7 wood? What the heck am I doing?

[onthehunt526]

So I took my 3H out for a bit... It's on timeout... 

Anyway here's the story... I hit hybrids OK... For whatever reason I tend to pull my 3H.

I put the 7 wood in to cover the gap... Here's the question. Do I even need the 7W for the 4w/4H gap?

[chilepepper]

Depends on your distances with those clubs and what your gaps are

 

sorry for playing capt obvious

Edited May 17, 2016 by chilepepper

[dave s]

Here's my gap around that club:  5 hybrid 165-170, 7-wood 180-190, 5-wood 190-200 ... when it behaves.

I took out 3- and 4-hybrids a long time ago.  It's the guy swinging them for sure, but solid strikes with either were few and far between.  The 7- and 5-woods are much more predictable with solid contact and distance.

dave

[Gunther]

Yes, 170-190 is too big a gap at a critical yardage. 

If it were 230-250, it wouldn't be as critical.

I have no gaps until I get between the 3w and driver.

I'd recommend keeping the 7w.

 

Edited May 17, 2016 by Gunther

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, chilepepper said:

Depends on your distances with those clubs and what your gaps are

sorry for playing capt obvious

Yes, I agree.

IIRC the OP hits roughly the same distances as me. . .

 

1 hour ago, onthehunt526 said:

So I took my 3H out for a bit... It's on timeout... 

Anyway here's the story... I hit hybrids OK... For whatever reason I tend to pull my 3H.

I put the 7 wood in to cover the gap... Here's the question. Do I even need the 7W for the 4w/4H gap?

A 3H (guessing 18 or 19 degrees) is very close to a 5W not a 7W. I would stick with the hybrid and learn not to pull it because the typical distances you hit a 3H are for "rescue" situations when a drive goes errant or whatnot. A 7W would not be as good out of 3"+ rough, while a hybrid will pretty much glide through. I hit my 20 degree hybrid around 213 yards on average, partly because I am rarely on a fairway when I hit it. My 3W is around 232***. So, I have a 20 yard gap from 213 to 232, not that big a deal on any course I could or would play.

A hybrid a very useful club for bad situations, while a 7W is literally made for the fairway.

***All my quoted distances are from my Game Golf median shot values.

 

21 minutes ago, Gunther said:

28 minutes ago, dave s said:

Here's my gap around that club:  5 hybrid 165-170, 7-wood 180-190, 5-wood 190-200 ... when it behaves.

I took out 3- and 4-hybrids a long time ago.  It's the guy swinging them for sure, but solid strikes with either were few and far between.  The 7- and 5-woods are much more predictable with solid contact and distance.

dave

Yes, 170-190 is too big a gap at a critical yardage. 

If it were 230-250, it wouldn't be as critical.

Dave is not the OP, but I agree that the gap at 170 to 190 is too large.

[chilepepper]

Love my hybrids. I do pull them from time to time, like you do. I find its more a matter of me getting ahead of my hips, closing the clubface, along with an out to in swing that accompanies the lack of hip movement

[dave s]

@Lihu

Yes, I'm certainly seeing the downside to NOT having hybrids when I drive the ball into the rough and have a long way to go to reach the green.  The flat bottom of both my 5- and 7-wood make it extremely difficult to manage shots from the rough.  Guess I didn't think through the club change completely!

dave

[Lihu]

9 minutes ago, dave s said:

@Lihu

Yes, I'm certainly seeing the downside to NOT having hybrids when I drive the ball into the rough and have a long way to go to reach the green.  The flat bottom of both my 5- and 7-wood make it extremely difficult to manage shots from the rough.  Guess I didn't think through the club change completely!

dave

Woods tend to "float" over rough when swept. One way to use a wood in deep rough is to choke up and hit down like a hybrid. The decision kind of depends upon how often you see rough versus being on the fairway or first cut. You might have made a good choice for the courses you play and your own game?

Modern technology to the "rescue", I guess? Here's a fairway wood for all kinds of conditions:

 

 

[WUTiger]

In last year's bag, I used a 7W from April through October, when the rough was thicker, and a 3H the rest of the year when the wind was stronger and the rough thinner. Now I don't have a 3H.

10 hours ago, dave s said:

@Lihu

Yes, I'm certainly seeing the downside to NOT having hybrids when I drive the ball into the rough and have a long way to go to reach the green.  The flat bottom of both my 5- and 7-wood make it extremely difficult to manage shots from the rough...

