Help Me Pick The Right Clubs for a 3-Club Challenge Event

[gogo29732]

What clubs would you pick for a 3 - Club Challenge?  I have a gadget format event this weekend and looking for feedback.  A few more specifics. 

HDC 1.5. 

Driver distance ~265yds,

7i distance ~160 yds. 

Will be playing from about 6600 yds.  Right now I'm thinking the following:

 

3H - 205yd club, but can putt with it and hit putts from off the green vs short chips.

8i - can manipulate to hit anywhere between 130 - 155 comfortably.  can also hit some basic bunker shots (can get it out, nothing fancy)

54 deg - anticipate missing most greens and can hit standard chips with this club.  Also, gives me a 50 - 100yd option.

 

might be a mistake to leave putter out.

 

What would you guys do?  What clubs would you take?  

 

Should be fun in any event!

[jvincent]

Wow, 6600 yards is going to be tough.

 

That said, I will recommend the setup I used to win the last 3 club challenge I was in.

 

Driver - 7i - PW.

 

I picked 7i based on the par 3 yardages we were going to be playing so maybe adjust that to 6i.

 

Why driver and not something like a hybrid? At the yardage we played, 6200, hitting driver meant I was going to have wedge in on a lot of holes and for the others I was either finessing or hitting a hard 7i. Par 5s were all driver-driver off the deck-wedge. Everyone in the field who picked a hybrid or long iron for their tee club regretted it. At 6600 yards you really want driver.

 

Blading a PW is actually a pretty easy way to putt. I'd recommend practicing a few beforehand to get a feel. PW is also very usable out of bunkers and you don't want to be in a greenside bunker hitting a 7i or 6i.

 

Good luck!

[ShortGolfer]

I would go with 7I, SW, and putter.  Two shots with 7I equals a good driver shot.  Better if you have good course management skills.

Plan on losing a shot getting near the green and getting it back in the short game for a competitive round.  Putt to win.

Edited November 25, 2021 by ShortGolfer

[ND2005]

11 minutes ago, jvincent said:

Wow, 6600 yards is going to be tough.

 

That said, I will recommend the setup I used to win the last 3 club challenge I was in.

 

Driver - 7i - PW.

 

I picked 7i based on the par 3 yardages we were going to be playing so maybe adjust that to 6i.

 

Why driver and not something like a hybrid? At the yardage we played, 6200, hitting driver meant I was going to have wedge in on a lot of holes and for the others I was either finessing or hitting a hard 7i. Par 5s were all driver-driver off the deck-wedge. Everyone in the field who picked a hybrid or long iron for their tee club regretted it. At 6600 yards you really want driver.

 

Blading a PW is actually a pretty easy way to putt. I'd recommend practicing a few beforehand to get a feel. PW is also very usable out of bunkers and you don't want to be in a greenside bunker hitting a 7i or 6i.

 

Good luck!

 

I would agree I would look at the scorecard closely and make picks based off of that. A lot of courses the par 3s all cluster in a similar range. Or look at the par 4 yardages and think about what combination makes sense - hybrid-hybrid on a lot of the par 4s will make for a long day unless you're really good with it...

 

I would go with either driver or hybrid + whatever mid-iron makes the most sense + whatever wedge is most versatile for you 

[MtlJeff]

I am pretty much an expert in this. I've played probably 50+ rounds with 1-3 clubs including fun competitions

 

At 6600yds i'd suggest a 3 wood. Pars are precious in these events, you almost have to look at the course like "where can i make pars". And a 3 wood off the tee is a versatile club that will allow you to have a lot of looks at it. A 6600 yd course is gonna have a lot of 360-390yd type holes. How are you going to play those with Hybrid/8 irons? Any slight mishit and it's out of reach. Your primary goal should be reaching as many holes as possible.

 

In a 3 club challenge--your lowest 2 clubs should allow you to reach as many holes as possible while providing some degree of versatility. It's always better to get it there because that will usually secure a bogey at worst

 

I typically go 3w / 7 iron / GW.

 

3W / 7 iron you can reach anything up to like 400-425 yards easily. The GW gives you a club for anything 110yds and in where a knock down 7 is too challenging

 

Putt with a delofted 7 iron. It's easier then you think.

[LS_golf]

My take...

