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How Far Should You Hit Your Irons? - Data From Arccos
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Apr 1, 2025
Do you know how far you should hit your irons based on how you compare with other golfers in your handicap range? Well to see how you stack up, we've enlisted the help of golf data giants Arccos to give us a detailed breakdown of how far you should be hitting every iron in your bag and where the biggest distance gaps tend to lie.
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We all think we know how far we should hit each iron, but what is the truth? Well, I've got all
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the data to yse how far you should be hitting each iron. So in this video, we can take a look
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at how far each handicap index hits each iron in their bag on average. This is a median carry
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distance. And this data has come from ARCOS. So it's nearly a billion real life shots from real
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golfers on real golf courses. So this should give you a really good idea of where you stack up in
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your handicap index, right? So let's start with zero to five handicaps. So the median distance for
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each iron in the bag for zero to five index handicaps looks a little something like this
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So we'll start with the four iron and that average carry is 187 yards, five iron 172.9
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six iron 163.9, seven iron 154, which I think some people might think is a little short for
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a zero to five index handicap. And we're going to get a lot of that as this video goes on. I think
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The numbers are smaller than what we thought. 8 iron, 144.6. 9 iron, 133.6. And finally
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the pitching wedge, 119.2. Now, as we go through each index, I'm going to talk about the biggest
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gap in the bag for each index from this median data from Arcos. And interestingly, for a 0-5
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handicapper, that biggest gap becomes between the 4 and the 5 iron with a 14.1 yard difference
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That's the biggest, which to me at least shows really consistent gapping through the bag
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That 14-yard gap is the biggest one. That's probably why they're a 0-5 index handicapper
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That strike is consistent and that gapping is therefore consistent as well
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So that's something interesting to look at. And again, I think we're used to seeing tour pros hit their 7 irons 180 plus yards
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and therefore think low handicap golfers do the same. This shows they don't
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That 7-iron averaging, that median distance of 154, I think quite a lot of people might hit that who aren't in that handicap index
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So it's an interesting stat and one to look out for as we work through handicap indexes
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Okay, so I'm stood 147 yards away from the pin behind me, and that incidentally is the exact median carry distance a 5-10 handicap index golfer hits their 7 iron
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So I'll bring up the graph now to show you the rest of the distances for this handicap index
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So 5-10 index, their 4 iron will carry 175.9 yards. 5 iron, 163.9
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6 iron, 157 exactly. 7 iron 147 So not quite 147 like I just said 8 iron 139 9 iron 128 and finally that pitching wedge goes 113 yards Now remember these are average distances so I know you might think they a
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little bit smaller but you know that is taking everything into account from a huge set of golfers
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by the way. Interestingly biggest gap in the bag for the 5 to 10 index is the other side of the bag
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from the zero to five so the biggest gap is between nine iron and pitching wedge which is 14.7 yards
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which is a little bit more than a club you'd say and it's an interesting one i think a lot of golfers
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who sit in this range might want to figure out because these are scoring clubs having a big gap
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between your nine and your pitching wedge might cost you a couple of greens hit across a round
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one to note and one to make a note of as you go through the rest of the indexes now i fall into this category range i'm a 6.5 index so if i bring up my rcos app now show a
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little screen recording of my distances. I'm actually a little bit above the average and I'm
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not just showing off there. I just thought I'd bring it up. But my seven iron average is 156
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Now I've used this app for three years now, logged all my shots since I've been using it. So
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this is really accurate for how far I hit all my clubs. Obviously very useful. And you can also see
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that my gap between my pitching range and nine iron corresponds as well. That's actually 16 yards
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So a little bit more than the average, but one I need to work on and whether that's changing lofts
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working on striking my pitching much better. I don't know what it is. But this all competes as
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well from my R-class data, as well as the generic data for 5 to 10 indexes. Right, next up, I'm stood
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141 yards away from that pin behind me, which is the average median carry distance for a 7-iron
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for 10 to 15 index golfers. Let's get the graph up now and look at the rest of those stats
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This index golfers 4-iron goes 167.1 yards, 5-iron 156.5, 6-iron 150.5, 7-iron 141.4
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to be precise uh eight iron 134.3 nine iron 124 exactly and pitching wedge 108.2 yards and again
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like the uh five to ten index golfer that biggest gap in the bag of all the irons is between the
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pitching wedge and the nine iron this time it's 15.8 yards which again is like a club and a half
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sort of distance here uh which is really an interesting thing that came up as we did this
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research alongside Arcos. Compared to a 0-5 index golfer, these 10-15 are pretty much
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a club shorter in terms of distance. So I guess if you sit in this range and you play
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with a low single figure golfer when they pull out an 8 iron you be pulling out a 7 iron on average to compete with that distance Right I moved up the hole again We now 135 yards away from that pin which is the average carry distance for a seven iron for a 15 to 20 index goal For now considering the average
