Removing a club from your bag

[Patrick_Mucci]

Having used 3 wedges for about 30 years, I"ve now taken to using two (2) putters.

Which means that I have to remove a club from my bag.

The only woods I carry are, Driver and 3-wood.

Irons are 2-9 with three wedges.

In order to be able to deal with every possible situation and all architectural features, what club would you remove that would have a minimal impact on your play ?

While it's course specific, what club would you remove from your bag ?

I've chosen the 6 iron.

[Craig Sweet]

I have removed the 2,3 and 4 irons....never hit them. Also removed the 3 wood,though I think I'll add a 5 wood soon...

Why two putter?

[Matt_Cohn]

Pat,

I charted my club usage over something like 6-8 rounds at one point last year.

I found that my least-used club was my second-longest iron - in my case, a 4.

I'd use my longest iron (3) for my teeshots on short par-4's, for layups on par-5's, and for trouble shots under trees.

My second-longest iron was only useful when I had that exact yardage.

In your case that would suggest the three iron, but I'd guess you'd do better with 3-9 than with 2 and 4-9.

edit based on Dan's post below: remove the 2 and 3, replace with hybrid.

[Dan Herrmann]

Patrick..
You still carry a 2 iron?  You stud!

Try a hybrid - they're like cheating.  

[Patrick_Mucci]

Craig Sweet,

One putter for 3 feet and in.
Another putter for everything outside of 3 feet.

Matt Cohn,

That's an interesting way to go about determining which club you could do without.

I'll have to try it.

Today, I could have used my 6 iron on two or three shots.
One a chip, since I chip with my 6-iron (used a 7-iron) and two full shots where I choked down on the 5-iron.

[Mark Bourgeois]

Pat, pull any iron you want out of the bag, then adjust the loft of the remaining irons so they're equally spaced.

Don't tell anyone and when playing for keeps, make sure your competitors can see which bogus iron you just hit.

[Tim Bert]

Patrick,

I only carry 12 clubs in my regular set.  I'll tell you what I carry and you can tell me what that means I've left out, as I no longer know what constitutes a standard set anymore.

My bag:
Driver, 16 degree hybrid, 22 degree hybrid,
5-9 iron
3 wedges
putter

I added a 13th club to the bag for Bandon, which was a 2nd putter.  My standard putter is an Odyssey 2-ball, which sometimes drags the ground on longer putts.  For the trip, I added my old ping zing putter, which served as my utility club from 30 yards and closer.  I used the Odyssey from on the green and the Ping from off.  It was probably one of my 3 or 4 most used clubs during the trip.

[wsmorrison]

Pat,

Do you have a contract with a putter manufacturer and are doing this as a marketing ploy?  When did you stop using a single putter and which 2 putters are you now using?  Is one a standard length and the other a belly or longer?

My bag:

Ping G2 10* Driver
Izett 15* fairway wood (deep face)
Izett 22* fairway wood (deep face)
Hogan Apex irons (1998) 3 through PW
Izett 52* wedge
Izett 60* wedge
Yes Tracy II putter

[Phil McDade]

Pat:

Nice topic.

A few years ago, I yanked my 3 and 4 irons, and replaced them with utility clubs that essentially play as 7 and 9-woods. I don't think I'd ever go back, and can count on one hand, literally, the times that I missed my 4-iron (never my 3-iron).

So, I play five woods (driver, 3, 5, two utilities), 5-9, three wedges (pitching, 52, and SW of 56), and a putter. If I had to lose one, it'd be a toss-up between my 3-wood and my 7-wood utility. I think I'd miss my 3-wood more, but honestly, if forced, I could get by without both of them.

[A.G._Crockett]

A couple of ideas:

First, don't think of it as carved in stone; change out a couple of clubs based on the course you will be playing.  I think that is fairly frequent on Tour among guys who play lots of different types of courses.
That said...

Get a 17 degree 4 or 5 wood with a great shaft that you can bomb, drop the 3 wood and drop the 2 iron.

or...

Drop either the 3 or 4 iron, depending on the course that you play the most if you are married to the idea of keeping your two iron.  A gap in the lofts at that end of the set seems to me to be much easier to manage than in the short ones.

or...

If you play one place a LOT, drop the iron that you are least likely to ever need if you were playing well (which would be interfacing with the architecture!) like the old story of Hogan and some iron that he didn't carry for one particular tournament because he didn't think there were any "x" irons on that course.

