How Far Should Each Golf Club Hit the Ball
In today’s golf lesson we will be covering the distance each golf club should go based on it’s design and loft. We will cover all the different golf clubs in the bag one by one.
Your loft is important because it determines the launch angle of your golf ball. Irons typically are standard in terms of loft angle but you can adjust the shaft type to either extra stiff, stiff, regular, senior, or ladies.
If you have a slower swing speed, you typically need more help launching the golf ball which means you should find drivers and woods with higher degrees of loft to help you hit the ball farther.
And technique is also important. Swinging with proper form can help you make better contact and hit the ball farther. Here’s the proper golf swing sequence for reference
Let’s dive in to our review of how far you should hit each golf club based on the loft angle and swing speed you swing with that particular golf club.
Don’t forget to download our 10 best short game golf drills to practice.
Driver Distances
The first club in your golf bag to talk about will be your driver and how far it should hit the ball. Choosing the right driver to buy should be based on your swing speed. Do you have a slow, average, or professional swing speed?
Slower Swing Speed
If you swing the driver 85 mph or less you should pick out a driver with more loft, such as 14 to 16 degrees.
An 85 mph swing speed will likely hit your driver around 220-230 yards.
Average Swing Speed
Golfers who swing 95 to 105 mph can usually hit the golf ball 250 to 270 yards and should pick out a driver with 10 or 11 degrees of loft.
Professional Swing Speed
Professional golfers who can swing the driver 110 mph and above can hit drivers over 300 yards and they require lower lofted drivers such as a 7, 8, or 9 degree loft.
Overall, the distance your driver should hit the ball will vary by the player depending on swing speed. There are other factors of course like how purely you strike the ball on the face of the club as well as the loft / launch angle the driver hits the ball. But generally, the driver should hit the ball the farthest of all your golf clubs and it should be 200 yards to 300 yards depending on your swing speed.
Fairway Woods Distances
Fairway woods are often numbered and the higher the number the more loft the wood has. Here’s a quick break down:
- 3 Wood = 14 or 15 degrees
- 4 Wood / 1 Iron = 16 degrees
- 5 Wood / 2 Iron = 18 degrees
- 7 Wood / 3 Iron = 22 degrees
- 9 Wood / 4 Iron = 26 degrees
We highlighted what club a fairway wood could replace in your bag if you tend to hit better shots with woods instead of irons.
For example, I’m not as good with my 4 iron, so I often choose to hit a hybrid club but other golfers may choose a 9 wood or 4 iron instead.
As far as distances you should hit your fairway woods, it will vary. Most male golfers can hit a fairway wood between 180 yards and 250 yards.
Women average between 100 yards and 190 yards with their fairway woods and the PGA Tour pro’s can hit woods 250 to 300+ yards.
It comes down to swing speed and ball striking.
The faster you can swing the club and more center it hits the face, then the farther you should be able to hit your woods.
PGA Tour players can swing their fairway woods in excess of 100 mph while LPGA women golfers tend to swing in the 90’s mph.
Average golfers may swing their fairway woods 80 mph to 95 mph.
If you want to set a distance goal, then aim to hit your 3 wood 240 yards with a smooth, controlled swing. Work on your swing fundamentals until you build your swing up to the point you’re hitting your 3 wood around 240 yards (male golfers) and 200 yards (female golfers).
Golf Irons Distances
Most golf iron sets start with a 4 iron and progress through a 9 iron. Some typical iron set brands you’ll hear about include Titleist, Taylormade, Callaway, Ping, Cobra, Srixon, and Wilson.
There are iron sets made specifically for women, men, seniors, and kids. In fact, check out this review of kid’s junior golf iron sets and this review of the best irons for women golfers.
Here is a chart break down of the typical loft angle you’ll find on most iron sets and about how far you should hit each iron:
- 4 iron = 26 degrees (180-210 yards)
- 5 iron = 28 degrees (160 to 190 yards)
- 6 iron = 31 degrees (140 to 180 yards)
- 7 iron = 34 degrees (130 to 170 yards)
- 8 iron = 37 degrees (120 to 160 yards)
- 9 iron = 41 degrees (110 to 150 yards)
Again, these are example loft angles each of your golf irons might have but each set of clubs can vary. For example, here are the lofts you’ll find on the M2 Ladies Iron Set by TaylorMade.
For women golfer’s the distance chart might look more like the following with irons:
- 4 iron = 120-150 yards
- 5 iron = 110-140 yards
- 6 iron = 100-130 yards
- 7 iron = 90-120 yards
- 8 iron = 80-110 yards
- 9 iron = 70-100 yards
Golf Wedge Distances
While it’s important to still find out the max distance you can hit each of your wedges, these distances shouldn’t matter as much because these are your scoring clubs that need to get the ball on the green and close to the flagstick.
Your goal is to master hitting your wedges precise distances between 5 feet (chip shots) and 120 yards (full swing pitch shots).
You may be able to hit a pitching wedge 120 yards max, but when you face a 70 yard wedge shot, you’ll have to learn how to hit a half swing pitch shot more so than learning to hit it maximum distance.
Spend lots of time learning how to hit the same wedge different distances so you can score lower from hitting shots onto the green accurately.
Here’s a quick summary chart:
- Pitching Wedge = 45 degrees loft (100-120 yards)
- Gap Wedge = 50 degrees loft (90-110 yards)
- Sand Wedge = 55 degrees loft (70-100 yards)
- Flop Wedge = 60 degrees loft (40-80 yards)
Most golf club sets will include a pitching wedge (P) and gap wedge (G) to cover the 100-130 yard distance for men and the 60-100 yard distance for women. You may also see an “A” wedge in a golf iron set instead of “G” in some cases.
After that, you’ll select one or more chipping wedges to add to your bag, such as the Titleist Vokey 56 degree and the 60 degree wedge for flop shots.
Overall, review these club distance charts for each of the different golf club types (Driver, Woods, Irons, Wedges) to get a general idea of the loft on the club and the distance that men and women golfers should hit each club.
The higher the loft, the higher the ball should launch into the air and the shorter distance it will travel overall. A 60 degree wedge has the highest loft and travels much shorter than any other club in your bag. Like your driver, which has the lowest loft and travels the farthest distance of all clubs.
If you hit low drives or low fairway wood shots that don’t seem to be going as far as they should, consider picking out new clubs with higher loft. Change from a 9 degree driver to a 10.5 or 12 degree driver.
This is one simple fix to help you hit your golf clubs farther. Otherwise, increase your swing speed, and improve your ball striking to hit farther.
Thanks for reading and make sure to check out our resources below that golfer’s love following to improve their scores quicker. We’ve helped thousands of golfers and look forward to helping you too!
- All Access Golf Resource Library
- Short Game Practice Plan
- Indoor Golf Practice & Fitness Plan
- 36 Easy to Follow Golf Practice Routines
