What to cut in my bag to get to 14 clubs

[PaladinGolf]

Recently I have been having a bit of trouble in the top end of my bag so I decided to try an experiment with a Sim rocket 3 wood head. It worked extremely well, however during this span I also picked up a tsr4 and hit it very well. I would like to keep the rocket head in my bag for those days when the driver acts up and when the course I’m playing is a bit tighter. Not sure what to cut out to make this happen however since the bay lineup right now is as follows- Putter, 60, 56, 52, Mizuno 221 p-4 iron, tsr3 5 wood (almost a 7 wood), trusty ts3 3 wood, sim rocket TI, Tsr4. 
 

My idea currently is to wait and get fit for mizunos new wedges and take out the 52 and get a 50/48 wedge, because to me I feel like hitting a lighter 50/48 degree in a wedge shaped club could fill the gap of the 52. 

[kb7]

The obvious answer here is to drop one of the 3 fairway woods. 

 

Another thing I'd look at is gapping between 4i and 5 wood if you have it playing near a 7w. If those two are super close, make a decision and cut one of them. 

[ShortGolfer]

No, I think the 52/56 is a great wedge combination. If they work don't mess with them!

 

Most folks would be better off taking out the lob wedge or a long iron.  Are you consistent with your 60 and 4 iron?

Edited October 30, 2023 by ShortGolfer

[PaladinGolf]

Very consistent with both, and the 4 iron to 5 wood gap is too large to take out the 4 iron. Several of the courses I play have longer par 3s so the 4 iron is a staple. 
 

As to dropping one of the fairway woods, 5 wood as I said above is a bit of a gap filler, the ts3 is ole reliable, and I can only really use the rocket off the tee.

 

For reference my 4 iron is about 215 comfortably, and the 5 wood is 235, but with my stock cut it makes hitting greens from 225 to 230 alot easier than muscling the 4 iron.

I also can manipulate my wedges pretty well so I don’t think the step away from the 52 would be a bad thing, and I need more help up top than I do with my irons and wedges so the 52 leaving the bag shouldn’t hurt me.

@ShortGolfer @kb7

[POKeefe]

Combining a 56 and 60 into a 58 is another option. 

[BigBlue7]

Drop the 56/60 and get a 58

 

or 

 

Drop your PW and go 9i, 48, 54, 60

[PaladinGolf]

I think I will drop the PW in this case, I use my 60 around the green (Ik this is another hot topic) and it is very deadly. I always wanted a 60 growing up and when I got one I mastered using it around the green and it’s my Swiss Army knife. I think that a 48/50 is the way to go in this situation. Also it’s time to get fit for some wedges and I really like the look of the t24s (I currently game es21s, and picked up a ping glide 4.0 as my 52 as an experiment) so that might add some clarification. However I did think about buying a used 48/50 and testing it before I got fit.

[Ripken08]

Drop the 60

[jomatty]

Sounds like your mind is made up.  It’s hard for me to believe that having two 3 woods is the way to go though.  I would try to find one that can fill both roles.  The other solution that makes sense to me is to go 52-58.  Not sure which irons you are looking at but in almost all modern sets a 48-50 degree PW is going to cause gapping issues.  
you seem like you want to give it a go though, so have at it!

[jamesr007]

One of the 3 woods or the 4 iron.

[PaladinGolf]

I use mizuno 221 pros, I think since I loose the most strokes at the top of my bag, both 3 woods would help me. Was wondering what would be the best combo at the lower end of my bag with my wedges. I might consider taking out the 4 iron, but I feel like I would need another club to fill that gap so I would have to take out my 5/7 wood and find it’s replacement.

[POKeefe]

Unfortunately, I think the advice of carrying one 3 wood makes sense. I would ask yourself, how often do you use 3 wood from the deck compared to off the tee? For off the deck, could you use that 5 wood instead and tune it up a degree? Personally, I've found the 18-22* clubs make more sense unless you're in a true "go for it" situation on the occasional par 5 and need to hit that long shot. It's very situational, though. The logical outcome is swap 3 woods depending on the course and how you're feeling on the range that day.

[TourSpoon]

55 minutes ago, jomatty said:

 It’s hard for me to believe that having two 3 woods is the way to go though.  I would try to find one that can fill both roles.  The other solution that makes sense to me is to go 52-58.