I like the idea of two putters, I don't see how anybody plays well without 3 wedges, and I would find it hard to drop a short iron in modern delofted iron sets; the gaps would be too big at that end of the set.

[Lloyd_Cole]

Pat
Are you using the Rife putter for the short ones and your old Ironmaster for the rest?

And to answer your question - I concur, I 've been experimenting with short sets and the 6 iron was the last to make back into the bag.

[A.G._Crockett]

I've chosen the 6 iron.

Not me, I've aced x2 with the 6-iron!

I have D, 3-w, 3 hybrids, 3-9, 48*, 54* putter and 60* soon to hit the trash for a 58*.

I never leave out the 6i.

Yeah, except that you are carrying 15 clubs, so your aces become 3's with the two-stroke penalties...

[Dan Herrmann]

Which putter does your caddy hand you when you hit a 150 yard shot to the green?  

Wayne is a very smart man - The Yes! putter really does work.  

Patrick - Might I humbly suggest Nickent hybrids?

I loved a quote in Golfweek after the US Open.  A person from one of the survey firms said it was like "Bob's Muni" - there were a lot of bags where the longest iron was the 5 iron.   I've actually played with a 26 degree hybrid (a 5 iron replacement), and it's as easy to hit as a pitching wedge, but goes about 180 and lands nice and soft.

[Brent Hutto]

If I wanted to carry a second putter, I'd carry a right-handed one. When I switch around and putt righty, my usual lefty grip becomes "left-hand low" and it seems almost metaphysically impossible for me to mishit a putt inside six feet. But my distance control isn't worth a darn from 20+ feet putting backwards like that.

[Patrick_Mucci]

Yahoo!!  A convert to the 2-putter system!!  Sooner or later, this will become a storm among better players because it makes soooo much sense!

I tried it many years ago, but, only for a short time.[/color]

Pat, this really depends on why you carry a 3-wood.  If you carry a 3 wood more as a driver backup when you don't have confidence in the driver or when you want to shape a tee shot, and you feel like you need that club for a good reason, then you pretty much have to keep it in the bag.  If that's the case, I'd pull the 2 iron.  

I tend to hit my driver better than any other club in the bag.
The 3-wood is great because I can get the distance I need, and, I can choke it up and play it as a 4-wood and 5-wood.[/color]

My guess, however, is that they only reason you carry a 2 iron is because it's your club for a specific par 3.  Am I right ?  

No.

I like the 2-iron because I can hit it low, need it for 200-210 yard shots, and it's handy if you have to punch low shots from unusual places.[/color]

If that's the case, as long as you're good at nuking a 7 and taking something off a 5, that's as reasonable as anything, I guess.  You'd know better than anyone what irons you use the most - but I agree with Matt in concept -- the longer the iron, the better.

I think it may be a matter of how easily you can fill the void of the missing club.

I can't fill the void of a missing 2-iron.[/color]  

If, however, you carry a 3 wood more as a second shot club for long par 4's or to reach par 5s, and you really don't use it as a back-up/stand-in for the driver when it's in your doghouse, then I'd dump that for sure  -- and just carry one wood, the driver.  

Are you crazy ?

What would I use on long par 4's and par 5's ?
Today I hit it on a 237 yard par 3, as the second shot on two par 5's, one from 258 where I hit the green, and twice off the tee on lay up holes with water off the tee.[/color]

Here's what I did to get the second putter in the bag:  I dropped the 3 wood and got myself a Sonartec 1 iron/4 wood hybrid.  That's my "I don't trust the driver here" club and my "I'm going for this par 5 in two" club, now.  I hit it about 235 smooth, and up to 265 nuked.  I figure that if I'm more than 265 from a par 5 in two, I'm better off playing it as a 3 shot hole anyway (only took me 35 years of playing this game to figure than one out.... ).

I carry driver, the Sonartec hybrid, 3 iron down (3-6 cavity back/7 iron down are blades), plus a gap wedge and a 60 degree, a long putter and a short putter (which Kennedy calls a utility club, not a putter, because I hit it off the tee, from the fairway, out of bunkers, etc...)  

I'm not giving up my 3-wood. [/color]

I don't carry a regular 56 degree sand wedge anymore because I'm actually getting halfway decent at hitting a soft gap wedge that distance   - finally!

[Patrick_Mucci]

AG Crockett,

I use a 13 degree 3-wood.

I can't imagine hitting a 17 degree club further.

