Final three clubs

As some of you may know, I am updating my clubs for this season. I have already purchased Tour Edge Exotics CU irons (4-PW), Tour Edge Exotics Tour Proto wedges (52°, 56°, 60°), and a Tour Edge Bazooka Geomax 05 putter, all together I have only spent $330... my goal is to get through the overhaul on $700 or less (gotta get my membership you know)... But here is where my problem comes in, my final three clubs (thinking of getting more than three so I can switch out my 4-iron for a hybrid if conditions warrant it)... The Driver is obviously going to be one of the three, but I'm confused on whether to get a 9° or a 10.5°... then we get to the other two, I'm not sure whether to do 3-wood, 5-wood. Or 4-wood, 7-wood, 4-wood, hybrid, or 3-wood, hybrid or what... I'm looking at the XCG6 line if that helps

I would suggest and personally use the 4 wood/7 wood combo. You'd be surprised how much more versatility and forgiveness you get off the turf with a 4wood compared to the 3wood. You may even hit hit the 4 wood farther because it is quite difficult to get ideal launch conditions off the deck with a 3 wood. I use the 7 wood just because I prefer fairway woods to hybrids.

The woods I have now, I have D, 4w... I was thinking along the D/4w/Hybrid or D/4W/7W lines but, my home courses par-5 holes (at least 3 of the 4) I'll have 235 in an just can't quite get there with the 4w... I know @WUTiger uses a 4w/7w set up and swears by it... Its just confusing now that my longest iron is a 4-iron instead of a 2 or 3 iron, If my longest iron was a 3-iron, it would be a no-brainer it would be 4-wood all the way, but with 2 clubs between Driver and my longest iron it's a little more difficult...

What's the loft in your 4I?

My longest iron is a 23* 5I, behind that sits a 20* hybrid then 3W.

I used to go 3W, a 22* 7W, then a 26* 6I. I've never been too concerned about gaps at the long end of the bag because they're essentially tools for the tee.

As long as you have something to reach a par four with, the rest is semantic IMO. Having a few options for different courses is convenient as well.

The loft of my 4-iron is 23°, Irons go: 4-iron: 23° 5-iron: 26° 6-iron: 29° 7-iron: 33° 8-iron: 37° 9-iron: 41° P Wedge: 45° Then I have 52°, 56°, 60°, I may replace the 52°/56° with 50°/54° and get the 54° bent to 55°... but that's the other end of the bag... There is a Driver situation too... I don't know if I should go with a 9° or a 10.5° Driver that would probably determine the next club...

I'd say driver, 4 wood and then hybrid or 7. Loft wise, I have a 9* that I like, but it seems like the trend is toward higher loft, so 10.5 May be the way to go. Try them out if you can. Too bad Tour Edge doesn't pay their players, you'd be in line for a full bag deal.

I would go D (at 10.5), 3W and either a weak 5W or 20* Hybrid. The 10.5 is easier to mash.

Adjustable clubs, of which I don't know what TE offers, helps in this case.

Unless you're looking for a 7W and 4I being so close because you want a simple "wood or iron" decision, then I see that gap as too narrow to buy you much.

End of the day, it's very much a personal choice. I'm bored at work and appreciate the banter though.

The XCG6 Driver is adjustable but not in loft I don't think... I'm definitely thinking more on the lines of the 10.5° Driver... Tour Edge doesn't have a 20° hybrid in the XCG6 line... the 3-hybrid is 19°... I was thinking if I got a 7-wood it would go farther than the 4-iron because of the longer shaft... I may do 10.5° D/15° 3w/19° 3h, I was thinking D/3w/5w, but would my 5-wood/4-iron gap be too large? I'm also trying to get the matching 3-iron... because I like to hit irons off the tee on shorter par-4s in the summer because they run like a bat out of hell... If anyone else has a thought on the two clubs, let me know, I'm surprised no one has asked me about the courses I play...

Maybe this will help a little better, I hit my Driver around 260 carry, I hit my 4-iron 195-200 carry... but I don't know what the new Driver will bring distance wise, on the LM it was about 265 carry... but in real world conditions I don't know yet...