 

As Jeff says above, I'd just go with my 5wood if you have one club longer than your 3Hybrid? I can carry mine around 230 and I love it, shapes easy and have been playing those chips you mentioned around the fluffy stuff of the greens its lovely just pops up. Sometimes those hybrids can cause the dreaded left miss... Always tough to get out of that.

 

5 Wood

7 Iron 

Gap Wedge

 

7 iron as you should be able to cut the a** out of her and push her down to 130/140 yds and could smoke one or two short 165-170 based on your numbers.

 

Just got the 120 area to really worry about, apart from that the GW should give you everything you need from around the green pitches to 110/115 whatever you hit it.

Obviously two options on putting depends if you're  Si Woo Kim using the woods or blade the wedge like Tiger it's up to you... I personally love the bladed style it's pure! 

Edited November 25, 2021 by LS_golf

[NJBigFish22]

I have never done a 3 club challenge, but I would never consider a putter, there is to much ground to cover that a putter seems useless.  I would go fairway wood that is my best at finding fairways, 7i and 50* wedge.

[jvincent]

All you guys recommending 3W are missing the boat.

 

Driver is always going to go further and leave him closer on every par 4. On the par 5s it's either driver-driver-wedge or driver-mid-mid. There's no advantage to having a 3W vs a driver.

 

I will die on this hill!

[PuffyC]

I'd do 5W, 8i and putter. 5W will work from tee or fairway, 8i will cover anything 150 in including chipping, and you gotta make putts. Giving up 18 strokes a round because you can't make a putt inside 5 feet is a killer. 

[LS_golf]

57 minutes ago, jvincent said:

All you guys recommending 3W are missing the boat.

 

Driver is always going to go further and leave him closer on every par 4. On the par 5s it's either driver-driver-wedge or driver-mid-mid. There's no advantage to having a 3W vs a driver.

 

I will die on this hill!

 

What you hitting on par 5's Driver Driver 🤣  -  Got to know what you're doing with that! 

I think it's down to how comfortable you are with the fairway woods and go from there, I mean if you can stripe a 2-iron that would be awesome choice too!

 

[jvincent]

8 minutes ago, LS_golf said:

 

What you hitting on par 5's Driver Driver 🤣  -  Got to know what you're doing with that! 

I think it's down to how comfortable you are with the fairway woods and go from there, I mean if you can stripe a 2-iron that would be awesome choice too!

 

I was greenside on two par 5's, chipping for eagle, on two of our par 5s after driver-driver. IIRC on the longer ones I had PW in.

[gogo29732]

all great suggestions.  3 of the par 3's will play in the 170-190 range.  the other par 3 will be around 150.  so the hybrid / 8 iron works well there.  2 of the par 5's I probably can't reach with a full set.  The other 2 par 5's Driver/Driver not really a thing given where some bunkers are placed.  I think I can reach most of the par 4's or get close with two hybrids.   It's match play too, which adds another wrinkle I guess.  if I end up in a strange short game situation, I'm not really worried about making a 10....just loss of hole and move on to the next.  

[MtlJeff]

4 hours ago, jvincent said:

All you guys recommending 3W are missing the boat.

 

Driver is always going to go further and leave him closer on every par 4. On the par 5s it's either driver-driver-wedge or driver-mid-mid. There's no advantage to having a 3W vs a driver.

 

I will die on this hill!

 

I think it depends how far you can hit your 3 wood and the layout of your course. Driver can be used off a tee, that's it. 3 wood can be used for more than that, approaches on par 5's, long punch outs etc if you know how to use it.

 

I'm going to be in a much better position on par 5's hitting 3W-3W than hitting driver - 7 iron. In a 3 club challenge you can legit have birdie putts on the par 5's.

 

I get that taking Driver/8 iron makes sense as you could play many par 4's more normal. But i think it hurts you more on par 5's. And what about 170-180 yard par 3's etc. I'd rather punch a 3 wood or try to muscle a 7 iron than hit a baby driver.

 

And if i take driver / 7 iron---I'm kind of ruining the reason for picking driver since i don't want to hit 120yd approaches with a 7 iron

 

 

[LS_golf]

3 hours ago, jvincent said:

I was greenside on two par 5's, chipping for eagle, on two of our par 5s after driver-driver. IIRC on the longer ones I had PW in.

