How long to get your bag set up?

[Dad-2-3]

This is my second season of trying to figure out this game. I think I'm just now figuring out how to hit the ball and get proper compression as well as roll the ball while putting rather than hitting the ball and making it pop up or skid and then roll. Anyway, as my game changes so does my equipment. For instance I could not hit my 3i or 4i consistently enough to keep them in my bag. So instead I used a 3h and 4h which I could hit much more consistently and a lot longer. Now however, I can hit both my 3i and 4i decently enough to put hem back in the bag and just a bit shorter than the longer shafted hybrids. I recently bought a used 2h because I have nothing to hit between Driver and 3 iron. I'm now in the market for a 3w. Needless to say my wife thinks I'm off my rocker with all the equipment changes in the past two years.

I realize most people change a couple clubs depending on the type of course being played, but in general how long did it take you to get your bag to where you wanted it?

[WUTiger]

I switched out all my clubs except my putter between November 2008 and June 2009. Tried a 3h in April-May of 2009, but dumped it in favor of a 5W. Then, I swapped out Gap Wedges at Christmas time. So, it took me a full season to "get comfortable" with the new clubs, and then fine-tune the mix. (I have since found a couple models of hybrids I can hit, just haven't bought any.)

Eventually I will probably end up with 17 clubs "at the ready," and select 14 depending on the course I'm playing and the weather.

If your swing continues to improve, you might want to keep the 3h and 4h for tighter courses with brutal rough, and opt for the 3i and 4i on windy days at courses with thinner rough. Or, at Bushwood CC, you may find that the 4h helps tame that crazy par 3 you always double-bogey.

When I play a course where they super-fertilize every square inch of the place, and everything off the edge of the green is 6 inches deep, I see why some people carry lob wedges. But on most courses, I never think about LWs.

As they say in the military, your attack plan depends on the terrain and the situation.

[imtomtomim]

Took me about a year and a half as I started late 2008 and I got my last club (hybrid) the winter of '09. Bag is exactly how I want it. Just afraid that I need new wedges soon, and that my irons will wear out in the next 3 or 4 years. Got a groove sharpener for that.

I got a sun mountain v2 on the way today. I think all I need to complete my kit would be a rangefinder, but I'm not sure I can dump that much cash on it. Maybe next season.

[andef]

I played with a Wilson starter set up to a few months ago. I switched putter to the one in my sig in June 2009 (lost my first putter). I got new irons and wedges in October/November 2009 and I'm waiting to get the driver, 3 wood and hybrid as they should be here in one or two weeks. When these clubs get here, my bag is just what I want it to be.

[ET-Taylor]

I have a 1 iron in the bag at the moment because i find it easier to hit off the deck than my 3 wood and im straighter with it than my Hybrid

[delav]

I think the golf bag is ever evolving... Seems for me the grass is always greener with that new club I don't have.

[Bullitt5339]

My bag is never set completely. I have different setups that work well at different courses that I play, so I'm swapping stuff out depending on where I'm playing.

Like tomorrow, I'm playing Waterway Hills in Myrtle Beach, so I've got 5 wedges (PW, 52, 56, 60, Nicklick) in the bag because typically I don't need my long irons on that course. On my home course, I need longer irons, so I take out the Niblick and 60* and put long irons or hybrids back in the bag. Sometimes it helps me get refocused when I'm struggling just to change out some clubs.

I don't think my wife has noticed all the spare clubs, since I camoflauge them by putting them in my visitor's bag when not in my bag, with the cover on it. Or else she'd think I was nuts for having so many different clubs.