New Club

[iPutt]

Okay well long story short I have some extra cash and want to buy a new club for myself for Christmas. The thing is I don't know what kind of club I should get that would improve my game the most.
So far I have a great driver, irons and a good sand wedge. My 3-wood is an old cobra speed although I still get great distance with it (about 200-210). I have what I think is a 5-wood. I don't know because it's soooo old and I can only get it to about 150 no matter how hard I swing, which sucks cause I hit my 7-iron that far. It's by a company that I've never even heard of, Ovation, which makes me think it might just be out of date. The thing is this combination leaves me hanging out to dry on long par 4's. Can some one explain to me the distance differential of hybrids or if I should just upgrade my woods.
My other thing is my approach games. I just bought a new iron set that doesn't have a pitching wedge, only a gap wedge. So another question is where will this lead me in terms of the 9 iron and below? Should I expect the gap wedge to be less than my pitching wedge? If not should i look to maybe purchase another wedge instead of a wood? Right now I only have the gap wedge, a Bob Vokey 56*, and a crappy Tom Watson 60*. Maybe my main goal right now would be to upgrade my wedge game since I don't hit a lot of GIR's?
So to sum it all up, I'm only a year into the game but trying to build a better set of clubs. With the setup I have now, should I look to buy for my long or short game? I've never tried hybrids so once again it would be great if someone could explain the distance differentials. Hope this post isn't to confusing hahaha.

[Titleist Man]

It depends if you hit your 60 or whatever you use to chip well then get a new 5 wood if not get a new wedge that can help your short game. But that all depends on how much you have to spend.

[RocktimusPryme]

I dont really think uprading your wedges is going to help your hitting girs save for maybe on par 5s. I hit my driver pretty decent for an ametuer avg 250 to 270, and I still rarley have less than a pitching wedge in (~125y). If youve never played with a hybrid before I would recomend swapping your 3 or 4 iron for a hybrid for a while and seeing how it improves your game. They arent quite for everyone, but most play better with then than they do with long irons.

Getting a good 60* that your confident with can help your game alot too though. My cg12 60* is my get out of jail free card. Even when I miss the green I give myself makable par putts most of the time

[Stacey_E]

To the OP, I didn't see any mention of your putter though that club is probably used at least 30 times (probably more) a round. When you say you have a good driver, what is it exactly? It's hard to tell what you have in your bag without a signature. But with a Vokey SW and a Watson, 60 I'd think your wedges are tight enough for now. But we don't know what kind of irons you are hitting either.

[iPutt]

To the OP, I didn't see any mention of your putter though that club is probably used at least 30 times (probably more) a round. When you say you have a good driver, what is it exactly? It's hard to tell what you have in your bag without a signature. But with a Vokey SW and a Watson, 60 I'd think your wedges are tight enough for now. But we don't know what kind of irons you are hitting either.

Oh dang I forgot about the putter completely. But yea I'm set on the putter for awhile. I have a Rife blade putter right now and it is the best I've ever felt. As for my driver and irons, I have a Taylormade Burner and Taylormade tp R7 irons. I think I feel that that's enough for my current skill level.

[Stacey_E]

Oh dang I forgot about the putter completely. But yea I'm set on the putter for awhile. I have a Rife blade putter right now and it is the best I've ever felt. As for my driver and irons, I have a Taylormade Burner and Taylormade tp R7 irons. I think I feel that that's enough for my current skill level.

Then JMHO I would probably think about dropping a dime on the that long range club. Make it a well fit 5/7 wood or a good long hybrid (19/20/21* would fit well in your bag). But really it sounds like you are hooked up quite well on the rest of the bag. Of course you would probably want to pick up a matching PW some time or maybe just bend the 9 iron (factory speced at 43*) a degree or two weak and the gap wedge (i'm guessing 51*) a degree or two strong. I'd just keep an eye out on ebay or special order that PW from Golfsmith or the like before they discontinue that line of clubs!

[flopdarock]

wow... your taylormades didnt come with a pw? thats unusual... id either work on getting a pw or look into woods... but the best thing i can figure out is to go demo certain clubs so you can determine which would be a priority in the way you play... if you can work your 9i or gw better than filling in the gaps in distance with your woods then your decision might be a little easier... or vice versa

plus when you demo them you can get kind of a feel for which one you can hit more consistantly before dumping money and regretting your purchase

[ScruffyScraper]

Your "Ovation" 5-wood is not an "off" brand at all but an Adams (Tight Lies), and not that old.

If you're only hitting it as far as your 7-iron, then you either have lots of broken strands in your shaft or the club doesn't fit you at all.

Whatever you decide to do, the Adams Ovation 5-wood isn't working for you.

[Stacey_E]

If you're only hitting it as far as your 7-iron, then you either have lots of broken strands in your shaft or the club doesn't fit you at all.

Yeah it may just be ill fitted for you. I know a guy that just started and he got a hell of a deal on a bag of Cobra clubs at a yard sale. 3-pw graphite, some model about 3 or 4 years old plus some other clubs for $50!

Anyway, he had a very low profile 3 wood in the bag. On the range I asked to hit it since I don't carry a 3 wood. I wondered if I could hit that thing high enough (it was as low or lower profile than a Tight Lies). At address I saw it had a ton of offset and the shaft flex was very whippy. I hit absolute RAINMAKERS with that club. It had 15* of loft but I hit it at a pitching wedge height and about 150 yards (6iron distance for me). That proved to me, by using an extreme example, that loft doesn't mean everything. Sounds like that club doesn't fit you at all!

[Titleist Man]

Sounds like that club doesn't fit you at all!

I second that BIGTIME if you are hitting it 150 which apparently is your 7 iron.