How many clubs do you carry? 14? Or less?

[John Crowley]

Colin,
Your choice looks good to me. I have a friend who is about a 2 hdcp at TOC and has carried only 9 clubs for years. My last couple of times at RDGC I brought 8 clubs. Had a driver but, a running three wood certainly would have provided adequate distance.

[Terry Lavin]

I play with what is allowed, what has recently been manufactured and that which improves my game.  And without a stone in my Trues.

[Dónal Ó Ceallaigh]

Those of you that always carry 14 clubs should take a chance and take 8-10 for a casual round. I promise you that you'll be pleasantly surprised with some of the shots you pull off.

Sometimes less is more.

[Brent Hutto]

I've played with anywhere from 1 to 15 or 16 clubs. I find the game is the most fun when I have my usual 14.

For fun and a change of pace I play my set of 1951 MacGregor "Jimmy Demaret" irons and persimmon woods. But there's 14 clubs in that set as well! 

[Ross Tuddenham]

The other approach is to get three or four wedges and just play the same couple of stock shots with them, using the different lofts to enable different distances rather than playing 6, 8, 10 different types of shots.

Sounds like the peltz system where you use 3 swing lengths (10.30, 9.00 and 7.30 o'clock) and four wedges (which gives you 12 yardages) to fill the yardages up to ≈100 yards.  Using the same set up and technique for each swing.

When I said use only one wedge which you have mastered I meant for chipping around the green.  But I understand what you are saying about the difficulty of using one club in different ways from further out if you lack the time to master different swings. 

[Peter Pallotta]

I play with what is allowed, what has recently been manufactured and that which improves my game.  And without a stone in my Trues.

I got a good chuckle out of that.

I've been experimenting a bit with numbers (and kinds) of clubs, and looked up this thread.

Besides what others have mentioned (e.g. ease of carrying) I find that having less clubs also improves not so much my shot-making as my choices.

I have to leave it to very good golfers like Joe H to "invent shots"; for me, the benefit comes in being forced, finally and unequivocally, to choose enough club

With 14 clubs in my bag, if I think I can get a 7 iron there but a fearful voice whispers that I should use a 6, I almost always still hit the 7 -- if for no other reason than a desire not to listen to the fears.

But with only 8 clubs, and with the 7 not there, I have to choose the 6. And that's the better choice -- especially because now it is not based on fear/doubts/insecurity but on logic.   

With fall golf I now play persimmon exclusively, so last time out I carried Driver, 5 wood, 4-6-8-PW, SW and putter.

Btw, with the slightly colder weather in general and with persimmon in particular, I have found after a lot of trial & error/testing that the best value ball for me is the Callaway SuperSoft. 

Btw (2), while wholly unscientific and based solely on my own experience (as an average golfer),  I am now completely convinced of this: yes, in part it's the ball....but even more so it's the (length of) shaft.

A 43 inch steel-shafted persimmon driver, struck well, will send a ball exactly the same distance as a well struck modern titanium hot-faced monster club with the latest graphite shaft...IF that shaft is also 43 inches, i.e. in other words, as far as a modern 3 wood. Similarly, a persimmon steel-shafted 5 wood travels just as far as a modern graphite-shafted 2 hybrid (even though several of the 2 hybrids I've tried have even longer shafts).

Btw (3) - the advantage of using persimmons, besides how lovely they look and the sound they make, is this: that you can stay out of trouble. I'm not a long hitter, so 240 is about the best I can hope for with my driver and a little over 200 with my 5 wood. And you know what? If you play a course at 6500-6600 yards, that 240 yards will most often keep you short of the major (if often banal and even unnecessary) 'trouble', i.e fairway bunkers.

Yes, you have to strike the persimmon very well, and if you don't there is more of a price to play than with titanium -- but it only takes a few long Par 4s before one accepts and gets comfortable with and even enjoys coming into the greens with a 5 wood...which for me has become one of the easiest clubs in my bag to hit well.

(I always think of Corey Pavin's 4 wood on his way to winning the US Open -- it was a great shot given the circumstances, but it actually wasn't that hard a shot!)   

Peter   

[Sean_A]

For some time I was playing with 10 sticks, then went down to 8.  On my recent US trip I found that I couldn't reach some uphill 4s without the extra roll I have grown used to in the UK.  So I went back to 9 clubs for my recent game at Moortown.... a course with a fair number of longish 4s and a few reachable 5s.


