A “GW” is an important club known as the gap wedge. As the name implies, it fills in the large distance gap found between your pitching wedge (PW) and sand wedge (SW), which occurs because of the large difference in the lofts of those two clubs.

The gap wedge will typically carry 10-15 yards farther than a sand wedge, and 10-15 yards shorter than a pitching wedge. Why is this important?

When hitting irons and wedges, it’s critical to choose a club to match the distance to your target. In your set, as you move from club to club, there is a consistent shift in distance. This holds true until you move from the pitching wedge (about 46° loft) to the sand wedge (55°), where you’ll find a two-club distance gap. When a golfer is at a distance where this gap occurs, he will usually try to take a shorter or softer swing with the PW so the ball does not go past the target.

Let's say, you hit a PW 100 yards and a SW 80 yards. When you find yourself 90 yards out, you have to take a partial swing with your PW or swing extra hard with your SW. For most golfers, both these methods are very difficult to accomplish with consistency, and their game suffers.

The best way to address this issue is with a GW iron to eliminate yardage gaps in your set so you can take a full swing with every club. Thomas Golf offers many options for filling the yardage gap between the PW and SW:

For more information on Irons and Wedges: