Using 8 Clubs This Year

[Bucks]

2 hours ago, Morgan Mullins said:

Yardage gaps are very much the issue. And for each one of us, they are different. And you need to know what yours are. My original example of choking down on a 9i, 38 degree loft, to produce a 110-100 yard shot was a real world issue. I noticed that I rarely, if ever, pulled out my PW; I just didn’t hit into that gap where a 110-100 yard shot was required. So if wasn’t using a club, then why am I carrying it around? And if on the odd occasion I would need 100 yards, then choke down on the 9 and swing away.

As a slower swing speed senior, I carry 10 clubs and have been since 2012. (I'm also a walker, so weight matters) Using  6* gaps vs 4*, just makes more sense for me. Lofts are 16, 20, 26, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54 and 60 plus the putter.

[Morgan Mullins]

Same boat for me as well; seniors have some interesting decisions to make 😳. I use the 6 degree gapping for my long clubs: D (11.5), 2i (18), and 5h (24). I left my irons as I found them, 7,8, and 9 (28.5 ,33, & 38). 2 wedges (50 & 58) and putter. 9 clubs.

[Manx995]

It's not necessarily the number of the club that's important it's more the loft of the club. 

I'm content for the next month or two to stick with.

10.5° driver, 19° 3 hybrid, 4 6 7 8 irons, 50° wedge, sand wedge. These seem to allow me to get round our course ok.  

 

 

 

[mcanadiens]

I got a bag full of clubs, but practically I almost never use  the 3W, 4I, 6I or my LW. I also got an old model Taylormade burner bubble driver that hasn't left the bag since April. Some of it has to do with the shots I tend to hit at the home course, so the 6I and LW are rarely needed. ... But the 3W and 4I are just clubs that I don't hit well enough to bother with.

 

[Morgan Mullins]

20 hours ago, Manx995 said:

It's not necessarily the number of the club that's important it's more the loft of the club. 

I'm content for the next month or two to stick with.

10.5° driver, 19° 3 hybrid, 4 6 7 8 irons, 50° wedge, sand wedge. These seem to allow me to get round our cours

 

Oh, I totally agree. There can be 6-7 degrees of loft difference between 7 irons from different manufacturers, none of which bear any resemblance to the lofts of clubs that are older. Iron numbers are meaningless and obsolete.

We might have an opportunity here though. How does this sound, “I pulled out my 29 degree mashie niblick.”? 😛

[Manx995]

Old school names now there's a thought. Maybe some manufacturer might resurrect the idea. Its agreed the loft of say a TaylorMade is different to say that of Callaway etc so why not a name instead of a number.

Irons I reckon you need a long, a medium, a short and a wedge for chipping. How nice and simple would that make the choices, then add in a driver and fairway wood or hybrid. How uncomplicated is that.

[Bucks]

1 hour ago, Morgan Mullins said:

Oh, I totally agree. There can be 6-7 degrees of loft difference between 7 irons from different manufacturers, none of which bear any resemblance to the lofts of clubs that are older. Iron numbers are meaningless and obsolete.

We might have an opportunity here though. How does this sound, “I pulled out my 29 degree mashie niblick.”? 😛

I'd love to see OEMs identify their clubs by loft rather than an arbitrary number. 

[Morgan Mullins]

21 hours ago, mcanadiens said:

I got a bag full of clubs, but practically I almost never use  the 3W, 4I, 6I or my LW. I also got an old model Taylormade burner bubble driver that hasn't left the bag since April. Some of it has to do with the shots I tend to hit at the home course, so the 6I and LW are rarely needed. ... But the 3W and 4I are just clubs that I don't hit well enough to bother with.

 

And that’s it isn’t it? If you don’t hit a club well, and you’ve given it a thorough trial, why fight the obvious? Try something else! Or ask, “do I really need this club?” And as a case in point, it seems you’ve found an older driver that you really like and hit well. I really don’t believe we play this game for the purpose of keeping the club manufacturers in business.

[Morgan Mullins]

30 minutes ago, Bucks said:

I'd love to see OEMs identify their clubs by loft rather than an arbitrary number. 

That really seems to be a rational approach to this. We aren’t going back to the old school names; (I don’t think…) ? And iron numbers have been rendered meaningless.
So you approach creating a club set by saying,” well, I need a driver, a fairway club around 18 degrees, and a …..”

