Golf Beginner Club Question

[VeryShagadelic]

Hi,

I've been lurking for awhile, first time poster. I just starting golfing a few months back.

I recently got a set of baffler xl irons: http://www.cobragolf.com/baffler-xl-irons

The lofts are a bit lower (higher?) than normal clubs, and I was looking for some help on the rest of the clubs in my bag.

Currently I have: Putter, driver, 3W, 20* hybrid, this iron set (4-GW) along with a 55* SW, leaving 1 club left for me to fill

because the loft on the pitching (43.5) and gap (48.5) are different than normal, I'm unsure of what my next wedge/club should be.

I was thinking of getting a 60* wedge, even though I'm a beginner, I have really enjoyed practicing my short game. I have not ruled out getting a different loft SW (current SW 55*), as I got it for only $10 (I do like it so far though) to better space my lofts

I have taken a few lessons, so I am beginning to understand the value to various lofts around the green and from farther out.

I have considered a 5W as well (as opposed to another wedge). I also have a 50* wedge that is fairly decent, at least for my standards, but not sure it fits in with the rest of the clubs though

Any other info I can provide I'd be glad to provide. Any Suggestions?

Thanks!

[Rip62]

I would look at getting a better sand wedge and hold off on the 60 for now.  I found it hard to be very consistent with a 60 and I know some of the people I play with aren't real confident with their 60s either. 

[VeryShagadelic]

48 minutes ago, Rip62 said:

I would look at getting a better sand wedge and hold off on the 60 for now.  I found it hard to be very consistent with a 60 and I know some of the people I play with aren't real confident with their 60s either. 

Thanks for the reply. What do you mean by a better sand wedge? Better loft compared to the rest of my clubs?

[VeryShagadelic]

Hmm, maybe I worded my question poorly? Basically I am looking for advice on how to fill the bottom (or top?) of my bag.

Would this be better to post in a different forum on Sand Trap?

 

Thanks for any help or thoughts!

[DaveP043]

First, welcome to TST!

Second, for someone just starting out, I'm not all that sure you need to get more clubs right now.  Learn to swing consistently, and learn basic short-game techniques, and play as much as you can.  After a while, you'll probably start to see a little better where the "hole" in your equipment is, and be better able to spend your money effectively.  As a pure dumb guess, your best choice for your next club purchase might just be a upgraded driver.  Getting reasonable distance and accuracy off the tee will probably help you score more effectively than adding a short game "specialty" club like a 60* wedge.

And last, this is the logical place to post questions about equipment.

[Missouri Swede]

Your setup is similar to mine.  Main difference is I have a 5W instead of a 3W (since I found I hit it better than a 3W when I was filling in my gap between my driver and hybrid). 

At the low end, my pw is 44*, gw 49* (from my cobra sz iron set), and my sw is 56* (Cleveland), so is similar to what you have.  At my skill level, I don't know that I need a 60* wedge, because I can usually get my 56* to do most of what I am able to do.  In other words, I don't think I need a shorter club. Yet. 

If I were to change my low end clubs, I might redo my wedges completely to even out the yardages (as you're thinking about). But that's not what's holding my game back now, so I'm not going to spend the money on that right now.

Regarding the top end, see how you hit the long irons vs. the hybrid and 3W as your skills improve.  A long iron can be tough to hit as a high handicapper, but there are days when I hit my 4i (equivalent to your 5i) better than my hybrid.

Bottom line: work on the skills first, then adjust the clubs when it becomes clear that they're the limiting factor. (As an example, I replaced my driver a couple seasons ago when I knew my swing had improved significantly, as @DaveP043 mentioned above.)

[Lagavulin62]

I agree with the above, you have it all covered, so work with what you have.  

Really your efforts at this point should be focused on developing a solid swing on the lowest(least lofted iron) club you are consistent and feel confident with. 

