW Championship to get the inside scoop on his new setup:
So if you’re wondering if that stock set is right for your game, get with an authorized Titleist fitting specialist to make sure that each club in your bag is optimizing your ball speed and distance gaps for better scores.