Lloyd Cole,

That combo made it through the an initial trials.
I'm now using a Ben Hogan, "Little Ben" Bettanardi 34" center shafted putter.

Dan, et. al.,

I'm not ready for hybrids.

I like my 2 and 3 irons.
Especially on windy golf courses.

[A.G._Crockett]

Patrick,
Then don't give up the 3 wood; I tried that for awhile, and went back to it.  It seems that you are pretty set on continuing to carry a 2 and 3 iron as well; I haven't owned either one since the Bush the Elder administration.

So I think you've narrowed it down to picking an iron that you think is the least likely for a given course if you were to hit every shot reasonably close the way you intended.

Alternatively, Mark B. gave you a pretty good idea with adjusting the lofts of you irons to get rid of any gaps after you eliminate one club.

[wsmorrison]

Dan-O,

Bad call on the weather the other day  

The first Yes putter I saw was an old version before they were called Yes, in the capable hands of Jim Sullivan, Jr.  I really liked the feel of that early putter so I tried one.  I forgot about it for a while as my Cameron was serviceable but when I saw you and Laura with them, I tried yours (Laura's was a bit too pink) and loved it.  When out and got myself one.  I may switch to a new lighter putter when our greens get really fast, but I'm never giving up on the Yes for most of my rounds, especially away.

[John Kirk]

I'd drop both the 2 iron and the 3 iron, and replace them with a 7 wood as an all purpose club.  But it seems you're attached to the 2 iron, so just let the 3 iron go.

[Geoffrey Childs]

Pat

Pick one putter and stick with it.  Having two putters is admitting that you are a basket case on the greens. You never gave in to any other adversities so why start now?

PS- if you find a good hybrid that does not balloon with too high a trajectory (I still love my Sonartec MD) you will never go back to long irons.

[Doug Bolls]

I am now down to 12 clubs - actually I had it down to 10 for Scotland and did just fine.
Driver
3-Wood
7-Wood
4h-Rescue
6-Iron
7-Iron
8-Iron
9-Iron
PW
SW
LW
Putter

I could probable get rid of the LW and not lose much.

Makes that GCA Carry Bag very managable.

DB

[Doug Siebert]

Patrick,

I gotta ask:  What is it about this second putter that makes it good for 3 feet or less?  Is it one of those long putters or something else special that makes it good for such short putts?  What's the shortest putt you are missing with your current putter?  I can understand 3', but if you never miss under two feet then you have an extra club just for 2-3' putts?

If you removed the 6i it seems like you could strengthen your 7 by a degree and weaken your 5 by a degree and hardly notice the difference.  I think it'd be a pain if you had a full two club gap there, that'd be nearly 30 yards for me.  Every time I got a shot that's a perfect 6 I'd be mumbling to myself under my breath that I should have dropped the 5 instead

[Tommy Williamsen]

I have had trouble choosing which 14 clubs to hit.  Never before have i had such trouble.  In fact a couple of weeks ago I played and the caddy asked me if I knew I had 15 clubs in my bag.  Lo and behold there were indeed 15 clubs.  

What I have
driver
13 degree 3 wood
16 degree hybrid
19 degree hybrid
21 degree hybrid
4 Iron
6- pw
54 degree sand wedge
60 degree lob wedge
One putter

I really would like to add the 50 degree wedge, but i find that shot from 220- 185 yards need the most attention.  I don't hit the ball as far as I used to and need the hybrids for shots 185-210.  Sometimes I think I should can the three wood and put the 50 degree back in.

[Kevin_Reilly]

Alternatively, Mark B. gave you a pretty good idea with adjusting the lofts of you irons to get rid of any gaps after you eliminate one club.

If Patrick is still playing old Ping Eye2's, then adjusting the lofts probably isn't going to work very well...they're not as bendable for loft as softer clubs...plus the bounces on the soles will get messed up.  

But if they are Eye2+'s, which Ping still makes on a custom basis, then perhaps Ping WRX (their custom shop) could fashion a club in between the 2 iron and 3 iron that would match the specs of the rest of the set...a call to WRX with the serial number of the current set would give the answer as to what they could come up with.  

[Mike Benham]

I don't carry a regular 56 degree sand wedge anymore because I'm actually getting halfway decent at hitting a soft gap wedge that distance   - finally!

I hope everyone has their boots on, Shivas is really flinging it now.     The self-proclaimed World's Worst Wedge player is now proficient enough to drop a wedge from his bag ...