I’ve long expressed my opinion that the numbers on irons don’t mean much, because there are no standards for what loft and length a 9-iron should be, or what the specs on a 5-iron should be, etc. That’s why when I re-introduced Ben Hogan to the equipment industry, our irons were all marked with their actual lofts, and we went against the grain in length and loft progressions through the set. There was a method to that “madness.”

Every year, the entire industry seems to advertise their new irons as being longer than the other guys’. First, we saw that being achieved by simply strengthening lofts, which took “P-clubs” down to 44-45 degrees, a far cry from a true pitching wedge. More recently, we have seen the manufacturers widen the loft gaps between short irons to five degrees from the traditional four, allowing the 6-irons, and then the 7-irons to get ever stronger (because that’s what they have at demo days, and you certainly cannot afford for your 7-iron to be shorter than the competition’s).

Before I created the “every loft” concept for the SCOR wedges and then the Ben Hogan FT. Worth irons, I came up with an idea I call “Golf By The Numbers”. So here’s the premise.

No matter how long or short you are, the game can be dissected down to a series of shots of a given distance in order to hit fairways and greens. Regardless of what club you might have in your hand from 135, let’s say, you need to know how to hit the ball precisely that distance, right? And there are no “bonus points” for doing it with a club that has a “P” on the bottom, rather than one with an “9”. And no penalty if it has an “8” or even “7”. If you can hit it the prescribed distance, you can play pretty good golf.

Regardless of what brand and model of irons you want to play, you can build your optimum set of clubs by first creating your own “Personal Distance Chart”. In any round of golf, you will find yourself with no less than 18 approach shots of many different distances to the desired landing area, whether that is the flag or a spot on the green where you have more room for error or a desired landing area short of the green on a par-five or long par four.

To play your best golf, you need to know which club to pull to hit the ball any of those given distances. My premise is that you need a club in your bag to produce—with a normal full swing—the following carry distance

• 75-80 yards
• 85-90 yards
• 95-100 yards
• 105-110 yards
• 120-125 yards
• 135-140 yards
• 150-155 yards
• 165-170 yards
• 180-185 yards
• 200-205 yards
• 220-225 yards
• 225+ yards
• Driver

That would give you 13 clubs, plus your putter, and fill out your bag.

You’ll notice that I have suggested 10-yard gaps in the shorter ranges, 15 yards in the middle, and 20-yard gaps at the longer end of the set. The reason for that is simple. When you are 85 yards from the hole, your target is smaller. You want the ball close to the hole to save par or make birdie. The ten-yard gap only leaves you 15 feet long or short, which is a makeable putt. At the long end of the set, however, when you find yourself over 180 yards to the target, you generally have a bigger target area and relaxed expectation for distance precision. Being 30-35 feet long or short of the target is generally quite good. And in the middle, 15-20 feet long or short is totally workable. And you can always simply grip down on any club by 1/2 to 3/4 inch and cut those distance gaps in half, giving you all the precision you need.

I’ll grant you that you can tweak these numbers a bit, maybe five yards this way or that, to suit your own game, but if you have big gaps at the short end, and small gaps at the long end, maybe you should look into tweaking your iron specs, removing/adding a club or two, to get the precision better golf requires.

This will give you all something to think about—and sound off about. I’m looking forward to that, as I always do.

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I’ve heard from many of you that you want to be “in the know” when I make the big announcement in the coming weeks. Again, if you want to be invited to have a sneak peek at what I will be unveiling in January, please send me an email to [email protected], and I’ll put you on the special invitation list. I promise this is going to be exciting.