Golf Loft & Lie Checker
Enter your irons' measured loft and lie — see which clubs are off standard and where your gaps break down. Free, instant, no signup.
Enter what you measured for each iron — loft, lie, or both. Leave blank what you haven't checked. Measured with the free Club Angle Check Mat? Use the middle-of-three reading.
| Club | Loft (°) | Lie (°) |
|---|
| Club | Loft (std) | Lie (std) | Status |
|---|
Why the number on the sole isn't the number in your hands
Club heads leave the factory within a tolerance — often a degree or two — and they drift further with use: forged and cast irons alike bend from thousands of range-mat strikes, and one hard hit on a root can move a club in an afternoon. Two irons stamped the same loft can sit two degrees apart brand new. Most golfers never check, then blame their swing for a distance gap the equipment created.
What this checker does
Enter your measured loft and lie for each iron and it compares them to representative standards (the full golf club loft & lie chart lists every club), then flags three things: clubs that read well off standard, loft gaps that are too wide or overlapping, and breaks in your lie progression. The most useful output isn't any single number — it's spotting the one club that's out of step with the rest of your set.
How to get your measured numbers
You don't need a $500 machine. Sole the club on a level surface and rest a phone inclinometer against the shaft (for lie) or the face (for loft). Our free Club Angle Check Mat walks through the method, including the step most people skip. Lie reads reliably; loft is fussier, so take the middle of three readings.
What a healthy set looks like
Irons should step about 3–4° of loft per club and get gradually more upright in lie as they get shorter — roughly half a degree to a degree per club. A gap over 5° between neighbours is a distance hole; under 2° means two clubs that fly the same yardage. A lone club that reads flat or strong while its neighbours are clean is almost always the club, not your measuring.
What to do with the result
If a club looks meaningfully off, take it to someone with a proper loft-and-lie machine before anything gets bent — this is a screening check, not a fitting gauge. And loft and lie are only two of eight fit factors. For the full picture, Grade My Bag scores all 14 clubs across every factor a fitter checks.
Frequently asked questions
Sole the club on a level surface and rest a phone inclinometer (or a $5 magnetic angle gauge) against the shaft for lie and the face for loft. Our free Club Angle Check Mat walks through the method. It's a screening check, not a fitting gauge.
Representative standards: 4-iron 24°/60°, 5-iron 27°/61°, 6-iron 30°/62°, 7-iron 33°/63°, 8-iron 37°/64°, 9-iron 41°/65°, pitching wedge 45°/65.5°. Every manufacturer sets its own numbers, so treat these as a reference.
Three to four degrees between neighbouring irons is ideal. Under two degrees is an overlap — two clubs that go the same distance; more than five degrees is a distance gap practice won't fix.
No. This flags which club looks off so you know what to hand a fitter. Bending decisions belong on a proper loft-and-lie machine that reads to a fraction of a degree.
On the shorter, higher-lofted irons, yes — a lie a degree or two off pushes or pulls your start line, and the effect grows with loft. It matters most in your scoring irons and wedges.
Want analysis across your whole bag?
Grade My Bag analyzes all 14 clubs — length, lie angle, weight progression, and more. Free, 3 minutes.
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