What Size Golf Clubs Do I Need?

Two numbers set your starting iron length: your height and your wrist-to-floor measurement.

The answer to what size golf clubs do I need starts with two measurements, your height and your wrist-to-floor distance, read against a published length chart for adult irons. PING, Callaway Golf Pre-Owned and Wishon Golf each publish one, and they do not always agree, so each chart is a starting point.

I show the three published length charts below side by side so you can see where they differ and what to do about it.

What You Need Before You Start

You need a tape measure and your height. This article covers adult irons, because that is what the published charts address. If you are still choosing a set, start with my guide to choosing irons as a beginner.

Wrist-to-floor is the distance from your wrist to the floor when you stand comfortably erect with your arms hanging relaxed at your sides, as Wishon Golf describes it. The PING and Callaway graphics both show the measurement running from the wrist down to the floor. The charts below use it as the second number next to height.

Step 1: Measure Your Height and Wrist-to-Floor

Measure your height first. Then measure wrist-to-floor: arms relaxed at your sides, tape from your wrist to the floor.

I’m 5'7", for reference, which is the bottom edge of PING’s standard band.

Write both numbers down. You will read each of them against three charts. Once you have them, my guide to which clubs a new golfer should carry first answers the next question.

Step 2: Look Up Your Number in Each Club Length Chart

Step 2 reads your numbers in three published length charts: PING’s, Callaway Golf Pre-Owned’s and Wishon Golf’s. I keep the three charts separate and attributed to their publishers. They are never averaged or merged into one chart, because the disagreement is the useful information.

PING’s Color Code Chart

PING’s Color Code Chart uses height plus wrist-to-floor to give a length adjustment and a lie color for PING irons. Its height bands run from -1.5" for 5'0" to 5'1" up to +1.5" for 6'6" to 6'7", relative to PING standard, with 5'7" to 6'0" marked as standard length.

Callaway Golf Pre-Owned’s Length and Lie Chart

The length and lie chart on Callaway Golf Pre-Owned’s fitting guide is described there for irons and wedges. Its columns are player height and its rows are wrist-to-floor. Each cell gives a length adjustment from standard, from -2" to +2".

The graphic’s left axis is labelled “height”, but the chart’s own key and its worked example (6'2", 36" wrist-to-floor) show that the rows are wrist-to-floor.

Wishon Golf’s Height and Wrist-to-Floor Charts

Wishon Golf publishes its Height & Wrist to Floor Initial Length and Lie Fitting Charts as a PDF. It lists a 7-iron length for each height and wrist-to-floor pair, with a 37-inch 7-iron as zero change. The five readings in the next section show what it says for the same people the other two charts cover.

The bases differ. PING and Callaway Golf Pre-Owned quote “standard”, while Wishon quotes change from a 37" 7-iron. Treat the three readings as directional.

Where the Three Charts Disagree

This table reads the same five people against all three published charts, and the charts differ at three of the five builds. It is a reading of charts, with no test behind it.

All three agree at 5'8" with a 34" wrist-to-floor, and at 6'4" with 37". At the other three builds they differ. The largest gap is the 5'4" golfer with a 31.5" wrist-to-floor, where Callaway Golf Pre-Owned’s chart reads a full inch shorter than PING’s and Wishon’s. At 6'2" with a 36" wrist-to-floor, it reads a half inch shorter than both.

Wishon Golf says wrist-to-floor is only an initial recommendation and that posture can shift it.

The GolfWorks goes further. Its FAQ says club length “is determined mostly by the ball striking ability of the golfer,” and that a short golfer with good ball striking can handle a club 1/2 to 1 inch longer than standard. A tall golfer with a high handicap, it says, may connect with the sweet spot more easily using a shorter club. The GolfWorks also states that playing length “for any individual in all categories of clubs should be custom fit to the player by a qualified fitting professional.”

Length and lie are fitted together. PING’s chart gives a length adjustment and a lie color from the same two measurements. Shaft flex is a separate fitting question, covered in the shaft flex chart.

What “Standard Length” Means

Each maker defines its own standard length, and the differences show up in the spec sheets.

For drivers, Titleist’s GTS family lists 45.5", and The GolfWorks lists 45.00" or 45.50" depending on shaft weight.

Published length also depends on how a maker measures. Mizuno’s Pro 243 page notes that its published lengths are about 1/4" longer under the USGA/R&A measurement method, with the actual club unchanged. Callaway changed its method on January 1, 2020, making published driver and fairway wood lengths about 1/8" to 1/4" longer with no physical change to the clubs. A gap of about a quarter inch between two spec sheets can come from the measuring method.

The Rules of Equipment set the limits: a club must be at least 18 inches long and, except for putters, no longer than 48 inches.

Step 3: Check the Result Before You Buy

The chart reading is a static starting point. Mizuno’s tour operations manager, Alex Thorne, put it this way in 2016: “height alone isn’t the critical factor. It all comes down to posture at address - arm length is important too.”

A fitter can check lie and length with your swing.

If the charts disagree for your build, see how a club fitting works before you pick a number.

Driver and Fairway Wood Length

Driver and fairway wood length depends on swing and playing ability, and the wrist-to-floor charts apply to irons. Wishon Golf says “the decision is made completely on the basis of the golfer’s swing characteristics combined with their playing ability.”

I never hit standard-length drivers, as I wrote in my TaylorMade drivers guide: “My driver is cut down to 44.25 inches so I can control it better.” That is my own driver and my own swing. For first-driver picks, see the drivers I tested for beginners.

Putters fall outside the iron charts. I had the BHB03 cut 1.2 inches, as I wrote in its review.

Questions Golfers Ask

What size golf clubs should a 5'7" male use?

For a 5'7" male, PING’s chart puts the height at the bottom edge of its standard band (5'7" to 6'0"). Callaway Golf Pre-Owned’s chart has columns for 5'6" and 5'8" and none for 5'7", and its 5'8" column reads standard for wrist-to-floor from 34" to 36.5".

Does a 6'2" man need longer golf clubs?

A 6'2" man does not necessarily need longer golf clubs. With a 36" wrist-to-floor, PING and Wishon read +0.5" and Callaway Golf Pre-Owned’s chart reads standard, and a fitter can settle which reading applies.

How do you size golf clubs for your height?

Sizing golf clubs for your height means measuring height and wrist-to-floor, then reading both numbers in the length chart from the maker of the set you are buying, if it publishes one. The three charts here disagree at some builds, so have a fitter confirm any adjustment.

What Size Golf Clubs Do I Need? The Decision

Measure your height and wrist-to-floor. Read both numbers in PING’s chart, Callaway Golf Pre-Owned’s chart and Wishon’s charts, and note where they disagree for you, because at some builds they differ by an inch. Then have the clubs checked, or hand the numbers to a fitter. When you are ready to buy, see the clubs I recommend for beginners. Do those three things and you have your answer to what size golf clubs do I need.