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handicap, I think at least in the UK, is 17. This should be relevant to most of you watching now
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Let's bring up the data again for you to visualize and look at the rest of the clubs. So 4-iron carry, 156.6. 5-iron, 148.1. 6-iron, 143.9. There's that 7-iron, 135 exactly on average
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8-iron, 129. 9-iron, 118.6. And pitching wedge, 101.6. Now, again, the eagle-eyed amongst you will see
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the biggest gapping in there is, again, for these 15-20 index golfers between the pitching wedge
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and the nine iron and it's gone even further this time it's now 17 yards between those two clubs
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uh i don't know why that is let me know down in the comments why you think the gapping there
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is so much larger but when you go further up the bag and you see the gap in between like five iron
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and four iron for example at 156 and 148 is like eight yards and then also there's a 17 yard gap
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between the bottom of the bag something's going on there let me know in the comments what you think
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that is but those are the average distances for what i would consider at least to be the average
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golfer okay last handicap index we look at in this video 2025 golfers i've come to 128 yards out and
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that is the average distance those golfers are hitting their seven iron uh let's look at the
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rest of the data again i'll bring up all this pretty imagery for you uh their four iron will
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go 146.9 yards on average five iron 140.5 six iron 137.5 seven iron 128.9 eight iron 123.8
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9-iron, 113.1. And lastly, the pitching wedge, 94.6 yards. And shock horror, again, it's a trend we've seen
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but the biggest gap in the bag for 20-25 index golfers is that 9-to-pitching wedge
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And this time, it's eked out even further, 18.5 yards. Again, let me know why you think that's the case
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I think realistically, obviously, the ball becomes harder to strike the less loft there is on the irons, right
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So you can see that 4-iron, 5-iron, 6-iron, all going a very similar distance
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but that starts to spread out as there's a bit more loft on the club and they start to strike the ball a little better
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That's my theory anyway. But as we've seen for each index, as it gets a little higher
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that gap between the wedge and the nine iron gets bigger and those top clubs just kind of squeeze into one similar number But really interesting no doubt And lastly on these index golfers that zero to five handicap golf we saw averaging their eight iron of 144 that about four iron for
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this kind of golfers there's a four club difference between that zero to five index golfer and that
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20 to 25 index golfer now before we wrap this video i'm going to head to the green i'm going
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to briefly talk about green and regulation percentages fun stuff okay so to round this
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video off I've come to the green to chat about green and regulation percentage by handicap by
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distance as well so our customers put this data together for us to see how often you should be
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hitting a green from what distance depending on your handicap right also very complex it isn't
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I'm gonna bring up a graph now take a look at it pause if you need to to digest it a little bit more
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but I want to look at two specific parts of this which was the 100 to 124 yards and the percentages
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so a zero handicap scratch golfer from that distance will hit the green just a little under
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70 percent of the time don't mind they're probably hitting what a pitching wedge or a gap wedge in
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from here that's obviously impressive but they also miss three and ten from that range uh so
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food for thought when you get a bit angry about yourself with missing a green from not that far away the best golfers they do it as well for you 20 handicap golfer so just a little bit above what
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the average handicap is 40 of the time so again not a lot but that's probably because they're
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They're coming in with, as we saw, more often than an eight or a seven iron for their average distance
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So it's a little bit harder to control. So food for thought there about how often you're hitting a green from what doesn't feel like a long way out
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If you go to the other end of this graph and look at 200 plus yards, again, never kick yourself from missing a green from that far away
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It doesn't happen very often. Look at the zero index golfer hitting it less than 20% of the time
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and that 20 handicapper sort of doing it occasionally a couple of percent i wouldn't
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worry about it too much but again from all the distances there from that brilliant graph you can
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get a really good idea of how often you should be hitting the green from what distance so we spoke
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about distance early and how far you should be in each club but obviously proximity to this thing
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the flag and the hole is very important as well and just having a knowledge of that i think can
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feed good information to the mind when you're out on the golf course right so thanks again for
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r cost put our brilliant data together and let me know down in the comments where do you sit within
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your handicap index uh are you a little bit above it like i am which i'm very excited about obviously
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because distance is cool uh are you about average a little bit below let me know where you sit and
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if you were surprised by any of the numbers because i certainly was and let me know about that nine
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iron pitching wedge gap thing i don't know what's going on there if you've got any ideas let me know
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i'd love to hear about it but for now i hope you enjoyed this video thank you for watching i'll see
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you next time
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