 

Legend, Managed to try it a few times once on a links and it's beautiful when it comes out the way you imagine but just can't trust myself to start it straight enough! 

[glm]

I think your setup sounds pretty good

Gook luck, it will be fun!!!

[lefthack]

3 wood, 7 iron and putter. 

[deadsolid...shank]

I’ve played in a few of these. Always 3wood, 7;iron, 54*. 
 

3 wood just offers a touch more versatility than the driver. And at the time when I played in them, I hit it quite a bit farther so the added length of driver wasn’t really needed. Might be different now. 

[sui generis]

13 hours ago, gogo29732 said:

What clubs would you take?  

 5w, 8i and putter. 🙂

[lefty1978]

I've done this recently. 

5 wood

7 iron

pw

Worked great.

[kozubs]

I've done a bunch of these and there are a few ways to go.  

 

1. Putt with your wedge for sure.

2. Consider 3 short clubs.  As a 1.5 hdcp I'm sure you can reach all your par 5s with 3 8 irons or 3 7 irons.  Pick the one that work, a 56 degree wedge and a club in the middle.  I can stretch my 7i to 190 if I have to.  570 par 5 is tough but 540 and less is very comfortable.

3. I will some times base my mid iron on the pars 3 play.  1 club may be the obvious choice.  You may short on a long par 3 but short usually means easy up and down unless its a forced carry.

4. Alternatively go for the long game and take driver or 3w.  If your not particularly straight or you rough is long like my course a hybrid may be better.

5. If you have forced carries you have to start there for you long club.

 

My course is very penal off the tee.  If you miss a fairway your punching out or are in deep rough.  That's why I like to carry a mid iron and two short clubs.  A missed fairway with a driver can be bad.  I don't have long par 3s though and no bad forced carries so I can get away with short clubs.

 

I think you'll be surprised how well you score.

Edited November 27, 2021 by kozubs

[lefthack]

After thinking about it more, I think putting with the 3 wood might work. So maybe go:

 

3 wood 

6 iron 

52 wedge (or your go to chip/pitch wedge).

[Justsomeguy]

Gotta have a strong hybrid. Tee off, gnarly lies and going for long ones in two. Can putt and chip w it.

Gotta have a wedge to get out of bunkers and for pitch and chip.

An iron in the middle. 6i or 7i.

[jvincent]

You 3w/hybrid guys still don't get it.

 

If you were playing with a full set how many times would you use a 3W/hybrid to score better? Off the tee you want to be as close to the green as possible. Always. No matter how many clubs you are carrying.

 

The course didn't suddenly get narrower because you're playing with 3 clubs. In a normal round you'd probably hit driver 14 times trying to make your lowest score.  Why do anything different if you only have 3?

[bbthorn]

I've done it with 4i, 8i, and putter. 

[StudentGolfer4]

Club I am familiar with does this twice a year. The winner always has a driver in their bag. 
 

The younger guys who hit it a long way all have a putter in the bag and usually a PW or less. Figure driver wedge gets you to holes in the 430 range easy enough. 
 

Older guys and shorter hitters seem to go for more variation in their approach. If you are straight enough and can control your miss to short of the green where fairway usually is, you can get away with something less lofted on the chip. But bunkers and short sided chips from the rough with 7-9 irons good luck. 

Driver is the common denominator. 

[jvincent]

@StudentGolfer4 gets it. 👍

[mikpga]

Definitely leave putter out of you’re decent with putting with another club. 
 

Know your forced carry distances if applicable.

 

I like the hybrid, 8, 54 selection…

[Barfolomew]

Definitely driver.... love putting w driver 

 

7 iron....

 

no 3rd club..... have some self respect

[getitdaily]

Driver

 

54/56

 

Whatever club reaches the front of the green of the longest par 3 for every par 3 shorter than 190.

[TomRUtah]

In general:

3w - I'm more consistent with it than my driver, hit it nearly as far, and more effective fairway club on par 5s.

6i/7i/8i - Good mid-range iron.  7i kind of hits the sweet spot for me, but it's loft dependent (i.e., traditional vs GI).

50° wedge - My most versatile club that covers from ~110 yards out to greenside chips.

 

That's what works for me.