[Thomas Dai]

EXCLUDING the PUTTER and DRIVER, when playing on the course, which club in your bag do you use the most often and what, if anything, does this tell you about your own game and architecture?
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[Dave McCollum]

I use an eight iron most often.  I learned to hit a bump and run shot before a trip to Scotland and now it’s my go-to shot.  There are shots that require sand and lob wedges, but most holes are open and allow running chips.  When I was learning how to play, I experimented with all my clubs to find what worked best for me.  The eight iron was the most accurate and most resembled a putting stroke from the same distance.

[John Kavanaugh]

I play at least 25% of my rounds with one club, a 17 deg hybrid. When playing with a full set at my home course I use it between 8 to 10 times a round. Figure I hit that club, not including practice, 4000 times last year alone. Including 9 full holes on the Jubilee.

[Jason Topp]

Hybrid.  It tells me I should move up a set of tees.

[John Kavanaugh]

Hybrid.  It tells me I should move up a set of tees.

Not if you hit it off the tee and twice on par 5's. If I move up any further I'll be on the green tees.

[Ira Fishman]

18 degree hybrid and 7 iron for chipping.  Tells you I am playing from wrong tees, but my ego will not let me go up much further yet and that despite how often I hit the hybrid I still miss too many greens.  Regarding the architecture question, 7 iron explains why I greatly prefer courses that do not have heavily protected fronts of greens.

[Thomas Dai]

Interesting comments. Thank you all.
As I've got older and the distance I hit the ball has got less I find it's fairway woods and hybrids that are now used most. As has been mentioned above, this probably means I should be moving up a tee or so. The hassle is, when playing in competitions, all have to play from the same tees, and these are usually towards the back. Okay there are senior comps but they are not necessarily held at times and frequencies appropriate for all.
Having to hit more fairway woods and hydrids, including on par-3's (sometimes a Driver now on par-3's) means missing more greens in regulation than in previous years when approach shots with mid/short irons were perhaps more the norm, which then increases the need to use wedges or chipping clubs around the greens. In many ways, apart from chipping and the like I hardly ever seem to use 6-7-8-9 irons.

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[Richard Fisher]

My late-1980s TaylorMade (metal) 5-wood, and my c1994 Wilson Sand Iron, used so much over the years for all sorts of short-game and bunker shots that the grooves have started to flatten. Both are clubs with which in general I feel fairly confident - hence their use - simple as that. My c2012 Mizuno 3-iron comes out of the bag rather less, in all honesty.

[David Davis]

On Sunday, the answer to this would of been my pitching wedge. We played National Team Competition on a relatively narrow tree lined heathland course designed by John Morrison. There was also a bit of wind which made the long par 4's of 380m - 430m not safely reachable for me on the day. (confidence to hit 3 wood or 2 hybrid into these really small bunkered greens was simply not there. Par 5's on a good day could of been reachable for me but given the match play single and foursomes set up I picked an appropriate for me strategy on the day which saw me always hitting to the same distance so I could approach the greens with my wedge. I did the same on the short par 4's incidentally. Don't laugh but I've never played a round like this, always try and play to a yardage but never just used one club like that. The strategy worked rather well as I was on fire with my wedge and hit it like 8x to wishing 2 meters which allowed me to par 2 of the 3 unreachable for me par 4's and manage a par or better on all par 5's.


What it tells me is that I should probably consider playing to my strengths a little more often. The funny thing about this for me was that often I was hitting a wedge or a 9 iron on my second shot on these par 4's and 5's which I literally never do. While it felt funny standing at 240 meters and hitting a wedge to 115-120 m the advantage was I never once missed the fairway and on every occasion left myself with a good angle into the green for the next shot.


My opponent did the opposite and struggled, in bunkers with tough short sided chips etc. and that didn't work out well for him on the day.


To put this into perspective I'd say the average green size was around 250-300 sq meters. So quite small by any standards.

[Ian Mackenzie]

50 degree Miura gap wedge.
It tells me that I acquiesce far too often to my friends and play Mens tees instead of tips...


Approach into par 4s and 5s and greenside chipping.

[Bob Montle]

I use an eight iron most often.  I learned to hit a bump and run shot before a trip to Scotland and now it’s my go-to shot.  There are shots that require sand and lob wedges, but most holes are open and allow running chips.  When I was learning how to play, I experimented with all my clubs to find what worked best for me.  The eight iron was the most accurate and most resembled a putting stroke from the same distance.

+1
You took the words right out my mouth!

[MClutterbuck]

A 56 degree Vokey. Anything inside 100 yards, full shots, high lobs, low bump and runs and bunker shots. Probably not optimal from a technical perspective. For cart golf it avoids delays, I always get out of the cart with the 56 and putter, no decision necessary. If you see an architectural implication please let me know...

[Thomas Dai]

There's a story that back in the 1930's Francis Ouimet, when US Walker Cup Captain, had a club specially made for all his team members as they were due to play the bi-annual match at TOC. He apparentlly told his players to practice with the club a lot as they would be required to use it frequently in the match.
The club? A jigger. A short shafted thin bladed club with circa 25* loft.
The ground game vrs the spinny lofted wedge game of today. Kind of sad really.
Atb

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