Hitting every club in the bag

[George Pazin]

Is this how you judge variety on a golf course? Is this how you think others judge variety?

Please share your thoughts.

[Garland Bayley]

Judging variety is much more than hitting every club in the bag. I'm not going to list all the variety that can be found on a golf course, as I assume most can come up with a similar list.

[Terry Lavin]

I don't really use it as a way to judge a course in any meaningful way, but I generally do make a "note to self" when I've used every club in the bag.  If it isn't all that meaningful, it still isn't meaningless.

[Kalen Braley]

George,

I tend to look more at distance of holes on the card to form an opinion on variety.  For a good player, a 340 yard par 4 and a 400 yard par 4 might be driver wedge for both.  But for me its more likely to be driver wedge-9 iron, followed by driver 3-5 iron.

Additionally I also look to variety in the form of green size and shape, bunker placement, dogleg left or right, interesting routing, etc.

[Garland Bayley]

George,

I tend to look more at distance of holes on the card to form an opinion on variety.  For a good player, a 340 yard par 4 and a 400 yard par 4 might be driver wedge for both.  But for me its more likely to be driver wedge-9 iron, followed by driver 3-5 iron.

Additionally I also look to variety in the form of green size and shape, bunker placement, dogleg left or right, interesting routing, etc.

Be honest Kalen. Nothing is driver wedge-9 iron for you, because you are so bad with driver that you only use 3 wood off the tee.

[Dan Kelly]

I'm not a good enough player to judge a course based on how many clubs I hit in playing it. Who is, other than the pros?

The only club-based judgments I might make are:

(1) If I feel foolish using my driver on most of the par-4s and -5s, I'll count that against the course.

(2) If I use a very narrow range of clubs on the par-3s, I'll count that against the course.

[Patrick_Mucci]

George,

Interestingly enough, I was about to start a similar thread, due to Tom Doak's thread.

The use of every club in the bag is more about the overall tactical balance of the course without weighting it in favor of one method, or a few methods of play.

Call it diversity.

Call it a thorough examination of the golfer's game, but, doesn't the architect have an unwritten obligation to explore and test the golfer's abilities with a wide range of shots, from Driver to fairway woods, long, medium and short irons, along with pitching, chipping and putting skills.

Do the better courses present and test that wider spectrum of play ?

Should they ?

While some criticize Pete Dye's short 17th hole at TPC, I think it presents a very unique and dire test, one of judgement, skill and nerves on a predetermined shot.

I like that the architect sometimes forces a golfer to execute a particular shot, I think that's part of his obligation to the golfer.

The other aspect of this exercise, that of hitting every club in the bag, is that it inherently presents a moderate test, not an easy one, not an overly difficult one, but a moderate test that all can aspire to meet.

[Kalen Braley]

George,

I tend to look more at distance of holes on the card to form an opinion on variety.  For a good player, a 340 yard par 4 and a 400 yard par 4 might be driver wedge for both.  But for me its more likely to be driver wedge-9 iron, followed by driver 3-5 iron.

Additionally I also look to variety in the form of green size and shape, bunker placement, dogleg left or right, interesting routing, etc.

Be honest Kalen. Nothing is driver wedge-9 iron for you, because you are so bad with driver that you only use 3 wood off the tee.

You caught me on a very bad driving day Garland, no doubt.  I use the driver alot more now!! 

[Don_Mahaffey]

I think it’s more about hitting all the shots, not all the clubs. You could build 18 holes that all look the same but of differing lengths and pretty much accomplish the every club goal. Give me a course where some drives require precision, others thoughtful placement on a wide fwy.  Approaches that reward a running shot, others that require a precise aerial shot, others that require using a landform to direct the ball toward the hole. Greens that fall away and require trajectory control, or slope steeply back to front and require spin control as well as distance control. I might hit a 7 iron on three approaches, but one may be  a punch, one a high fade to a guarded pin, and maybe another  a slinging draw to a back left pin on a redan type green. Its about the shots you hit, not the clubs you use.

[Michael Moore]

I think that using a wide variety of clubs, which, with my game at least, has a fairly strong correlation to a wide variety of distances and trajectories, can be a useful indicator of variety. I think that the expression is hoary and is unfortunately lumped in with "right there in front of you" and "championship" and all of that.

I think that most people, including myself, judge variety mostly on length of holes, uphill shots, downhill shots, and doglegs left and right.

 

[Adam Clayman]

I'm leaning to elasticity.

[Dan King]

Why would I carry a club around for 18 holes if I'm not going to use it?

I tend to play golf with somewhere between four and seven clubs. With less than eight clubs I've never gone a round where every club wasn't used. In just about every one of these rounds every club in my bag was critically important regardless of the type of course.

Cheers,
Dan King

Hitting things with a stick is the cornerstone of civilization. Consider all the things that can be improved by hitting them with a stick: veal, the TV, Woody Allen. Having a dozen good sticks at hand, all of them well balanced and expertly made, is one of the reasons I took up golf.
 --P.J. O'Rourke

[Sean_A]

Hitting every club in the bag doesn't mean much to me for two reasons.  First, what if one guy carries 14 and another 7?  Second, it could be that to hit every club one has to play poorly or great.  Play the course ten times and if you are hitting 14 clubs each round then tell folks about it and explore what it means.

Ciao

[Greg Chambers]

I like courses where I can play with just one club, and figure out how many different ways I can hit it...