Tossing around ideas for a different 2018 set-up.

[onthehunt526]

I'm not going to break away from a Sweet 16, @WUTiger.

But there was a question, I wanted to discuss with you all before I pulled the trigger on any moves in the bag.

The irons I am looking at, the lofts are more traditional (6i, 31°, PW, 47°) vs (6i, 28°, PW, 44°) currently. 

If I opt for the new irons, can I get away with just 54°, 58° or just two additional wedges or some loft or play like 52°, 56°, 60°.

I have the Sweet 16 figured out in either case.

[WUTiger]

 

1 hour ago, onthehunt526 said:

If I opt for the new irons, can I get away with just 54°, 58° or just two additional wedges or some loft or play like 52°, 56°, 60°.

IF you have been playing with four wedges, I would say stick with it. You have excellent distance, so close-in options would help you more than sweating over a 10- vs. 20-yd. gap between long clubs.

I am a little different - I went with 48°, 54° and 60° wedges. As mentioned in prior discussions, four wedges was more hassle than it's worth for me. I have adjusted nicely.

Unless you would gain some big performance edge, stay with 52°, 56°, 60°... these have the Recoil Stiff shafts which match your irons. You're an orderly guy so the 52°, 56°, 60° would give you peace of mind over the ball.

(Remember... do not chase  all possible options).

Edited December 31, 2017 by WUTiger
Edit rescinded; too complicated!

[onthehunt526]

3 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

 

IF you have been playing with four wedges, I would say stick with it. You have excellent distance, so close-in options would help you more than sweating over a 10- vs. 20-yd. gap between long clubs.

I am a little different - I went with 48°, 54° and 60° wedges. As mentioned in prior discussions, four wedges was more hassle than it's worth for me. I have adjusted nicely.

Unless you would gain some big performance edge, stay with 52°, 56°, 60°... these have the Recoil Stiff shafts which match your irons. You're an orderly guy so the 52°, 56°, 60° would give you peace of mind over the ball.

(Remember... do not chase  all possible options).

@WUTiger I think you might have an idea of what irons I'm looking at. (At least I think you do)

[WUTiger]

1 hour ago, onthehunt526 said:

@WUTiger I think you might have an idea of what irons I'm looking at. (At least I think you do)

Would it be this one?

This model comes with lofts... "more traditional (6i = 31°/ PW = 47°)", and Recoil shafts as a stock option (you would keep same basic feel).

[onthehunt526]

21 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

Would it be this one?

This model comes with lofts... "more traditional (6i = 31°/ PW = 47°)", and Recoil shafts as a stock option (you would keep same basic feel).

John, you know me all too well.

I tested the blade head (my fitter only has a 7-iron head for now) with the True Temper AMT in R300 shafts on the simulator... Tail end of last week... I actually am more consistent with the steel, but he is going to try to get ahold of a demo with a Recoil 95 in it to see if it would work for me. 

Basically the sweet 16 with the wedge make-up you mentioned would basically take 2-iron (well kinda more of a Driving iron) out of the equation. It would more or less the same as before mentioned before with the 5w/3di and 4di/4i as my only switches. 

Now I'm just waiting on my other new edition coming soon.

[onthehunt526]

On 12/31/2017 at 6:34 PM, WUTiger said:

 

IF you have been playing with four wedges, I would say stick with it. You have excellent distance, so close-in options would help you more than sweating over a 10- vs. 20-yd. gap between long clubs.

I am a little different - I went with 48°, 54° and 60° wedges. As mentioned in prior discussions, four wedges was more hassle than it's worth for me. I have adjusted nicely.

Unless you would gain some big performance edge, stay with 52°, 56°, 60°... these have the Recoil Stiff shafts which match your irons. You're an orderly guy so the 52°, 56°, 60° would give you peace of mind over the ball.

(Remember... do not chase  all possible options).

 

@WUTiger,

So I've got the irons figured out (at least the brand and model and mostly the set-up). 

So I have 10 clubs figured out for sure:

44" Driver (probably going to be EX10)

CBX Blades 3-PW

Obviously, Putter

I tested the CBX and holy crap it's friggin' long, I haven't hit a 3-wood 250 carry in a long time.

If I go 3-wood, 5-wood (which I want to). I can only carry two more wedges. 

The single fairway wood option would probably be a 4-wood. But I'd probably have a 30 yard gap between fairway wood and my longest iron, but I could carry four wedges. (PW is 47° in the CBX blades).

I'm thinking on this line as a sweet 16.

Driver

3-wood

5-wood

hybrid or driving iron

3-iron

4-iron

5-iron

6-iron

7-iron

8-iron

9-iron

PW (47°)

52°

56°

60°

Putter

I may still do a single fairway wood set-up, but I have to do some more testing and see if the CBX 4-wood fits my gapping better than a 3-wood/5-wood combo. At my home course I almost can get away with a 5-wood as my only fairway wood. 