 

1 hour ago, Manx995 said:

Irons I reckon you need a long, a medium, a short and a wedge for chipping. How nice and simple would that make the choices, then add in a driver and fairway wood or hybrid. How uncomplicated is that.

I think this says it pretty well! 

[Vinsk]

2 hours ago, Morgan Mullins said:

And iron numbers have been rendered meaningless.

Why? If you hit ‘this number’ club ‘that many’ yards…it’s just an identifier right? 

[Bucks]

1 hour ago, Vinsk said:

Why? If you hit ‘this number’ club ‘that many’ yards…it’s just an identifier right? 

Technically you're correct, however it doesn't correlate from set to set or manufacturer to manufacturer. Lofts between clubs with the same number on them can vary several degrees.

[Manx995]

I can't see why these manufacturers don't use a degree marking system instead of numbers. They use degrees on wedge sets. Maybe it's all about convincing the user they need new clubs more often, a marketing plan?? 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Manx995
Wrong word used.

[ncates00]

4 hours ago, Bucks said:

I'd love to see OEMs identify their clubs by loft rather than an arbitrary number. 

I wouldn’t. I like to see one number on the top as I quickly pull it out of my bag to play my next shot. If you want to know the loft of your club, say for gapping purposes, then look it up. Knowing the static loft of your club is not going to help you on the course, and does nothing but force me to look at two digits instead of one to determine which club I’m pulling out of the bag. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by ncates00

[Vinsk]

4 hours ago, Bucks said:

however it doesn't correlate from set to set or manufacturer to manufacturer.

But so what? I don’t expect my clubs from a totally different manufacturer to perform the same. All I need to know is what yardages I hit a particular club with whatever number it has on it. 

[Morgan Mullins]

17 hours ago, Manx995 said:

I can't see why these manufacturers don't use a degree marking system instead of numbers. They use degrees on wedge sets. Maybe it's all about convincing the user they need new clubs more often, a marketing plan?? 

Exactly! That loft number is all you need. The fact that one OEM calls it an Approach Wedge and another calls it a Gap Wedge is irrelevant. For me, I need a 50 degree wedge; then I know what to do with it.

OEM’s are in business to sell golf clubs, period. If you think they have some altruistic motives as well, you have probably drunk the koolaid.

[Maverick]

On 2/24/2018 at 6:37 AM, RWC said:

I play hickories pretty much all the time and its typical to play with less than 14 clubs. My normal set is a Brassie (2W), Cleek (4W), Jigger (4i) Mid-Mashie (5i), Mashie (7i), Mashie Niblick (9i), Niblick (SW) and Putter. Depending on the course I may also add either a Mid Iron (3i) or Spade Mashie (8i).

The loft gaps seem manageable and sure make walking and carrying my bag a lot easier. My Index (14.3) using hickory is a few shots higher than with modern clubs, but I attribute that more to the challenge of hickory shafts and pure blades as opposed to number of clubs in the bag.

 

Thank you for that!  Always wondered what those were called..good topic.  I finally got out to the range after almost 6 years and surprisingly hit my irons decent.  I have also decided to put a few irons away.  thinking of replacing the stronger lofted with my hybrids and going down to the 6i and down.  

[mdl]

On 9/18/2021 at 11:34 AM, Manx995 said:

It's not necessarily the number of the club that's important it's more the loft of the club.

True to some degree. Though really it's about launch characteristics, which are hard to label simply on the club As in, people complain about vanity lofts on today's irons. If you pull a modern 4i, sure it might have the loft of a classic 3i or even 2i. But it probably launches higher and stops more quickly than even the old 4i with significantly less loft. So if you called it a 2i then what? People would complain about their ballooning 2is!

[Bucks]

22 minutes ago, mdl said:

True to some degree. Though really it's about launch characteristics, which are hard to label simply on the club As in, people complain about vanity lofts on today's irons. If you pull a modern 4i, sure it might have the loft of a classic 3i or even 2i. But it probably launches higher and stops more quickly than even the old 4i with significantly less loft. So if you called it a 2i then what? People would complain about their ballooning 2is!

Good point, however wouldn't the actual distance one hits the club remain relatively the same with identical lofts? By relatively, I mean within 5-7 yards. Thanks