Any high lofted club will work around the green. You could buy every available wedge loft on the market and you still wouldn't cover even a small percentage of the situations you will encounter. Because, the short game is all about feel. (All of golf is feel but esp the short game)  

But here is the good news. Practically everyone with patience and determination can learn to play a fun game within 100 yards. Once you get within the range of your highest lofted club(not the sand wedge), you will learn to shape the shot you need by changing the clubs loft, swing height, angle of contact, etc. You will find quickly one club you can do many things with is more beneficial than 3 clubs of similar loft that don't get used as much. 

So save your money for now and get comfortable with what you have. 

 

 

 

 

[Kalnoky]

Welcome @VeryShagadelic I'm new here too. I hope you'll enjoy the community as much as I have.

Like you, I love practicing short game - I could do it for hours. It's a great way to get a little success when you are starting out. I have a 58* wedge I bought from eBay for $25 and I taught myself to hit little flop shots with it. Just over the bunker and onto the practice green. I had no idea what I was doing at the time, but that shot has become very valuable to me. And it is fun to practice. Different wedges inspire different kinds of creativity. Maybe if I hit more greens in regulation I wouldn't need it, but I use the 58* a lot. 

Anyway: long story short if you buy a lob wedge and hate it, no big loss. It's not like buying a driver for $2-$300. Do keep taking the lessons though: this game is about consistent ball striking. In my experience the only people who say it's about the short game are already good at golf. 

[VeryShagadelic]

Wow guys, thanks for all the replies. I will stick with my current setup (will keep an eye out for a cheap 5W to try out, have never swung one) after your responses. I went ahead and tossed the other 50* wedge in my bag just because I had an empty slot. Its more of an actual wedge than my cobra gap wedge (cavity back) and it's fun to mess around with. 

I had my driver (and hybrid) given to me by a friend who frequents goodwill and got them for a couple bucks, I really lucked out. They are relatively new Callaways that he got a great deal on and passed it along to me. Might not be the perfect driver (hybrid is callaway big bertha alpha 815, cant recall the exact driver model off the top of my head), but it seems like a pretty solid club so far

Thanks again for the thoughts, really helped

[pganapathy]

Essentially you have three clubs you can add to the set.

1) A long club - It has to fit distance wise in between your 3W and 3H.  So 4W, 5W or 2H assuming the clubbing gap works.

2) A lob wedge - Say around 60* with low bounce.  Only get something like this if your course conditions warrant a low bounce.  Also, you need to be willing to work on a great deal of practice with this type of club.

3) A specialty club, like say a chipper.  This adds to your around the green options and versatility but is something whose results you can replicate with something like an 8 iron with practice.

 

On the other hand, if you do not find the need for any of these clubs, stick to 13 clubs and let it be

[VeryShagadelic]

Thanks for the reply. My coach has me practicing chips with clubs all the way down to a 7iron. It makes a lot of sense to use different lofts depending on how much carry you need to get the ball onto the green. I have not heard of a chipper before but I will look into that.

I have also considered getting another wood, I will be keeping my eye out for something inexpensive to try out at this stage of my developement

[Kalnoky]

17 minutes ago, VeryShagadelic said:

My coach has me practicing chips with clubs all the way down to a 7iron.

This is great practice. It teaches you to make ball first contact. 

[DaveP043]

1 hour ago, VeryShagadelic said:

Thanks for the reply. My coach has me practicing chips with clubs all the way down to a 7iron. It makes a lot of sense to use different lofts depending on how much carry you need to get the ball onto the green. I have not heard of a chipper before but I will look into that.

 

1 hour ago, Kalnoky said:

This is great practice. It teaches you to make ball first contact. 

Its also a classic method of regulating distance while using a very consistent chipping motion. Developing the skill to regulate distance by varying the length of swing takes a lot of practice, using a variety of clubs makes it a whole lot easier to learn.  In the long run, both methods of controlling distance are valuable, and well worth learning, but the multiple club method is a great way for a beginner to start.