@onthehunt526, you have the EX9 4W, and I assume an EX9 7W? The Exotics website shows the EX9 with a riffled undersole - supposed to glide through the grass. Do you get out of the rough OK with a 4W or 7W? I still have the XRails - with the boathull sole - so the 7W blasts out of medium rough better than a hybrid. Thus, I have different FW head design than @dave s.

OTH, for certain courses a 4W + 4H might do you fine as far as distances needed. But for other courses, you might want a 7W in the gap. Just depends on what distance gap you can tolerate at the long end.

[onthehunt526]

8 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

In last year's bag, I used a 7W from April through October, when the rough was thicker, and a 3H the rest of the year when the wind was stronger and the rough thinner. Now I don't have a 3H.

@onthehunt526, you have the EX9 4W, and I assume an EX9 7W? The Exotics website shows the EX9 with a riffled undersole - supposed to glide through the grass. Do you get out of the rough OK with a 4W or 7W? I still have the XRails - with the boathull sole - so the 7W blasts out of medium rough better than a hybrid. Thus, I have different FW head design than @dave s.

OTH, for certain courses a 4W + 4H might do you fine as far as distances needed. But for other courses, you might want a 7W in the gap. Just depends on what distance gap you can tolerate at the long end.

John,

Yes I have the EX9 7-wood though it has a slightly different shaft than the D and 4w... Don't know how It's gonna perform I've only hit it once...

 

[Lihu]

38 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

In last year's bag, I used a 7W from April through October, when the rough was thicker, and a 3H the rest of the year when the wind was stronger and the rough thinner. Now I don't have a 3H.

I believe you know what you are talking about, but this is exactly the opposite of anything I've heard or experienced.

[WUTiger]

11 hours ago, Lihu said:

I believe you know what you are talking about, but this is exactly the opposite of anything I've heard or experienced.

An FW with a boathull sole is a whole different animal out of the rough.

And, my new Cobra 4H comes out of the rough better than my old one.

[Ernest Jones]

An other thing to consider - 7w is a chick stick.

Just sayin'...

[Lihu]

33 minutes ago, Ernest Jones said:

An other thing to consider - 7w is a chick stick.

Just sayin'...

 

I've recently learned so many other monikers for the 7W as well.

[9wood]

My clubs and their respective distances - LOOKING FOR DISTANCE GAPS

Driver 220-250 depending on condition of fairway. 3 FW 185-220. 5 FW 180 -190. 3 HY 170-190. 27 degree DHY 150-160. 6 i 140-150. 7 i 130-140 doubles as chipping iron. 9 i 110-120 doubles as chipping iron. PW 60-100. 56 degree wedge 10-50

[Gunther]

44 minutes ago, 9wood said:

My clubs and their respective distances - LOOKING FOR DISTANCE GAPS

Driver 220-250 depending on condition of fairway. 3 FW 185-220. 5 FW 180 -190. 3 HY 170-190. 27 degree DHY 150-160. 6 i 140-150. 7 i 130-140 doubles as chipping iron. 9 i 110-120 doubles as chipping iron. PW 60-100. 56 degree wedge 10-50

You've only listed 10 clubs here so I'm guessing you have an 8i to cover the 120-130 gap and perhaps a gap wedge to cover 50-60?  Other than that, the configuration is much different than mine but appears you have all your gaps covered to 250 so good, except the 5 yds between 180 and 185 but I think you can probably cover that based on conditions, etc.

Edited May 18, 2016 by Gunther

[9wood]

I don't carry an 8 iron. I simply use my 7 iron with a bit less back swing to produce the distance my 8 iron would. Also I use my 56 degree wedge for everything in between 50 - 10 yds and apply the desire amount of back swing necessary, depending on distance. And finally, my 3 H is used for the 180-185 yd distances

[Lihu]

5 minutes ago, 9wood said:

I don't carry an 8 iron. I simply use my 7 iron with a bit less back swing to produce the distance my 8 iron would. Also I use my 56 degree wedge for everything in between 50 - 10 yds and apply the desire amount of back swing necessary, depending on distance. And finally, my 3 H is used for the 180-185 yd distances

This doesn't sound conducive to good scoring. The 8i is designed to hit greens with a lot of spin. You might consider picking one up?