Do you think that this a good Sweet 16, @WUTiger? The changeables are in purple.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WUTiger]

Shane,

I think it looks good.

As for 4W as solo wood, could you fit it with a grip that has less taper than normal? If so, you could choke down on the club to shave off some yards if full 4W was a bit long. The less-taper grip would make it less likely you would turn the club in your hand and hook the ball. You're a good enough golfer to go with one FW and shave yardage as needed.

Could you put a graphite shaft in the 3i and maybe pick up a few yards? Would you be willing to stretch your long-end yardstick to 15 or 20 yards per club?

If so, I think 4W + enhanced 3i would do it for you.

Remember, we're back to trade-offs. You only get to carry 14.

Edited January 26, 2018 by WUTiger

[onthehunt526]

2 hours ago, WUTiger said:

Shane,

I think it looks good.

As for 4W as solo wood, could you fit it with a grip that has less taper than normal? If so, you could choke down on the club to shave off some yards if full 4W was a bit long. The less-taper grip would make it less likely you would turn the club in your hand and hook the ball. You're a good enough golfer to go with one FW and shave yardage as needed.

Could you put a graphite shaft in the 3i and maybe pick up a few yards? Would you be willing to stretch your long-end yardstick to 15 or 20 yards per club?

If so, I think 4W + enhanced 3i would do it for you.

Remember, we're back to trade-offs. You only get to carry 14.

I know rule 4-4 very well.

It seems good to me. I played my home course last year. I think I had my 60° in the bag for two months, I had to use it literally once. So I took it out and put my 4-iron back in.

So that was why the 60° was in purple, it would be course dependent. On my home course, I may never use it.

I thought of one more possibility on the short end. When I still carried a 2-iron (only a few years back), I played a 52° wedge and a 58° wedge. I'm not sure if it will work in this instance, but it might. (The following year, I carried both a 4-hybrid and a 4-iron, god I miss my XRail's sometimes).

I think I might have it figured out for my home course. @WUTiger you're really talking me out of the 3-wood + 5-wood combo. There is one final possibility that would probably make this really simple. 

Driver, 3-wood, 3-9 iron, 47° PW, 52°, 56°, putter, then 5-wood or 60° depending on the course conditions, depth of bunkers stuff like that. 

The hybrid shaft would be a viable option, John in the 3-iron, but I'd probably only do that if I got a CBX Ironwood 3-iron. Which I may do, because hilariously that would probably fit that gap between fairway wood and 4-iron the best. I can just keep the blade 3-iron and use it in practice. I've got time, John, I'll figure it out. Alina thinks two fairway woods though. (You always joke I should ask my caddy, and she thinks 5-wood).

So now, I've got 12 clubs pretty much set. It will just be a question af whether I want to fill the gap from 200 (4-iron) to we'll call it 245 (3-wood) gap with 1 club or 2. 

I have more testing to do, If I can find a perfect 215-230 club in the middle that isn't a hook machine. I might be set 99% of all courses.

 

 

[WUTiger]

16 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

The hybrid shaft would be a viable option, John in the 3-iron, but I'd probably only do that if I got a CBX Ironwood 3-iron. Which I may do, because hilariously that would probably fit that gap between fairway wood and 4-iron the best.

You are clearly a good enough golfer to go with single FW - if you could find club X to split the difference between 4W and 4i. The CBX Ironwood might be it.

And, there will be a course or two I'm sure where the 3i would replace the Ironwood.

Above all, I want you to get your bag set so you have peace of mind over the ball.  I sense that worrying about less than perfect costs you a couple of strokes a round.

I think in most instances the 4W and an Ironwood would get it done for you. And, you would really learn to use the 4W - shave yardage, etc. - because you wouldn't have to split time between 3W + 5W.

----------------------

Wedges: before we discuss this, I need a bit of info...

Do you ever find yourself "in trouble" because you're uneasy about hitting a LW? Or, is LW a club that is just there, and you rarely think about it?

[Typhoon92]

20 hours ago, WUTiger said:

Shane,

I think it looks good.

As for 4W as solo wood, could you fit it with a grip that has less taper than normal? If so, you could choke down on the club to shave off some yards if full 4W was a bit long. The less-taper grip would make it less likely you would turn the club in your hand and hook the ball. You're a good enough golfer to go with one FW and shave yardage as needed.

Could you put a graphite shaft in the 3i and maybe pick up a few yards? Would you be willing to stretch your long-end yardstick to 15 or 20 yards per club?

If so, I think 4W + enhanced 3i would do it for you.

Remember, we're back to trade-offs. You only get to carry 14.

That's exactly right WUTiger...I use a single Fw and shave off yards if needed.  I think I mentioned it before or maybe in another thread.  Looking for pinpoint accuracy closer to the green.  The 210-230 yard range I can do with less options because I'm just looking to either find the green or be just off for an easy up and down.