[VeryShagadelic]

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to give an update. I found a couple decent big bertha hawkeye 3W and 5W for about $10 each, really liking them so far. Not sure Ill stick with the 5W as it is similar in distance to my hybrid, but I'll keep it in the bag for now

My old 3W was a $2 goodwill buy that I thought was decent, but after hitting this new 3W I see that I was wrong. I can only imagine what  $200 wood would feel like to hit.

[VeryShagadelic]

Hey Guys,

Revisiting this for a hypothetical. Lets say I was good enough to consider getting some specialty wedges. With a PW (43.5) and GW (48.5), how would you space the next wedges? 54* and 60*? *52 and 58*?

Would it be ok to technically have 2 gap wedges in this case?

Also, with the loft on my clubs, is it safe to consider they are once club longer? (eg. is my PW technically a 9i? is my 4i technically a 3i?) Not positive how this works

 

Thanks!

[DaveP043]

10 minutes ago, VeryShagadelic said:

Revisiting this for a hypothetical. Lets say I was good enough to consider getting some specialty wedges. With a PW (43.5) and GW (48.5), how would you space the next wedges? 54* and 60*? *52 and 58*?

Would it be ok to technically have 2 gap wedges in this case?

Also, with the loft on my clubs, is it safe to consider they are once club longer? (eg. is my PW technically a 9i? is my 4i technically a 3i?) Not positive how this works

In a perfect world, you'd want consistent distance gaps between your clubs, that's more important than the actual loft.  Of course, the loft and length of the cubs determine to a large extent how far you hit them, so its all interrelated.  I believe my lofts in the wedges go 47-52-56-60 (P-G-S-L) and each gap is pretty close to 10 yards.

Its certainly OK to have as many different wedges as you like, as long as you don't exceed 14 clubs total.  Your PW is a little lower loft than I think is standard, so you might just want to use 5 wedges.  

As for comparing the lofts in your clubs to the numbering, who really cares?  Lofts have consistently gotten stronger over the last 30 years or so.  Its at least in part a marketing ploy, manufacturers love to tell you how many yards you'll gain by using their new clubs.  On the other hand, advances in shaft and clubhead technology have helped players hit the ball higher, so a current 8 iron may have the loft of an old 7 iron, launch like an old 9 iron, and go as far as an old 6 iron.  None of those "labels" really matter (unless you're bragging in the bar).  What's more important is determining the "normal" yardage you hit each club.  

[VeryShagadelic]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

In a perfect world, you'd want consistent distance gaps between your clubs, that's more important than the actual loft.  Of course, the loft and length of the cubs determine to a large extent how far you hit them, so its all interrelated.  I believe my lofts in the wedges go 47-52-56-60 (P-G-S-L) and each gap is pretty close to 10 yards.

Its certainly OK to have as many different wedges as you like, as long as you don't exceed 14 clubs total.  Your PW is a little lower loft than I think is standard, so you might just want to use 5 wedges.  

As for comparing the lofts in your clubs to the numbering, who really cares?  Lofts have consistently gotten stronger over the last 30 years or so.  Its at least in part a marketing ploy, manufacturers love to tell you how many yards you'll gain by using their new clubs.  On the other hand, advances in shaft and clubhead technology have helped players hit the ball higher, so a current 8 iron may have the loft of an old 7 iron, launch like an old 9 iron, and go as far as an old 6 iron.  None of those "labels" really matter (unless you're bragging in the bar).  What's more important is determining the "normal" yardage you hit each club.  

Thanks for the great advice. I am just beginning to get my yardages down (remembered) and once I have better knowledge of how far each club can be expected to go, I will be able to make a better decision.

I searched all over the internet and could not find anything on this, so hopefully this thread can help some people in my situation in the future.

Thanks again!

[Lagavulin62]

You guys and your wedges. Could it be if we worked more on our 200 to 150 approach ranges we wouldn't need a bag nearly half full of wedges?