Not carrying a 5 iron has meant that I need to be more positive with the 6 iron and indeed, I have hit some of my best iron shots this year with the 6. 


Although, I am still prone to finding trouble when I try to push recovery shots too hard!


I will currently stick with 9 and see what gives: putter, sand wedge, wedge, 9, 8, 6, 7 wood, 2 hybrid, driver.

Ciao

[Steve Lang]

   Peter,


WHAT'S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT??


Its not fear, its instinct, feel the force (...Luke) of gravity and just play... hit ball, see ball go, find it, repeat as necessary to hole it...   If you've sort of mastered a subset of 14, you should be able to master 14 to your advantage, eh?.  Feel free to carry less, and by the way, when you carry your small set... how many golf balls do you carry?   Same or less? 


ITS NOT A BADGE OF HONOR AS SOME WOULD IMPLY!


I've carried my Even Stephen set 2w, 7w, 4i, 6i, 8i, 10, P during summers in Houston and when playing out at Ballyneal, Bandon, & Chambers Bay, carrying small STRICTLY for weight or lack thereof reasons, (1 ball in play, 3 in stash) yes decision making is simplified, but rode with 14 all over Wild Horse and at Dismal, and recently pushed 14 at The Loop...  even on those special excursions, does it really matter when seeing some new gca? 


I'm just advising being practical, no need to over-think it, but I know your mind may not allow, to just play on.


See you down the path someday

[Peter Pallotta]

Steve - good post...but see, I like all the fuss! 

I like finding old persimmon clubs in second hand shops and discovering they still have the original grips, and in good condition, and then having the fun of comparing them out on the course against other clubs and other grips

I enjoy staring at and holding in my hands some beautiful wood driver from the 70s or 80s, and admiring the craftsmanship and the curves of an old blade iron (the set I played with last, Walter Hagen Haig Ultras with the contoured sole are the most lovely of all)

I like tinkering with how many clubs to carry, and thinking about why 8 might be better than 12 or 14, and trying to figure out ways to use equipment smartly to shoot my lowest score ever

I enjoy the fuss around trying to get the ball in the hole in less strokes than I did the round before, since as much as I value the beauty of a natural looking course and the talent of a wonderful golf course architect and the company of a good friend, the only thing that for me gives the game of golf any meaning is trying to get the ball in the hole in the fewest possible strokes   

Oh, and with 8 clubs I still carry 6-9 golf balls...

Hope to see you on the path one day too, and glad you got to play The Loop

Peter 

[Duncan Cheslett]

It depends entirely on whether I fancy carrying or not.


With my cart bag and Motocaddy, I will take the full complement of 14 clubs. If I choose to carry  my stand bag however, I want to reduce weight and so will usually take out the even numbered irons, a wedge or two, and my driver. I have a 15 degree 3-wood which goes virtually as far as my driver and which is also deadly off the deck.




As a 12 handicapper, I usually shoot in the 80s. The difference between an 82 and an 86 however, is far more likely to be determined by how often I go OOB off the tee, duff a chip,  or 3 putt rather than not having the right club in my bag to hit an approach shot exactly 164 yards!

[V. Kmetz]

Hello,


"I often watch mid and high-handicap golfers umming and ahhing over whether they should hit 3 hybrid or 4 hybrid from 200 metres, or tossing up a recovery shot between their three or four wedges... They'd be better off getting to know a few clubs intimately and learning how to play with them. Even if that improvement isn't possible, carrying three hybrids or three or four wedges does nothing to benefit them.[/size][size=78%] "[/size]


Watch out my friend, for if you speak truths like this, the next PGA show in Orlando will vote to put a contract out on your ass.


I'm sorry to forget who said this but this statement is like the sublime Rosetta Stone of the professional golf industry(ies)...from the pro shop to the course plantings...from the pyramid stacked balls to the retaining walls...golf (and life) is filled with this ill...unnecessary shit peddled as some elixir improvement.


In the matter of clubs (equip aficionados aside) it so painfully clear that we can and should be able to prosper with fewer...but the daisy chain of manufacturer to wholesale to markup makes the distinction of a 3 Hybrid, and 4 Hybrid very, very important to too many people.