[onthehunt526]

49 minutes ago, WUTiger said:

Wedges: before we discuss this, I need a bit of info...

Do you ever find yourself "in trouble" because you're uneasy about hitting a LW? Or, is LW a club that is just there, and you rarely think about it?

I don't usually grab a 60° for much of anything at my home course. That's why I took it out. I can the same short game shots out of a 56° or 58° as I can out of a 60°. Too many fat or thin full shots last with a 60° to trust it

Remember my thread about "No Full Shots inside of 150 yards"? That's part of the reason, I couldn't hit a full wedge to save my life. I can now, but still prefer to hit partial wedges and short irons. I think the all partial shots inside 150 yards helped be score better toward the end of the year. 

Around the green, I can hit the 60° wedge fine, but I just choose not to. So it's more of an it's just there. 

So more or less, I can do without a 60° wedge. (Though I did have some success with the M Grind Vokey with 8° of bounce, but I still ain't sold.)

[WUTiger]

If you do a lot of partial shots with wedges and short irons, you can probably get by without the LW.

I played PW + 50-54-58 for several seasons but the PW and 50 were redundant for shorter shots. My current 48-54-60 came from heavy testing on three Callaway demo visits in summer of 2016. I was surprised I found a 60° I could hit well. I went 10 years when all 60° clubs were disasters.

As for wedges, if you went 47-52-58 you would have one less wedge to carry. Main thing would be if you get by OK with the 58° as combo SW and semi-LW.

Or, you could go olde school and make  56° your highest-lofted wedge (sounds like you already do this by rarely hitting LW). Me and the other Baby Boomers hit lovely greenside cut shots with a SW for twenty years before the LW ever showed up.

But, that would give you an extra club at the long end (unless you wanted to terrorize tournament opponents by saying you only need 13 clubs).

Talking about your partial shots... Years ago I took lessons from a pro in Oklahoma. For his students that would listen, he drilled us on quarter and half-swing shots for all shorter clubs, 7i - SW. (NO 3/4 swings, he said they were too hard to do consistently). It really worked well - until I moved and hit a low-golf phase for three years and lost the touch.

[onthehunt526]

I think I can live with a 3-wedge set-up. I figure I'd go ye olde school and just carry 47°, 52°, 56° regularly and keep a 60° around in the closet for courses with deeper greenside bunkers or thicker rough. I'd probably drop a long iron for 60° if I needed it. Now with that figured out, now we're back to the mess at the top. 12 holes filled 2 to go. So@WUTiger do we 3W/2DI/hybrid, 4W/DI or 19/20 hybrid, or 3W/5W this hole? I'm thinking single fairway, driving iron (not the 17° probably the 19° if I need the 60° I'd just take the 21° 3-iron out). 

This is the driving iron I'm looking at, John.

[WUTiger]

1 minute ago, onthehunt526 said:

I'm thinking single fairway, driving iron (not the 17° probably the 19° if I need the 60° I'd just take the 21° 3-iron out). 

Bingo! Being that you are lukewarm to hybrids, I think the 4W + 19° DI and either 3i or 60° would work. Probably the 3i most of the time. Know what you mean about deep greenside bunkers.

I struggled with if I need the 60° for years. You don't need a 60° - until you do! 

[onthehunt526]

I guess apparently the CBX hybrids aren't hook machines. But then again, I don't want to hit a 19° hybrid, 240 then the 3-iron 215. I think driving iron is a better fit gap wise. In my experience the driving iron hollow iron things are good out of light to medium rough. Now I finally have the "main 13 (well 14)" figured out.

A couple more questions, about this whole thing.

1) Do I stick with the Recoil shafts, or go back to steel? (Looking at the DG AMT shafts, want to lower my trajectory just a smidge)

2) One club that doesn't get mentioned much is the putter. Every damn putter I buy, seems like it's too short (except one my Ping Zing 2). I think I need a 36 or 37 inch putter, any suggestions? I know Tour Edge will do it up to 2 inches, I think I can get a Scotty at any length, I want, I believe Edel obviously will. @iacas, any suggestions? I don't know any place locally that does Edel fittings.  I know you do Erik, but you're pushing 4.5 hours away.

[colin007]

Just my .02 cents, but I took my 60° out maybe 3 years ago and haven't felt like I missed it since.

[onthehunt526]

3 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Just my .02 cents, but I took my 60° out maybe 3 years ago and haven't felt like I missed it since.

That and you have that 2H you hit like 250.

[colin007]

51 minutes ago, onthehunt526 said:

That and you have that 2H you hit like 250.

Lol if i do, that's the blind squirrel getting the acorn every once in a while.

But seriously, I've found that the 56° is able to do pretty much what the 60 could do, without the elevated risk. Don't miss it, plus the bag is lighter for it LOL