But ‘Knowing Your Numbers’ should be something that any and every Golfer understands. Not only is it important to allow you to perform with confidence on the Course because you know the exact Club for the yardage you are about to play, but it also will highlight potential ‘Gaps’ in your Set Make-Up.

This was exactly the scenario that played out the other day when a Member came for Club Fitting – His intention was to purchase a new 3-Wood.

The main catalyst was he just didn`t hit his current 3-Wood consistently well enough. So we, first of all, evaluated all the other options he had in his bag from his Longest usable Iron to his Driver. This is what we discovered:

• #4 Hybrid & #3 Hybrid went essentially the same distance on both Carry & Roll-Out – But #4 was easier to launch and much more consistent in both Distance & Direction
• 5-Wood & 3-Wood proved to be a similar scenario. No extra distance from the very best shot with his current 3-Wood and much less consistency and control.

We tried the new 3-Wood he had his heart on, but as suspected, even the new design and technology did not improve his ‘3-Wood performance’. To help him understand why ANY 3-Wood didn`t automatically go further than his 5-Wood (as most people would assume) I explained it to him the following way:

I had recently fitted him for a new Driver – Part of that Fitting was finding the optimum Loft to enable the best Launch for Distance and also the best Loft for consistent Direction. That meant we settled on a 10.5° Loft – Using the Fairway Wood logic that would mean that if I gave him a 7.5° Loft he`d hit it further. But common sense meant we both agreed that it`d more likely make the Driver be harder to hit consistently or straight. So, the same applies in this case – if we take 3° of loft off the 5 Wood and put a longer shaft in (aka a 3 Wood) then the ability to hit that Club consistently diminishes.

So the recommendation was instead of investing in a £200+ 3-Wood, we were actually able to drop 2 Clubs from his current Set. This created an opportunity, because on closer inspection of his Set it was apparent that to accommodate all those Fairway Woods/Hybrids he was only carrying a Pitching Wedge and a 60° Lob Wedge. Having saved 2 Clubs from the other end of the Set we looked at bridging the gap between PW & LW. With the benefit of the Launch Monitor & SW:ING Studio facility and the fact that we carry all the lofts in all the Makes/Models of Wedges we quickly were able to find the most suitable Loft Gaps. The Foresight GCQuad also has a fantastic ‘Find Your Numbers’ Gapping function that makes gathering the Data simple, and also projecting your Average Club Distances and highlights any noticeable ‘Gaps’ in-between Clubs.