Using data from the Rapsodo MLM2Pro at this year’s Hot List testing summit, we looked at five of our Hot List panelists with driver swing speeds just slightly under 90 miles per hour. The average distance between the 7-iron and 5-iron for that group was just five yards, and none of them showed an adequate distance gap between the 5- and 7-iron. Two actually carried the 7-iron farther than the 5-iron. Only one in the group recorded a yardage gap between the 7- and 5-iron in double-digits, but even then the 16-yard gap would not be nearly enough to accommodate three clubs (5-, 6- and 7-iron).
In fact, research from Mizuno showed that at 7-iron swing speeds between 70-80 miles per hour (LPGA level and better), a slightly higher lofted 7-iron (like 31 degrees) is going to carry farther than a lower-lofted 7-iron (28 degrees)