Top end of bag advice needed

Hey Crew- could use some advice in re-configuring the top end of my bag- thinking about adding 1 or 2 driving irons.

A little about my game- currently playing at a Hcp of 4. Driver swing speed is 110-115 mph with quick transition (playing G400 LST with Tensei Blue 70X). I hit the ball ~280-310 off the tee and hitting about 40% of my fairways with the driver. I hit the ball really high typically and want to work on flighting something down for windy days/fairway finding/links play.

I currently also have a G30 3-wood and a 21^o TM rescue 11 hybrid adjusted to 20 degrees. Then I play a JPX 825 pro 4 iron. 3 wood goes 260-270 and is very draw biased (use it on right to left holes a ton), hybrid around 230-240, sometimes up to 250 and the 4 iron flies about 215-220 unless I step on it. I play 4 wedges at the bottom of the bag and dont want to give those up (46, 52, 56, 60).

I have been unhappy with the hybrid recently- inconsistent distance and lots and lots of bad hooks. I primarily use it or the 3 wood as my fairway finding tool on par 4s of 400 or less or tight tee shots and recently its just not reliable to hit the fairway so I am hitting a 215 yard 4 irons and leaving myself way back. I occasionally use it on par 5s to go in 2 and out of the rough with bad lies- but actually prefer the 4 iron from the rough for my knockdown shots to avoid limbs.

I was thinking about replacing the hybrid with a utility/driving iron. I have hit the T-MB, MP-18 FliHi, and Callaway UT and loved all three. Still want to hit the Srixon and P790 UDI. What I cant decide on is what loft to do. At 20-21^o I am flying it 240-245ish and with an 18^o loft I am pushing 255. If I take the hybrid out of the bag and put in a true driving iron 2-iron- I am gonna have 2 clubs in the 255-270 range and then a gap to the 4iron. Alternatively I could do a 3iron driving iron which would fit nicely between the 3 wood (270) and 4 iron (220) in the 245 range but this gives up some yardage.

Would people vote for 3 iron (20-21^o), 2 iron (18^o), or possibly both and remove the 3-wood and hybrid from the bag? Could also toggle between the the 4 clubs depending on course I guess (2 iron in the bag on windy, linksy days where it would be my primary tee shot). Some experience here would help.

Thanks for your input in advance.

PGHbluejay,

Welcome! This is something that gets discussed here quite a bit, but has different answers for different golfers. To help with this question, do you keep any tee shot stats other than the ones you listed?

I personally wouldn’t worry so much about the yardage gaps necessarily since either driving iron option gets you farther than your 4 iron and your 3 wood is long enough that I just don’t think it matters. It sounds to me like you want to hit fairways and find a consistent option off the tee - which means you hit 80-90% of your fairways with that club. I’d go for the 20 degree driving iron option at around 240 that gets you in the fairway the most and almost have it directly replace the hybrid.

I’m sort of in the same boat btw - 4 iron 210 and a 3/4 wood that’s 250ish and with really no viable option in between right now. I also hit the ball pretty high so having a low bullet driving iron that can consistently go 230-240 and hit a bunch of fairways on windy days sounds great to me.

PGHbluejay,

 

Welcome! This is something that gets discussed here quite a bit, but has different answers for different golfers. To help with this question, do you keep any tee shot stats other than the ones you listed?

I keep a few. Over last 20 rounds I am hitting 46% of fairways total, with 34% left and 20% right. Par 4 accuracy is 52% (includes driver, 3 wood, hybrid, 4iron) Par 5 37% (almost all driver). Thats about what I have other than yardages (using Grint).

I personally wouldn't worry so much about the yardage gaps necessarily since either driving iron option gets you farther than your 4 iron and your 3 wood is long enough that I just don't think it matters. It sounds to me like you want to hit fairways and find a consistent option off the tee - which means you hit 80-90% of your fairways with that club. I'd go for the 20 degree driving iron option at around 240 that gets you in the fairway the most and almost have it directly replace the hybrid.

 

I'm sort of in the same boat btw - 4 iron 210 and a 3/4 wood that's 250ish and with really no viable option in between right now. I also hit the ball pretty high so having a low bullet driving iron that can consistently go 230-240 and hit a bunch of fairways on windy days sounds great to me.

Yea that is what makes most sense to me and my first thought. More fairways with 3 iron than 2 iron probably and extra 15 yards shouldn't matter on sub 400 yard holes. Gonna have to learn how to cut the 3 driving iron for the 230 yard par 3, but we can cross that bridge later haha.

I have the exact same issue. I have tried forever to get down to a 3 wedge setup to add room for an extra club at the top. In the end I think the 4 wedge setup is going to save more strokes than an extra club at the top. In my case, I ended up with a 20 degree 3 driving iron. When using from the tee I give up 15 yards, but I struggled too much taking distance off of the 2 iron when needing to hit the gap between my 2 and 4 iron. I think it really just amounts to how much you plan on using the driving iron off the tee.

If you are decently long off the tee, then a 4-wedge set-up typically is more logical because you will find yourself with a lot more shots inside 150 yards.

When I had a similar Driver SS (111-113) I used the following set-up gaping based on average carry distance.

~ Total distance will change due to ground conditions, so I eliminate that variable by using carry distance.

Set-Up

- Driver ~ 265 carry

- 4w (16.5*) ~ 250 carry

- 2u (19.0*) ~ 235 carry

- 3i (21.0*) ~ 225 carry

- 4i (24.0*) ~ 216 carry

- 5i (27.0*) ~ 207 carry

- 6i (31.0*) ~ 196 carry

- 7i (35.0*) ~ 184 carry

- 8i (39.0*) ~ 170 carry

- 9i (43.0*) ~ 158 carry

- P (48.0*) ~ 143 carry

- G (52.0*) ~ 131 carry

- S (56.0*) ~ 119 carry

- L (60.0*) ~ 107 carry

My third club from top is really my safety club. So I play driver, 3 wood, and then found a 2 iron (ping rapture DI) that I could consistently hit when I just needed to find the fairway or avoid major trouble off the tee. Find whatever club does that for you.

^I agree with Ryan here completely. You have all the distance you need in your 3 wood and driver. Now you need a club that can deliver the fairway and/or eliminate trouble.