Search for an iron fitting chart and you will be handed four different questionnaires. All four ask your height. Three of them then ask for a second measurement most golfers have never taken — your wrist-to-floor. One never mentions it. And only two of the four give you back the specification that second measurement actually determines.
That is the thing worth understanding before you use any of them. Some of these charts are telling you a length. Others are telling you a lie angle. They are different specifications, set by different measurements, and a chart that returns one is not a substitute for a chart that returns the other.
The comparisonWhat each chart asks for, and what it hands back
| Chart | What it asks you for | What it returns |
|---|---|---|
| PING Color Code Chart | Height and wrist-to-floor | Lie angle and length. Ten colour codes, “ranging from 5° upright to 4° flat” |
| Wishon Height & Wrist-to-Floor charts | Height and wrist-to-floor | An initial lie change in degrees, a length change in inches, and a resulting 7-iron length |
| Hireko length guide | Height, then height and wrist-to-floor | Length only — a band from −1" to +1" against standard. No lie angle |
| Vice Iron Fitting Tool | Gender and height, in 5 cm bands | A recommended set specification |
Hireko is unusually candid about the limits of the height-only shortcut it publishes at the top of its own guide:
“Height alone isn’t perfect. Two players at the same height can have different arm lengths and posture, so the wrist-to-floor (WTF) measurement gives a more accurate golf club size chart by height.”Hireko Golf, What Length Golf Clubs Do You Need?
PING has made the same point structurally since the chart was created:
“It relied on two simple variables, a golfer’s height and their wrist-to-floor measurement. By plotting these measurements on the chart, you could determine your static PING Color Code (lie angle) and recommended length.”PING, Fitting Color Code Chart
The demonstrationNine degrees a height-only chart cannot see
Wishon publishes its full chart as a table, which makes it possible to do something the other charts do not allow: hold one variable still and watch the other move.
Take a golfer who is 5'10". Wishon’s chart covers that height across wrist-to-floor measurements from 29" to 40" — twenty-three separate rows. Here is what happens across them.
| Height | Wrist-to-floor | Initial lie | 7-iron length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5'10" | 29" | −4° | 37" |
| 5'10" | 31" | −3° | 37" |
| 5'10" | 33" | −1° | 37" |
| 5'10" | 34" | 0° | 37" |
| 5'10" | 35.5" | +2° | 37" |
| 5'10" | 37" | +3° | 37" |
| 5'10" | 38.5" | +5° | 37" |
| 5'10" | 40" | +5° | 37" |
The length column never moves. Across all twenty-three rows, for every wrist-to-floor measurement Wishon lists at this height, the recommended 7-iron is 37" — standard, no adjustment, every time.
The lie column moves nine degrees, from 4° flat to 5° upright.
This is the whole argument for the second measurement. At 5'10", your height determines the length — and then stops being useful. Everything still undecided is decided by how far your wrists sit off the floor. A chart that asks only your height is confidently answering the question that does not vary, and saying nothing about the one that does.
This is not a quirk of one height. Running the same test across Wishon’s published chart, the lie spread at a single height reaches ten degrees at 5'9", nine at 5'8", 5'10" and 5'11", and eight at 5'6". The effect is largest for golfers of roughly average height — which is to say, for most people reading this.
It narrows at the extremes. At 6'8" the published spread is two degrees, because very tall golfers with very short arms are rare enough that the chart barely covers the combination.
The assumptionWhere the length-only charts quietly go wrong
Hireko’s more detailed chart does use wrist-to-floor — but it pairs each height band with a single wrist-to-floor band, as though the two travel together. Its 5'7"–6'0" row is matched to 34"–36"; its 5'0"–5'3" row to 30"–32".
Wishon’s chart says otherwise. It lists a 5'10" golfer at wrist-to-floor measurements from 29" all the way to 40" — an eleven-inch spread at one height. A 5'10" player measuring 30" is a real combination that Wishon covers explicitly, and gives 4° flat. On a chart that pairs 30" with heights of 5'0"–5'3", that golfer has no row.