This is exactly what came to my mind. I have the 3 wood as a driver replacement and hit 5 wood off the deck because I know that 3 wood off the deck doesn't happen often enough to take the extra risk. If not combine that 56/60 into a 58 and you got 14. 

[hammergolf]

No need for two 3wds….

[cl001]

I would second trying to find a 3w that fits both roles of off the deck and as a fairway finder off the tee. 
 

Alternatively, you could ditch the TSR4 for a more stable/forgiving driver. Giving up some distance for the sake of dispersion might be worth it if it means you don’t need to carry two clubs to use exclusively off the tee 

[JAMH03]

Drop the 4iron.

Chances that you hit that well are slim.

If you really like how you play that part of your bag, then weaken the 4 and drop the 5. Or strengthen the 5 and drop the 4.

I assure you you don't need both. Dave Pelz told me this then I tested it myself so many times. Remember so few people are good at 180 yards you're probably not the exception. 

Keep as many woods as you like. They have a job and you like how they work.

 

[bcjim]

6 hours ago, PaladinGolf said:

Recently I have been having a bit of trouble in the top end of my bag so I decided to try an experiment with a Sim rocket 3 wood head. It worked extremely well, however during this span I also picked up a tsr4 and hit it very well. I would like to keep the rocket head in my bag for those days when the driver acts up and when the course I’m playing is a bit tighter. Not sure what to cut out to make this happen however since the bay lineup right now is as follows- Putter, 60, 56, 52, Mizuno 221 p-4 iron, tsr3 5 wood (almost a 7 wood), trusty ts3 3 wood, sim rocket TI, Tsr4. 
 

My idea currently is to wait and get fit for mizunos new wedges and take out the 52 and get a 50/48 wedge, because to me I feel like hitting a lighter 50/48 degree in a wedge shaped club could fill the gap of the 52. 

I don't know if it's just me but I hit 3w if I can't go long or, sometimes,  off the fairway.   I rarely think,  "hey I'm missing it with this 460cc behemoth with the gold medal sized sweet spot, let me try the 178cc knife with the penny sized sweet spot..." 😆

 

Seriously though,  I can't see 2 3 woods being useful.  One is barely useful for me,  so it's get rid of one of those. 

 

 

[GeauxGolfLSU]

What does the Rocket 3 wood provide off the tee that the TS3 doesn't? If it's just a tee club, I'd stick with the TS3 since it's more versatile. But it sounds like you want to have both as options.

[jvincent]

Taking out a wedge to carry that many fairway woods is pure craziness. IMHO.

[ChipNRun]

6 hours ago, PaladinGolf said:

I can only really use the rocket off the tee.

Then drop it. SIM Rocket appears to have false aura of a magic club.

 

If you have a trusty ts3 3 wood, I bet you could learn how to hit it off the tee.

 

[PARETO]

I dropped 3w (and 5w) from my set up like a bag of hammers this year. Was tired of thinking I “needed it” on green light par5’s and tight tee shots (I don’t). My 17.5Hy has taken both my 3w and 5w outta my bag. Shorter shaft, sits open for me at address, stings it low and does not hook off the planet. Job done. Can’t imagine having 2 fw’s anymore. 

[NotoM]

12 clubs max just to challenge yourself 

[Capreolus]

Ditch the pw 

Replace 52/56 with 48/54

Bend 6/7/8/9 1* weak

 

To these iron/wedges lofts:

24/27/31/35/39/43/48/54/60

 

[ShortGolfer]

I've done the exact opposite to play on a leaf covered short course.  I took all the woods out of my bag!  Driver, irons, hybrids, and wedges!  With no woods I can carry a half dozen wedges.

13 clubs, 5 wedges.  Lost my first tee shot in the 4ft high rough.  No lost balls after that!

Edited October 31, 2023 by ShortGolfer

[uglande]

I would do some testing of gaps between your Rocket and your TS3 3w... two three woods doesn't make a lot of sense. 

But if they each serve unique purposes, then I would either pull the 4i or 5i. For most people the gapping between 4i-5i-6i compresses and you can pull one and get away with it. In the past I used to pull 5i and play with 4i and 6i. 