When I played more regularly at 9-hole Sunset Hill, I carried 8 clubs. Most other rounds I would take the full allotment of 14, but I wish i could take more, because I like to use and test different drivers and hit fairway woods just to see what they do. Now that I've only played 4 times in the last 2 seasons, the experimental spirit is full in me, as each round is precious and I want to see what stuff does.


cheers
vk

[Steve Lang]

   Peter,


I concur with Duncan's note,... imagine an uphill 1 shotter, trouble left obvious, trouble right only known by local knowledge... one bad swing or bad recovery and there's potential pain to pay



Sorry to make you remember that hole Duncan!  But fair is fair, I remember this one was my Waterloo, with two in the water on the widest one-shotter at RV!

[Duncan Cheslett]

Steve,


Two great examples of how easy it is to go OOB off the tee at Reddish Vale.


 I could give you 15 more!


 

[Steve Lang]

   Duncan,


Yes, but on 4, I remember two balls on the green, danger left and right avoided!



How many clubs were in that set you provided me?

[Duncan Cheslett]

I seem to remember that we forgot to include a putter!

[John Cowden]

This thread has just revealed my own [faux] golf brilliance   I'm going to reduce my usual 14 club set to something significantly less (7? 8?) and add a couple hicks.  I can vary the selection round to round as logic and whimsy dictate.   Let my brilliant imagination, and my imagined brilliance, dictate the play.   But I think I'm on to something!  I'll try it out on San Clemente tomorrow.  Cheers.

[Thomas Dai]

Life in an old thread!


Since starting this thread 3 yrs ago I've downsized to now carrying only 8/9-clubs in a small/lightweight bag (no stand). I only carry 4-5 golf balls plus tees and the odd coin. No brolly and only occasionally a rain jacket/sweater/hat in the side pocket. And when I play with my hickories I only carry 7 clubs.


Having access to shorter walking routes over and around greens and tees has been a blessing. Occasionally if it's very hot or very hilly or I'm pretty knackered I'll sling my small bag on the back of a buggy but this is last resort.


I hardly ever feel I miss out on not having more clubs with me but then again as a fairly short hitter the gaps between my full shots are less than the usually assumed 10 yds so I can understand longer hitters maybe wanting access to more clubs as their gapping yardages will be wider.


atb

[Pat Burke]

I actually played champions q school with 12 two years ago, and 13 last year.
I had gaps that I was ok with, so wasn't going to force a club

[BHoover]

Here I am using 14 clubs all these years like a sucker.

[Martin Toal]

13: driver, 3 wood, 3 hybrid, 4 to pitching wedge, 52 and 56 and putter. Have considered adding a driving iron or 60.

[Tom_Doak]

I always get a chuckle when a caddie has a look in my bag for the first time.


Right now it includes driver, 4w, 5i, 7i, 8i, 9i, pw, and putter.  I was down to seven clubs, but put the 8i back in the bag to deal with distance control on American courses.  I would probably do better with one more iron for longer shots, but I carry my own bag most of the time, and 8 clubs is plenty.


It does make a huge difference what sort of courses you play.  At St. Andrews for the 100-hole hike, 6 clubs was plenty, because the greens are open in front and you don't have to worry about carry distances ... you can play the easy 5-iron, or play the 7 and hope it runs on.  Few American courses give you that luxury.

[Joe Hancock]

No need for badges of honor.


My favorite golf story this year is from Midland Hills, where I made par on the par 5 17th using only my driver...including the putts. It opens the door to architectural discussion and its relationship to fun.


I carry a driver(a Titleist 975J that I can hit off the deck), 4,6,8,W, SW and putter. It allows me to hit poor but fun shots on purpose.

[Martin Toal]

A course I was formerly a member of had a 5 club competition.


Except it was a team comp and you had to use the clubs in strict rotation. So you might hole out on one hole with a sand iron and the next player then had to tee off on the next with a putter, or play a shot with a putter into a bunker and the next player have to play out with driver[size=78%]. [/size]

[Don Mahaffey]

I drop down to 7 or 8 clubs if walking/ carrying. I have more fun making the shots work without yardage or every club available. Nothing like hitting driver on par 3's, as Neil Regan will attest!

Joe

There should be a staute of limitations on talking about specific  golf shots. 

[Peter Pallotta]

I drop down to 7 or 8 clubs if walking/ carrying. I have more fun making the shots work without yardage or every club available. Nothing like hitting driver on par 3's, as Neil Regan will attest!
Joe

There should be a staute of limitations on talking about specific  golf shots. 

Thank you.
Joe is either the most boastful humble man I've ever met, or the most humble boastful one...