If you carry your drives about 260 yds., your Driver loft would be influenced by your shaft characteristics. With the new "loft up" drivers, the idea is to increase loft and manipulate shaft to get not just the best launch angle, but the best landing angle for more run. The lower spin also helps on the run-out.

As for 3W vs. 4W, it depends on which you hit best. On tour, some really long hitters go with a 4W so the Driver and Fairway Wood have some distance gap between them.

So... Driver carries 260.

....... 4i .....carries 195.

If you had a D, 4W and 7W, you should get good spacing.

The 7W or 3H... it depends on:

• which splits the distance gap best between 4i and FW.
• which is most versatile and easy to hit.

In my case, the TE XRail 7W (21*) and the Adams V4 / 3H (19*) go the same distance. The 7W is better in summer for medium rough, the 3H better in winter in higher winds and light rough.

If you wanted to shave a little distance off the 7W or 3H, you could always choke down on the grip.

Once you get your new driver and its distance down, you can get a longer FW (3W or 4W) and a something else. I would suggest that at the long end, you would want fairly good but not perfect gapping, Precise gapping is more critical in the wedges and short irons.

I'd probably put 4w in If I got the 10.5° Driver... as long as the face angle is square it really doesn't bother me... Simply put: 260, 230-240, 215-220, 195, probably ok WUTiger? I hit my XCG3 4w about 230-240 last year on full shots but I could hit a choke down shot 215-220 if I had to... I'm trying, I mean trying hard to maybe get the matching 3-iron for the set, so far I've had to jump through hoops with various retailers to pull this off... not getting far the D, F, H debate continues. Love to get the E8 but I'm not dropping $700 on three clubs... I know the XCG7s are down but I'm kinda set on the XCG6 right now...

That distance gapping should do you just fine.

Also, go ahead and get the 3i. You have the clubhead speed to move it, and you could carry it when you play tighter courses, or on windy days.

When I play my SLDR irons, I sometimes carry the 4i instead of the 4H and use it as a driving iron on tight holes. (4i works super off the tee, but can be iffy off the fairway).

Good lord everybody always worrying about gaps.  Gaps be damned.  There is no point discussing 4W, 3H or what ever.  What you need to do is decide on head type, wood,iron or hybrid.  Then go hit them on the range.  Then you will know what you need.  You will know how far you hit each club.

Not trying to be a horses arse here.  Just trying to point out that some clubs work better for some folks.  I hit irons very high and short.  I hit woods the longest.  And I'm more consistant with a hybrid.  So for me I'm juggling flight and forgiveness.  Another consideration is the courses you play.  If the courses have very deep shaggy rough then hybrids are a better choice than woods.  The opposite is also true.  Short rough favours woods.

My opinion would be 4 and 7 wood and an appropriate hybrid.  These 3 would be a good choice even if you need to drop an iron to fit in the hybrid.  It is nice to have a choice in club type to match the shot at hand.

As to driver I'm the last person to seek advice from.  I hit moon balls with a 7 1/2 degree driver with a PL Axis Red in it.  But all things considered I'd look at the 10 1/2 if you can.  Should be able to hit it straight more consistantly than the 9 1/2.  With the right shaft I think that higher loft is better.  MY opinion only.  BTW my current gamer is a Ping K15 9 1/2 with a PL Red in it.  Still a little high but works for me.

Mark Shuman

So in other words, I would still be okay with hitting my moon ball with the Driver, if I can get my flight to flatten out on its descent?

So this is what I've decided to do... mostly because I am crazy... To go along with my New irons and wedges, I am going to play a 10.5° Driver, a 15° 3-wood and a 19° 3-hybrid... I am also picking up a 4-wood, and 2-hybrid for shorter courses, I may even get a 5W, 7W and 4H for other courses... I apparently cannot get the Exotics CU 3-iron individually which is disappointing... I may pick up a set of Exotics Xtreme CB from a buddy though LOL...