What does Wrist to Floor really mean?
Wrist to Floor is a commonly heard term when determining how long a specific golf club should be. By itself, it's not a very interesting measurement - and is taken by measuring the distance from the crease in your wrist to the floor on both arms with them hanging loosely at your sides. Average the two readings together.
Fitters will argue that this measurement should be made outside with your golf shoes on, or inside with flat shoes, or on a hardwood floor in your socks - the reality is it doesn't really matter all that much. Blasphemy, maybe, but it's really not that critical.
Though the majority of golfers play "standard" length clubs, everyone should have their clubs dynamically adjusted for lie angle by a pro shop or clubfitter at some point. Though you need to have a fairly consistent swing to make significant changes, you don't need to be a single digit handicap to benefit from having the ball go straight when you strike it perfectly...
The length and lie standards vary for equipment manufacturers - and some actually make the lie angle more upright to "help" you from hitting the ball to the right. A more upright lie will cause a perfectly struck ball to head left of the target, so the theory here is that by pointing the iron head to the left via a raised toe - it will help correct that slice. Perhaps it will, but it's a bandaid at best and not something I recommend in any case.
Even so, each manufacturers standard length model is based on a couple of different data points, so having your set built shorter or longer than one specific standard for your heads, may still be of benefit to you.
If you fall outside the standards in the table below, you may want to consider having your clubs built shorter or longer than standard to begin with. Note that these are guidelines and not absolutes, however they may be of benefit to you in deciding how long to make your clubs initially.
We also don't specify what that standard length is in the table below, as you are comparing it to the specific standard for the heads you are using - not just 'a 38" 5 iron.' Keep this in mind when a length recommendation is made.
We believe that Height and Wrist to Floor are best measured with your golf shoes OFF, on a hard floor. Measure both wrists from the palm/wrist crease and average the two readings to make sure you are not standing crooked...
| | Height | ||||||||
| Wrist to Floor | 4'10"- 5'1" | 5'1"- 5'4" | 5'4"- 5'7" | 5'7"- 5'10" | 5'10"- 6'1" | 6'1"- 6'4" | 6'4"- 6'7" | 6'7"- 6'10" | |
| 39"-40" | +1.5 | +1.5 | +1.5 | +1.5 | +1.5 | ||||
| 38"-39" | +1.5 | +1.5 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | |||
| 37"-38" | +1 | +1 | +1 | +.5 | +.5 | +.5 | +.5 | ||
| 36"-37" | +.5 | +.5 | +.5 | +.5 | Std | Std | Std | Std | |
| 35"-36" | Std | Std | Std | Std | Std | Std | Std | Std | |
| 34"-35" | Std | Std | Std | Std | Std | Std | Std | Std | |
| 33"-34" | Std | Std | Std | Std | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | |
| 32"-33" | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | |
| 31"-32" | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | -.5 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | |
| 30"-31" | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | ||
| 29"-30" | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1.5 | -1.5 | |||
| 28"-29" | -1.5 | -1.5 | -1.5 | -1.5 | -1.5 | ||||
Again, these deviations from "standard" are just something to keep in mind when building your clubs, and not something to be strictly held against.
The maximum length of an iron may be best set by actually hitting a number of different length irons and watching for the most solid center face contact.
With the length and lie set by your clubmaker, you may indeed end up longer or shorter than the chart above.
Without the benefit of working with a qualified fitter, the WTF chart will at least give you guidance to get you started.Tim Hewitt, myOstrich Golf
