Minimalist Golf

[Krazy883]

Put a Walking Bag together with only 6 clubs,and broke 80 last to times I played took all the decision making out of the process.  Anyone else try this.

[boogielicious]

19 minutes ago, Krazy883 said:

Put a Walking Bag together with only 6 clubs,and broke 80 last to times I played took all the decision making out of the process.  Anyone else try this.

I do it occasionally in the fall. There are others here that do it as well.

[p1n9183]

27 minutes ago, Krazy883 said:

took all the decision making out of the process.

How? with that amount of clubs you have a lot of decisions to make.
I think Minimalist Golf would be playing just with one club.

[Patch]

I walk, and trolley a full bag of 14 clubs, but most of the time, during a round, I only use 6-8 different clubs.

My 3W, 7W, AW, and putter are my most used clubs. 

I don't think I have used all 14 clubs during an 18 hole round. Maybe I have. If I have, it was a very, very long time ago. I suspect most amateur golfers seldom use all 14 clubs during a round. 

[Elmer]

7 minutes ago, Patch said:

I walk, and trolley a full bag of 14 clubs, but most of the time, during a round, I only use 6-8 different clubs.

My 3W, 7W, AW, and putter are my most used clubs. 

I don't think I have used all 14 clubs during an 18 hole round. Maybe I have. If I have, it was a very, very long time ago. I suspect most amateur golfers seldom use all 14 clubs during a round. 

I use only a select few clubs all round.
Tends to be Driver-5W for driving.
6i on par 3s
second shots are 8i or gap wedge

rarely use a 5i, PW or 9i

but keep them around just incase. 

[dbuck]

I have done it before.  I took it a step further and used a bunch of mismatched clubs that I threw together. It was fun, but I am over it, LOL.

[RWC]

I bounce between hickory clubs, vintage and nearly modern and typically play with 7-8 clubs. My current nearly modern set is 8 clubs (Ping G30 driver and 7 wood, i20 irons (5-7-9-GW) and Ping Glide 56 deg. Use an old Ping Kushn putter.

Handicap has dropped from 14 to 12 this season. I have been concentrating on making the bad shots better and reducing the unforced errors. I like the challenge of making clubs handle various type shots. Would I play better with 14 clubs - who knows - key at my age is to have fun!

[Hackinandwhackin]

Currently im carrying a bag with driver, 3 hybrid, 4,6 iron and a 48 and 56 degree wedge and putter. Shot my all time best score with it. 

[dagolfer18]

On 8/22/2019 at 2:14 PM, Patch said:

I walk, and trolley a full bag of 14 clubs, but most of the time, during a round, I only use 6-8 different clubs.

My 3W, 7W, AW, and putter are my most used clubs. 

I don't think I have used all 14 clubs during an 18 hole round. Maybe I have. If I have, it was a very, very long time ago. I suspect most amateur golfers seldom use all 14 clubs during a round. 

I’m a bogey golfer, but my home course forces you to use most, if not all, of your clubs. I’ll normally use about 10 or 11 of my 14 clubs. My 9I and PW are the least used.

[Hackinandwhackin]

On 8/22/2019 at 12:25 PM, p1n9183 said:

How? with that amount of clubs you have a lot of decisions to make.
I think Minimalist Golf would be playing just with one club.

For me it takes a lot of decisions out, stops me second guessing my club choice and instead i just focus on hitting the shot the way i need to. Makes it more fun since you end up having to play shots instead of just making full swings everytime. 

[RayG]

that's how I learned. My starter set (of blades) was 1w,3w, 3,5,7,9 and a putter. For 6 years, didn't use anything else until I was 20 and could afford a "full set". 

Learned all the shots, that way. And why I have (or had) 3 distances for each club. For example- 140 to middle is a 9, 135 tucked behind a bunker on right is a cut 9I, 145 back left would be a draw 9I to the back.corner. 

[Darkfrog]

I occasionally play with 8-9 clubs in an ultralight bag. I always walk, and sometimes it's nice to have a light bag when I want to get around the course quickly (like an early morning round before work). I haven't found that it impacts my score, positively or negatively, but it is a fun exercise because sometimes it forces a partial shot with an approach, which is something I normally avoid because I suck at it (but acknowledge I need to improve on).

Bag makeup is something like this:

• Driver
• Fairway wood
• Hybrid
• Irons: 5, 7, 9, AW, or 6, 8, PW
• One wedge, 60 or 54 degree
• Putter

[mcanadiens]

Several years ago, when I was helping my brother move, we had a free afternoon and played a little pitch and putt course in Deleware. They rented out bags with five clubs, putter, SW, PW, 9I and 8I. No hole was more than 135 yards and you hit off mats.

It was effectively his first time playing any sort of golf and we both had fun that afternoon. Think he even clipped me on a hole towards the end.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by mcanadiens

[vonbonds]

On 12/5/2019 at 12:16 PM, mcanadiens said:

Several years ago, when I was helping my brother move, we had a free afternoon and played a little pitch and putt course in Deleware. They rented out bags with five clubs, putter, SW, PW, 9I and 8I. No hole was more than 135 yards and you hit off mats.

It was effectively his first time playing any sort of golf and we both had fun that afternoon. Think he even clipped me on a hole towards the end.

 

 

Where in DE was this pitch and putt? 

[OMGolf]

For a while my new years day tradition was to play a round of 1-club golf. 6 or 7 iron. I'm not a very good golfer, but I was always surprised that it only seemed to add 8-10 strokes to my round, and my putting was only a little worse. The other thing I do a lot is play only irons 3-SW and putter...no drivers. That's fun. 

[mcanadiens]

9 hours ago, vonbonds said:

Where in DE was this pitch and putt? 

North of Georgetown. 

It was several years ago now, so I can't be 100% sure. Looking at maps, it looks like it might have been Stenger's Shamrock Farms Par 3 on Saw Mill Rd.

Fun place. Great for novices.

[HJJ003]

I have clicked on this thread like 5 times now thinking (hoping) it was about the Minimalist school of Golf Course architecture....lol.

Anyway..I think that this form of minimalist golf is a good way to work on your game from time to time, and I even keep a pretty minimal set at my in-laws in Colorado so I can have something to play with when I visit, and it always gives me a different perspective of the game when I do that. Do I hit my hybrid and take on the nasty green side bunkers? or hit the next highest club which is the 6I and lay way back and play for an angle? Fun times. 

[pganapathy]

To be honest, I only have 11 clubs in my bag now, and rarely hit all of them.  My driver, 4 hybrid, PW and putter are certainties to be used on any given round.  Some irons will be used.  Usually two more between the 5 and 9 iron and one of the SW/LW depending on needing to fly or exit a bunker/hazard onto a green.  Of course, length determines which irons are needed, especially on shorter par 3's where the hybrid is too much club.