Loneliest club in your bag?

[uglande]

5 iron -- 200 yard club. I hit it fine, but it's not a common distance - long for most par 3s and hitting into greens, and if I'm either punching out or just trying to work the ball up the fairway, I have better options.

[jjfcpa]

I was pretty convinced that the 54* was going, but after today's 9 hole round, not so sure. 9th hole and too far away for my 58* and not far enough for my 48*, so I pulled the 54* and hit within 12 feet of the pin. 1-putt and got a birdie... not sure now.

[hagimihale]

5 iron. I took it out of the bag in favor of an extra hybrid. I am so rarely at that distance, and when I am I can just choke down on a 4. I hit my 4i off the tee regularly, so am very comfortable with that club.

[1Mordrid1]

I don't really have one. I guess if I had to chose it might be the driving iron, but even it gets used a few times a round.

[steventoo]

Looking at my Arccos data, I have used my 3 iron 10 times in play since I bought it in January. This seems low - I've removed a bunch of rounds from my stats because my home course is being renovated and Arccos doesn't cope well with the temporary holes all over the place. Nevertheless, I've used my 1 iron more than my 3 iron and 4 iron combined.

I guess that makes sense given the length of the course I play most often - I don't use my irons much until 7.

[tocino]

4 iron followed closely by my 5 iron (21 times and 24 times respectively over the last 22 rounds).

[wakit300]

Definitely 3-wood for me. I played 2 rounds this weekend and didn't pull it out once. I rarely use it off the tee, cause I just like to choke down on the driver if I need a straighter shot there. So the only time I get to use it is on par 5 second shots which, depending on the course, can be rare.

But I don't see the need for any more clubs to sub in as my gaps are all good. The only way I could go would be to a 64°, but that club would probably be played as rarely as the 3-wood.

[dlow206]

5 iron, because most of the time when i use it, it goes shorter than my 7 iron

And somehow its the only club in the bag that I hit a slice with.

[bamagolf]

I’d say the 4H more often than not. But, all of a sudden it may get in play several times a round. This is a great topic.

[caldiver]

5 iron. Carry it about 175 and just don't come across the yardage that often for some reason.

[Liambo]

3 iron for me. It was a well used club and very confident with it but my fairway wood

[Liambo]

3 iron for me. It was a well used club and very confident with it but it's just not a club I need often now, but when I remove it from my bag I always need it for some reason!

[Myherobobhope]

Honestly, probably my six iron... it’s used occasionally on two par threes and rarely elsewhere... I don’t often have less than 200 into par fives are rarely have more than 160 into par fours from my usual tees... it’s not a punch club or a chipping club... it’s just a full swing club for me... I’m rarely trying to hit the ball 185-195.

[pmgolf9409]

Definitely the 50* rtx4 for me. It used to work great for me until I switched home courses and no longer find myself hitting 115-125 yrd shots. I love it in my bag, but rarely find myself hitting yardages that set me up for that club on approach shots. I might use it once per round these days. Usually I'm either hitting a knocked down PW or flying my sand wedge into greens.

[Chuck905]

For me it’s the GW.

Learned it was easier for me to 3/4” PW vs full GW; like throwing darts.

Also, GW created redundancy to my PW for around the greens.

[PeteW]

3h and 4 iron for me. I bought a callaway 2h for a par 3 at my home course that plays 220 back into the wind that the 3h couldn’t muster. Hit it great off the deck too.

[LCP]

Stong 5 wood, 255+/- club. Then strong 5 iron, 210+/- club. 5 wood averages 0.75 times per round probably. 5 iron averages 1.0 times per round probably. Between the two is a 2 iron, 235+/- club that gets used a lot.

[straight crooked]

I don't think I have hit the 3W in my bag once in the past two years (probably 60-70 rounds). I'm not comfortable with it and I don't often find myself at a distance where it is truly needed. But I can't justify an additional club at the bottom end of the bag and replacing it with an 18* driving iron (which I am very comfortable with) seems redundant so for now the 3W remains a hood ornament.

[Rdriver]

I have a SIM max 4 hybrid that I rarely ever play. Last 2 rounds it stayed in the bag. I have it rough lies or lay ups.

[Rapidcat]

This topic can be looked at in association with a gapping exercise.

