14 Clubs or Fewer

[Manx995]

I've been struggling with club selection of late, especially fairway woods, ie to carry a 5 wood or 7, 3 wood or hybrid, one or two wedges. Too many choices with too many clubs.

So I've decided to scrap the 14 club idea and have this set up.

Driver, 3 wood, 3 hybrid, 5,6,7,8,9, sand wedge, vokey 50° and a putter. Summer.

In winter I would drop the 50°, 6,8, and 3 wood.

Any thoughts on my 11 club set up?

[BeCu]

  On 8/28/2020 at 8:49 PM, Manx995 said:

I've been struggling with club selection of late, especially fairway woods, ie to carry a 5 wood or 7, 3 wood or hybrid, one or two wedges. Too many choices with too many clubs.

So I've decided to scrap the 14 club idea and have this set up.

Driver, 3 wood, 3 hybrid, 5,6,7,8,9, sand wedge, vokey 50° and a putter. Summer.

In winter I would drop the 50°, 6,8, and 3 wood.

Any thoughts on my 11 club set up?

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Couple of comments. I do this at times should I play a course in which I am familiar with and know that I only need certain clubs that I absolutely will use. Second, if an 11 club set fills your distance gaps then I see no issue. But I don't know your HDCP, if you play multiple golf courses, if the 11 club set can cover your distances or not? So you should try it and track your shots so you can review to see if maybe 12 clubs could work, 13, etc. Maybe a golf lesson with an instructor regarding course management in addition to golf swing.

Last comment I had a friend that did this several years ago and I witnessed him miss some shots (come up short or hit over on certain approach shots). I asked him why he would say I don't have an in between club. So he finally got fitted and ended up with a full set that hit distances he needed regardless of longer/shorter courses. Good luck. 

[David in FL]

Nothing wrong with that, but if you can hit a three hybrid you should be able to hit a four hybrid as well. That would probably close a gap between your three hybrid and your five iron…

bottom line though, whatever works for you…

[cooke119]

I only use 13 clubs. Where is your SW? I don't have much success out of the green side bunker with a 50* wedge.

I use a driver, 3W, 5W, 7W, 19* and 25* hybrids, 7, 8, 9, 45* PW, 50* GW, 56* SW. Putter.

I don't hit my long irons so well that is why I have gone to the hybrids.

[colin007]

I only carry 13, sometimes 12. I took the lob wedge out and sometimes I don't carry my hybrid

[ncates00]

  On 8/28/2020 at 8:49 PM, Manx995 said:

I've been struggling with club selection of late, especially fairway woods, ie to carry a 5 wood or 7, 3 wood or hybrid, one or two wedges. Too many choices with too many clubs.

So I've decided to scrap the 14 club idea and have this set up.

Driver, 3 wood, 3 hybrid, 5,6,7,8,9, sand wedge, vokey 50° and a putter. Summer.

In winter I would drop the 50°, 6,8, and 3 wood.

Any thoughts on my 11 club set up?

Expand  

Looks like you would have quite a few distance gaps here.

I use all 14 clubs.  My set up is: driver at 8*, 3w at 14*, 5w at 18*, 7w at 21*, 4h, 5i-PW, 54*, 60*, and my putter.  I like having more options at the longer end of my bag to help get the ball airborne and with more spin to hold greens, whereas shorter clubs are easier to finesse while maintaining spin.

[tehuti]

I recently replaced my old 52* and 56* wedges with a new 56* as the highest lofted club. Which left me with a slot to put my 7 wood back in the bag. So my wedges go 45* PW, 49* GW, and 56* SW. I really liked the 52* but don't need that many wedges. And I need more help at the top of the bag. 

[Archie Bunker]

If you play a course often that you are familiar with, you can cut down on the number of clubs in your bag and not miss them. Right now I play with 9 clubs in a carry bag as opposed to pushing 14 around in a big bag on a 3 wheel Sun Mountain cart. And my back feels better! 😁 

[Bonvivant]

Wait, so there isn't enough room for every club you own, so your idea is to cut more clubs out of your bag? Doesn't make a lot of sense.