This is not an error on Hireko’s part so much as the cost of a compact table: the pairing holds for most people, and quietly fails for exactly the golfers who most need a fitting. If your two measurements land in different rows, that mismatch is your fitting information — and it is the moment to stop using a chart.
The measurementHow wrist-to-floor is taken
Wrist-to-floor is the measurement the two serious charts are built on, and it is the one most people have never taken.
Stand upright on a hard floor in the shoes you play in, arms hanging relaxed at your sides. Do not stretch down and do not shrug up. Measure from the floor to the crease of your wrist — the fold where your hand meets your forearm.
Two golfers of identical height routinely differ here by several inches, because arm length and torso length vary independently of total height. That difference is exactly what the chart is reading.
It is worth taking twice. Wishon’s chart steps in half-inch increments, and across the whole document roughly two in five of those half-inch steps change the lie recommendation by a full degree or more. Half an inch of sloppy measuring is a real specification change.
The honest limitWhat none of these charts can tell you
Every chart on this page returns what fitters call a static recommendation — a starting point derived from standing still. Wishon labels its own output “Initial Length and Lie” in the title of the document. PING presents the chart as the entry point to a fitting, not a replacement for one.
The reason for the hedge is that lie angle is ultimately about what the club does at impact, not what it does at address. A golfer with a steep, aggressive move delivers a very different lie than a shallow sweeper of the same height and arm length. No static chart can see that, and none of them claims to.
So treat the number you get here as the specification to walk in with, and the thing to argue about with impact tape and a lie board — not the answer.
RelatedThe rest of the numbers
Length and lie are two specifications out of several. If you are working through a full set, our golf club length chart covers the published lengths club by club, the loft chart shows how far the stamped numbers have drifted between makers, and the grip size chart handles the one specification you can change yourself for about ten pounds a club.
On shafts, the flex chart sets the makers’ published ranges side by side, and graphite versus steel covers the material question that usually comes up in the same fitting.
FAQQuick answers
Can I fit irons from my height alone?
You can get the length approximately right. You cannot get the lie angle right, and on Wishon’s published chart the lie is the specification that actually varies at a given height — by up to nine or ten degrees. A height-only chart is a length chart wearing a fitting chart’s name.
What is wrist-to-floor and why does it matter more than height?
It is the distance from the floor to your wrist crease, standing relaxed in your golf shoes. It matters because two golfers of the same height can have very different arm lengths, and the club has to reach the ground from wherever your hands actually are.
Why do the four charts disagree?
They are answering different questions. PING and Wishon both return a lie angle, which requires two measurements. Hireko uses wrist-to-floor too but returns length only, and Vice never asks for it. A length answer and a lie answer are not interchangeable, however similar the chart looks.
What if my height and my wrist-to-floor land in different rows?
On charts that pair one height band to one wrist-to-floor band, you will have no row — and that mismatch is the most useful thing a chart has told you. Wishon’s chart, which lists the two measurements independently, will still have an entry. Either way it is the point to stop using a chart and see a fitter.
Is a static chart good enough, or do I need a real fitting?
The charts are explicitly starting points — Wishon titles its own output “Initial” length and lie. A static chart cannot see how you deliver the club at impact, which is what lie angle is ultimately about. Use the chart to know what to ask for, then confirm it with impact tape on a lie board.
Does the same chart work for women’s irons?
Wishon’s published chart is indexed on height and wrist-to-floor without a separate gender column, so it covers any golfer whose measurements fall inside its range, which starts at 4'10". Vice asks gender as a separate question before height. The two are not doing the same thing, and neither publishes its reasoning.
How accurate does the wrist-to-floor measurement need to be?
Half an inch matters. Wishon’s chart steps in half-inch increments of wrist-to-floor, and adjacent steps frequently differ by a full degree of lie. Take it twice, in your golf shoes, and use the average.