Taking a club out of the bag for the gap wedge

Just faced this myself after buying a GW. For me it was getting rid of the 19* hybrid. Too similar to a 3w in distance and I mostly used it when facing a bad lie in deep grass because it cut through better than a 3w. I've had the GW about 2 weeks and I've used it a lot. More than filling a gap I've been chipping with it. But I toyed with tossing the 60* wedge. Easily the most difficult club for me to control.

For me, I kept the 5W and tossed the 3W.  5W was always much easier for me to hit and control, and is long enough.  I only play a fairway wood a couple times a round anyway, so it didn't really matter much in the end.  

How do you play the clubs? Which one is least comfortable for you to hit? Least consistent? Least versatile? Least likely to actually be used? Least replaceable during a round if you actually needed it?

The simplest advice is to just pull the club that is required the least often per round.

For me, my 3-hybrid is my go-to club on a lot of holes because it's the longest club I'll use off the fairway. My 58* wedge is nice to have, but I only pull it a couple times per round and I can make do with my 52* laid open 80% of the time anyway. I might only have 1 shot per round that I actually needed it for. I really like having it, but it's probably the club that would go if I needed one to.

i had the same issue, and i dumped my 5w.  my 3-hybrid is more versatile than my 5w, and i use my 3w more than the 5w.

I was in a similar situation up to last year. I only had a 60* and a 56*. I'd hit my 60* about 80 yards while my 56* is about 100 yards. So the difference between my 48* P wedge and 56* sand was about 30yards and I always said I needed a gap wedge. Earlier this year I got a 52* Cleveland cg-16 gap wedge. Well, I've played a bunch of golf this year and somehow I've only used it on the course maybe 5 times.

 

But in the OP's case, I would toss the 5 wood and keep the hybrid. To me, 5 woods are a bit of an unnecessary club.

I would toss the 5w.  I don't even carry a 3w or 5w (always had problems with them) but I hit alot with my super hybrid and use my gap wedge all the time. 

I dumped the 60* lob wedge, I use my sand wedge. I use my fairway woods a lot.

It sounds like you aren't in love with your 5w or anything, and hit it similar distance to your 3h, so the obvious answer seems to be to drop the 5w.  Personally I absolutely love my 60˚, so I'd never recommend dropping that.  

 

One other option might be the 3i?  I only hit my 2/3h (19˚) 5-10 yards further than my 3i (20˚), and only maybe 10 yards less than my old 5w.  Though I could probably find a 5w I hit maybe 15+ yards farther.  Anyway, the point is that I hit my 3h much better than my 3i, so though I only took the 5w out of the bag I rarely use my 3i.  Unless I'm hot with the irons that day, I'd rather choke up and hit an easy 3h instead of a 3i if I'm at 3i distance.  Just something to think about if you hit your 5w a ton better than your 3i and you can hit the 3h 3i distance if you want.

I got rid of the 3 iron.  Very rarely have I missed it.

Just leave it at home for the first couple casual rounds. Or do you literally have to get rid of it (ie, sell it to afford the gap wedge)?

A modern 3Hybrid and 5wood are interchangeable clubs. Only you can decide which suits your game better.  

 

The wedge game is critical to scoring!!

I carry 4:

P:48deg

G:51

S:56

L:60

 

Every one of my wedges gets used regularly/EVERY ROUND......these are my scoring/$$$ clubs.