For me it was my 5 iron, accentuated because I 'only' carry it 8 yards further than my 6 iron. So have 'rested' the 5 iron, strengthened the loft on my 6 iron by 1 degree (+ slightly lengthened the shaft) and weakened my 4 iron by 1 degree and now have an extra bag slot for other options with easily manageable distance gaps between 7, 6 & 4 irons.

[kiwihacker]

4w for me. I fell for the hype and replaced my 3w with a 4w because it's 'so much easier to hit'. Hasn't been the case for me at all. The playability of my 17° 4w is almost identical to my old 15° 3w. They are both great off the tee but off the deck hybrids are way more consistent for me. The 4w gets used about once or twice a round. Every other club earns it's keep but the 4w is a bit of a free loader in the bag.

[MattM97]

3W and 3H, some rounds I won't even look at them because these clubs are either absolute money or a guaranteed lost ball, no in between. I'd rather just take an iron and put it roughly where I'm aiming.

[ARL67]

For me it is my 54* SW as well. I play my 58* for all green-side bunker shots. If I play a higher-end course that actually has deeper fluffy sand, then I'd go with the 54 there. I keep the 54 in the bag a there is 1 shot every 2-3 rounds that requires a perfect 100 yard full swing. LW too short, GW too long.

[jmkenn0]

rotates between 5 iron and 3 wood for me - my home course if I'm not hitting driver off the tee its usually hybrid just due to what the hole calls for, and on the par 5's they are either too long for me to reach with 3 wood, or I can reach with hybrid or long iron.

[DarthFader17]

I love this discussion!

 

One of the reasons I settled on the home course I'm on is because at some point every club comes out of the bag depending on tees....but I have recently been pondering why it is that some days it feels like I only ever pull 3-4 clubs, but those 3-4 clubs always rotate (for example, I played a local course recently that I've played for many years, it is a relatively short course, and when I'm swinging well I should never have more than 7 iron in hand on approach, and yet I when I played, every single shot was a 5 or a 6 iron. I didn't pull a PW, GW, 8i or hybrid the whole round)... When I play my home course, I either am always playing my 3H or never playing it depending on the day.

 

To answer the actual question, it's probably my 4i, but I use it almost exclusively on punch-out's from the trees, so if I'm not wild off the tee, the 4i is BARELY used, but when I am wild, it is used 4/5 times. A close second would be my 49*. it seems that my 49* and 52 are going about the same distance, but that could be a swing issue as for whatever reason, on some courses, I just don't get the distance that I do on other courses.

I'm doing a terrible job of describing what I'm thinking about, because on any given day, I feel like I have 2-3 clubs that don't get picked up, and for that day, I feel like I'm always hitting 8i, or 6i, or 5i, so on, but on other days it's always 7i, 9i, pw etc.

 

such a curious game. I'm thinking about ditching one of my wedges because I do find it's easier for me to take way more wedge than a full swing and trying to dial it in with only 1/2 and 3/4 shots and limiting my greenside shots to whichever club has the right bounce for the situation. but I may end up dumping the 4 iron, if I get confident with punching out with a hybrid...I may ditch the 4/5 i and replace it with a 4 hdi or driving iron and using that on the tee and punching out...then either adding a 7 wood or another wedge...maybe crank my 49* to 48*, go 51* 55* 58* ( mixing my bounces/grinds), or some form of that setup, to really dial in the 115 and in game.

I feel like from 185-235 I don't need to be as accurate as I would from 50 to 100 yds. If I'm off by 5% on long shots, I can make up for it from short distance. So as you can see, I'm all over the map here!

 

I have to get my swing dialed in though before I can really mess too much with my bag. Some days I carry my 8i 148 with ease, and other days if I'm at 155 yds, I need to be pulling my darn 5i (and this is not wind related!)

 

ugh, what a dumb but amazingly wonderful game...

[Jack Pearsall]

This year it has been his three wood. He has driven rather well.

[Nels55]

I hit every club in my bag most every round except for the left handed 6 iron that I carry. I hit that one rarely but when I need it it is really nice to have.

[trilerian]

For me, 3w. I hit my 5w very well and don't pull the 3w out but once every 4-5 rounds. Not really sure why it is there except I don't know what to replace it with. I've thought of going to a 3 hl with a shortened shaft. Then take out the 3 and the 5 and add another wedge as I like different option around the green when I'm not shanking it. Currently have 49, 54,60, have though about going 49,52,56,60.

[ValleyMills]

4 iron has a lot of dust on it

[Davidv]

3W for sure.