WillieT

Got to play for the second time this year the local "college" course and had a good day for me. My score was a 101, a personal best at this course, only one penalty - lost the ball into the ravine on #8 par three off the tee. Hitting three of the tee and still making 6 was a personal win. On a day where I felt I wasn't hitting drives as far, I found that I was in the fairway 8 out of 14. Maybe a lesson learned there? Also worked on not killing the ball but rather what worked on approaches - lay up for a wedge/short iron or try to swing away and likely miss. Choosing the former resulted in 9 nGIRs and 1 GIR, sadly all were bogies. However the best part of the day only two double bogie holes and the lone triple on #8. It was a day where I was consistently pitching/chipping on the green to putt for par, an unusual state of game for me. A number of near miss putts that lipped and just slid by, resulting in 3 putting on 7 holes. Overall the consistent play, i.e. setting me up for better looks at the green on approach shots, resulted in my having a great day even if the score was still a three-digit number.

Impressed with his consistency through the tourney and especially today. Was it a great round - yes, one of the greatest ever don’t see it. To be honest, I would have rather #18 to have come down to what we saw with the Rahm-Johnson battle a few weeks back. One needed to make the putt to force the playoff.

Makes sense - putting w/PW is pretty cool.

Love the response man! Great reasoning, and yes the guarantee is five fewer strokes no matter the club type as long as the lofts are between 15 and 60 deg.

Well, the premise was to load the question in that the only way you can shoot five (5) shots fewer is with only five (5) clubs in the bag and what do you envision those clubs to be? I get it that that the obvious answer seems to be the first option as everyone wants a lower score - it was meant to be more a mental exercise of what 5 clubs would be in the bag to give you five strokes fewer. Good points on the course questions, stuff I did not consider as the course conditions are as diverse as the members who post. For the sake of this exercise, maybe have in mind your "home" course or "favorite" course when thinking the clubs you would use.

@billchao - you are definitely correct in that the "loft rule" that I laid down does preclude a putter. By the way - that is interesting that it would be a five wedge bag. Definitely not me! Can't hit the ball that well😀

Agreed on that, "the setup that gets the best results is key"! But "if" you were to be limited and knew you would play better with those five, what would they be?

Thanks Erik - I should've know it had been discussed in times past. Funny thing is in '07, golf was no where on the brain - just motorcycles and music. These days, still dream of maybe riding again, still play music pretty regularly, but golf has become that sport I have learned to love. Thinking next round at the home course will be a 5 club round. Just to see how well or not so well I do.

Maybe I've made it too obvious as certainly lowest score wins....as @iacas said, " likewise the same is echoed by @ncates00, " Still what I like is seeing the hypothetical bag set-up that we, the SandTrap folks, deem would give us said scores....

I like your first choice of clubs as that is what I was thinking. Except it would be the 15deg 3w, 4-hybrid, 8i, GW and putter.

Would you rather #29....Play only a total of five (5) clubs (incl putter) in the bag, the strongest being no more than 15* (i.e. 3w) and the weakest no more than 60* (LW) and lowering your avg score by five (5) strokes OR keeping your bag as is with the current number of clubs and your avg score lowers by two (2) strokes. Also if you choose the former - what would be the clubs of choice?

I have a relatively slow swing swing speed - never been on a machine but based on my "average" yardage carry its in the low 80's. What does that mean in terms of which ball I use - I hit them all about the same distance. Now some sound better coming off the head than others. Some really check up better than others. What do I play these days? A very cheap 2-piece Wilson ball that you buy by the bag at Wally World. By cheap, I mean really cheap. These were on close-out at $1 for a two dozen bag! The ball hits well, stops pretty good and for some reason I cannot lose one. Have played the last two rounds with the same ball! And if I do lose one, so what it is a $.04 ball not a $4.00 ball!

Revisit to the "home" course yesterday. The course is in excellent shape - fairways are excellent, greens are the best I've ever seen them and even the bunkers are friendly (though recent rains have rendered them compacted sand). My scorecard had no birdies, two pars, 9 bogies and only one triple. For me this was the most consistent I've ever played, with no penalty strokes. The difference was playing smarter by playing smarter golf. As I don't typically hit long, I rethought how to best get on the green where the initial putt was for par. This strategy resulted in 14 of 18 holes having the initial putt for par with a decent look at the cup. I attribute this to really understanding that separation value is where its at. Final score was a 96 (45 on the front, 51 on the back). By the way, even better than the score was spending the afternoon with the missus (she was hitting pretty well till her shoulder played out), my son (who always matches and usually beats me stroke for stroke) and our 4yr old grandson who had his first chip in for birdie on a par 3 (we let him tee up about 100 yds from the green). A priceless day...here we are on the 18th green.....

Got a chance to play one of our local courses that has fallen on harder times. They were a premier course in the area several years back, but have had financial issues over the past couple. Because of the condition, it was one of the toughest courses I've ever played. Only 3 of the greens were truly puttable, the balance were full of bare spots (major sections of pure dirt). The fairways were playable, but anything in the rough saw the ball go out of sight. The traps seemed to be like playing on bare dirt lies, with grass rapidly filling them in. So what did I shoot - 102 (54 front/48 back) on a par 71. After the first green, my son and I opted to make it a day to work on varying the clubs used on approaches. It made the round fun and a better challenge as we would caddy each other on what we saw but leaving the club choice to the golfer. The shape of the greens encouraged pin hunting, thankfully they had most cut toward the center. Likewise, chips/pitches were in pin hunt mode as you had to "pick" where you wanted to putt. A different kind of round. The best part of the day was when we made the turn (started on the back nine) and were preparing to tee off on 1. The course pro/owner came up to us and began to talk with us. He asked what club my son was using, he said he was working on his 3hybrid. He told him to go ahead and tee off. After the tee shot he asked if he could try it, of course he drills one down the fairway. He then proceeds to offer a quick lesson on good swing mechanics. He next asks me about my driver and if he could hit it. Its an older SLDR and he promptly carries it down the left side. Again talking to us about good swing mechanics and form. In the end, he gives us a free pass to play there again as they are going to be fully repairing the greens over the next month. So we get a free round anytime and a free lesson. Maybe the score wasn't as important as just being there today.

Today was another round at what I call my "home" course. Was just 2 over (2 bogeys and a par) through first 3 holes. Worst hole of the day was a snow man on #8 (a par 4), no triple bogeys though. No lost drives, hit 9 of 14 fairways (a personal best) and the other 5 were just off the edge less than 2 yards off the short stuff. Misjudged distances on some approaches either coming up short or overshooting. What did I score - total of 99 (52 on front, 47 on the back). Side note - two days ago, I played the front 9 of this course with the missus. She did well, a 57 from the reds with two solid pars on the two par 3's. Me - had a 46 w/two pars, 4 bogeys and 3 doubles. No if I could put a solid front and back like above - would in the low 90's, knocking on the 80's. That is what my goal is this year - to be solidly in the low 90's, knocking on the 80's.