I don't think there is anything wrong with playing less than 14, but if you have more than that, and wish they were all in, it doesn't make a lot of sense to go to a bag with less than 14. Half sets are fun. 3 club is fun. They both make you learn new shots and choose your weapons wisely. A 10-13 club set is kind of odd, because unless you don't own 14 clubs (that make sense and gap), it doesn't make a ton of sense for scoring.

[Piz]

If the tools in your kit can cover the shots you can reasonably expect to encounter...there is no reason to carry 14 just because you are allowed to do so.  I carry 13...whooo...good luck with that!  One of the 13 is a left-handed club and another is a lofted putter/chipper.  Guess that makes (traditionally) 11.  Who cares?

[Darkfrog]

Sometimes I play with a 9 or 10 club partial set (e.g., Dr-3w-3h-5i-7i-9i-GW-LW-P), just to have a light weight bag and get around the course quickly. This setup is mainly for walking rounds after work, where I am just trying to eek out as much golf as possible before the sun sets.

I took my 4-iron out of my bag about 3 months ago. I made this decision because at my home course I had hit my 4-iron a total of 7 times in the previous 12 months. It's just not a club that I use often enough to justify carrying around all the time. I do take it when I play a course other than my home course for potential long par-3s or approaches into par-5s.

Recently I started leaving my 60-degree wedge out as well. This one was for the opposite reason; I use it too often for short game shots where other clubs are probably more appropriate, so I removed it to get more comfortable hitting chips and pitches with my PW, 50-, and 55-degree wedges.

I thought about taking out my 3-wood, but there are usually 2-3 tee tee shots per round at my home course where I like to hit 3-wood, so it stays for now.

[Patch]

I carry 14 clubs every time I play. Distance gaps are not problem for me. I'm not very precise with my distances, but I'm consistent with my misses.. 

Thing is, even though I carry 14 clubs, other than my putter, I never use all of the of the other 13 clubs in one round. I usually only need to use 7-8 of them, in different mixes. Just depends on how I'm playing that day, and what the course has to offer. . 

[ncates00]

If you don't use all 14 clubs in your bag, it appears that:

1) your course does not have much distance variety;

2) you're good at partial/finesse/variable trajectory shots;

3) you don't strike the ball consistently, so clubbing up makes sense for you; or

4) you have gapping issues (as opposed to having a healthy 10-15 yard gaps) in your set.

The last time I played I used every club in my bag except for my 5i.  Each club serves a purpose.  I fail to see a golf performance-related benefit of playing with less than the allowable amount of clubs.

Edited September 4, 2020 by ncates00

[onthehunt526]

  On 9/4/2020 at 5:09 PM, ncates00 said:

If you don't use all 14 clubs in your bag, it appears that:

1) your course does not have much distance variety;

2) you're good at partial/finesse/variable trajectory shots;

3) you don't strike the ball consistently, so clubbing up makes sense for you; or

4) you have gapping issues (as opposed to having a healthy 10-15 yard gaps) in your set.

The last time I played I used every club in my bag except for my 5i.  Each club serves a purpose.  I fail to see a golf performance-related benefit of playing with less than the allowable amount of clubs.

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1) Okay, agreed to an extent.

2) Possibly.

3) Maybe.

4) You don't hit it far enough to need to carry 14 clubs.  Would you honestly ask 6-year-old (Alina), to carry a full 14 club set when she only hits her Driver 120 yards?

[ncates00]

  On 9/4/2020 at 6:07 PM, onthehunt526 said:

4) You don't hit it far enough to need to carry 14 clubs.  Would you honestly ask 6-year-old (Alina), to carry a full 14 club set when she only hits her Driver 120 yards?

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Fair enough.