[Sween777]

D, 3W, 7W, 4H, 5i though PW, 50,54,60, putter.  Is my setup.  Works well. Seems like your a couple of adjustments from landing in something similar.  My 5i is more forgiving than my 6i-PW.  A key part of the bag is the 230-180 yard portion.  For me 6i 180, 5i 200, 4H 215, 7W 230.  Those gaps are key to playing difficult courses.  

[PaladinGolf]

Sorry that I couldn’t respond! Apparently I can only post so many times in my own topic??? Seems odd since I was getting some really good feedback from you guys so I will try to get as much in this post as I can.

 

So I won’t be taking out the 4 iron I play mizuno blades so ball striking especially with my butter knives is not an issue, also it’s a lot easier to work a wedge than to work my 5 wood which is my 230 club trying to drop 15-20 yards off of it. Sure I can manipulate an iron more but for me it’s harder with a wood. Now I can play a safety cut to help with that but the most I like manipulating it is 10 yards. My 5 iron is my 190-200 club so the 4 iron fills a gap. 
The easiest thing for me to manipulate is my wedges, and I think that combining the 60/56 is definitely something I will look into. Thanks to those who have suggested that it was not something that had crossed my mind. I might look into combining my pw and my 52, also mizuno blades have classic lofts so my pw is 48*. 

So the tsr4 question. For some reason I hit smaller club heads way better. I can make way better contact with my 3 wood than I could with past drivers and the tsr4 was something I got a steal on and gave me a smaller head to try. Now I need to get a better shaft for it however it has been very good to me, and I split most tee boxes between the Sim rocket and the Tsr4. 
 

For everyone saying “why 2 3 woods?” Let me break it down. My 3 wood plays at more of a 4 wood loft, making it very easy to get off the ground and it strike it really well, the ts3 is a steel head if my memory serves me correct. The Sim Ti Rocket is turned down to 12.4 (tour issue head so I know exact numbers) so it’s a low spin monster on the tee. It being that low loft, a titanium head, and the overall construction makes it a monster off the tee and a safe option for when I need a long fairway finder. The distance gap in the 2 is about 20-25 yards. Love my ts3 but it’s not as good off the tee as it is on the ground, but I strike it very well, so the Sim rocket also works very well. I had played with just the SIM rocket recently and it did help me not loose golf balls lol. 

Maybe I am odd, but a bigger driver head is worse for me, I am a good ball striker thanks to my dad. Dad gave me a set of ap2s with rifle 6.5s in them along with a tour issue Taylormade r9 with an x-stiff Fujikura shaft in it as my first few clubs. Also had one of those square Calaway drivers at the time. But I have always hit irons and fairway woods really well and the top end of the bag is where I loose the most strokes so adding the extra club will help at the top. 
 

I will try to answer people when I can but since I have a limit to answering my own post I might let a few questions pile up at one time and then answer them. Also I will try to ping everyone so you guys know I actually answered lol. 
@POKeefe@PARETO@ChipNRun@TourSpoon@ShortGolfer@jvincent@uglande@JAMH03@GeauxGolfLSU@cl001

Sorry if I missed any pings!

[Ripken08]

6 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

I've done the exact opposite to play on a leaf covered short course.  I took all the woods out of my bag!  Driver, irons, hybrids, and wedges!  With no woods I can carry a half dozen wedges.

13 clubs, 5 wedges.  Lost my first tee shot in the 4ft high rough.  No lost balls after that!

No need to EVER carry 5 wedges.

[POKeefe]

Honestly, you could just pull driver out of the bag then on certain days as well. GolfWRX on the site and @sms_on_tour on Instagram have a ton of WITB pics across all tours. 

Eddie Pepperell has played a Brnr Mini and lofted down Stealth 3W instead of driver on multiple occasions this year. Most recently he went 3W, 2-3 UI, 4-P, 50, 56, 60. 

If I were you, I'd run Ti Rocket or Driver but not both depending on the course based on what you've said above. Usually, though you'll see something like 3W, 5W, 4I or 4W, 7W, 5I. With your stock PW loft being 48, then 52-56-60 is the logical setup. However, something has to give, so either a top-end option or combining the 56 and 60 needs to happen.

[jetro110]

52/58 wedge setup?