Seven clubs or fewer?

[acemandrake]

6 here...Driver, 4, 7, GW, LW, Putter

 

Titleist TSi2 driver, PXG irons, Scotty putter

 

Small Jones stand bag from 1990's

[Oldmancranking]

As my username implies, I’m a senior golfer. I’ve always been a walker. Mostly nine, sometimes 18. Carrying 14 clubs is becoming more difficult nowadays. I have also begun using more hybrids (well, I purchased the Lazrus 5, 6, and 7 hybrids, but haven’t been able to hit them yet due to the winter weather). Not to worry…I have been carrying original Taylormade Rescue-mid hybrids since 2002 so I know how to hit them. 
 

I have constructed the following gear in a Sunday bag:

Ping G-25 driver

Lazrus 3, 5, and 7 hybrids

Mizuno 9 iron and 50* gap wedge and

The Wilson 8802 putter (1974).

With choking down on clubs coupled with 1/2 and 3/4 swings, I’m able to cover the distances I need. I also play from the white tees, or the tees closest to 6000 yards. 

[SteelieD]

Walking at my muni… D, 4H, 6i, 8i, PW, 50°, 56° and putter in a Sunday bag. VERY rarely do I miss the other clubs. It’s my favorite way to play. 
 

On unfamiliar courses or when I know I’ll be taking a cart, I’ll take the full bag. 

[MrParr1Noid]

9 minutes ago, SteelieD said:

Walking at my muni… D, 4H, 6i, 8i, PW, 50°, 56° and putter in a Sunday bag. VERY rarely do I miss the other clubs. It’s my favorite way to play. 
 

On unfamiliar courses or when I know I’ll be taking a cart, I’ll take the full bag. 

I'm thinking that your mini-muni setup might be my 'new best setup'.   The longer your teeth get, the shorter the drivers distance.

[SteelieD]

4 minutes ago, MrParr1Noid said:

I'm thinking that your mini-muni setup might be my 'new best setup'.   The longer your teeth get, the shorter the drivers distance.

I hear you! 
 

THAT set up seems to work on THAT course (6200 yards). It really is a great way to play golf. 
 

I’m thinking of going 3w instead of driver next round to try to save me from those wayward drives! 

[MrParr1Noid]

51 minutes ago, SteelieD said:

I hear you! 
 

THAT set up seems to work on THAT course (6200 yards). It really is a great way to play golf. 
 

I’m thinking of going 3w instead of driver next round to try to save me from those wayward drives! 

OH NO!   I have thrown my 3 wood in that bin of used clubs but now I have a new 7 wood that will hopefully bring life back to my long gone game.  I'm not shortening my club select to lighten the bag but I'm finding little or no use to carrying the others. 🙂

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by MrParr1Noid

[minimal45]

Haven't posted here in a few years. Hope everyone is still with us and doing well. I've been playing with 4 clubs these days and still playing bogey golf. Recently shot a 43 at a new 9 hole course with 3H,6H,PW,Putter. It's like carrying next to nothing packed in my olimar pitch and putt bag.

[MrParr1Noid]

22 hours ago, minimal45 said:

Haven't posted here in a few years. Hope everyone is still with us and doing well. I've been playing with 4 clubs these days and still playing bogey golf. Recently shot a 43 at a new 9 hole course with 3H,6H,PW,Putter. It's like carrying next to nothing packed in my olimar pitch and putt bag.

 

Tour issue?    There must be some pixie dust on them somewhere.    Actually, good for you and I'm becoming in tune with these partial bag setups.  Driver, 7 wood, 23 degree hybrid, a wedge of sorts and my putter.   

[Brewski_golfs]

Tried 7 clubs for the first time on New Years Eve while we were having some unseasonably warm weather.   Local executive style muni, took a Mac TA SS2W 2 wood, 61 Mac TA VFQ 3, 5, 7, 9, CF4000 11 iron, and a Pal2 putter.   Enjoyed the experience an will definitely go with fewer clubs more often next season.  Unfortunately the next day weather went back to normal and have had snow on the ground ever since.  
 

[minimal45]

Was a short 9 hole course only like 2,700 yards. Putted well and missed only one fairway.

[Robert L.]

After reading many of these posts I do think I'll be giving the minimalist thingy a try this coming season for a round or two. I'm thinking along the lines of  3-wood, 4 or 5 hybrid, 6,8,PW irons, 56° and 60° wedges, and of course a putter. I have a nice Sunday stand bag, and I'll be stuffing this bad boy with all these clubs. Eight clubs is minimalist enough for me! I probably won't do any worse than with 14 clubs!

[evensorodds]

I thought the followers of this thread would appreciate The Golf Practice Podcast episode :

 

The Seven Club Tournament in 1964 at Turnberry

 

It’s a fascinating concept, and I would love to see a modern incarnation, though it’s never likely to happen.

 

For the past 2 years, following a long sabbatical from the game, I’ve been a minimalist golf practitioner. My “full” set is 9 clubs. D 4w 3 5 7 9 50 56 P. And I frequently play with less, down to as little as 3w 3 6 9 56 P. It’s been a blast, and very enlightening to see how I can manage with less.
 

I rotate between modern equipment and classic, and find myself grabbing the classic gear more and more.

[cold_war_era_golfer]

On 1/27/2022 at 7:54 PM, Brewski_golfs said:

Tried 7 clubs for the first time on New Years Eve while we were having some unseasonably warm weather.   Local executive style muni, took a Mac TA SS2W 2 wood, 61 Mac TA VFQ 3, 5, 7, 9, CF4000 11 iron, and a Pal2 putter.   Enjoyed the experience an will definitely go with fewer clubs more often next season.  Unfortunately the next day weather went back to normal and have had snow on the ground ever since.  
 

There is so much I like about this!  First I'm jealous you can golf in January.

One of my favorite set ups last fall was 1961 Mac MT2s and a 1961 TA AT2W 2w.  Although not a Ping putter and I think I had 9 clubs which disqualifies me from this thread.  However... next year!

[BIG STU]

31 minutes ago, cold_war_era_golfer said:

There is so much I like about this!  First I'm jealous you can golf in January.

One of my favorite set ups last fall was 1961 Mac MT2s and a 1961 TA AT2W 2w.  Although not a Ping putter and I think I had 9 clubs which disqualifies me from this thread.  However... next year!

Yeah but 9 great clubs but hey nothing wrong with a 9 club set up

[Brewski_golfs]

7 hours ago, cold_war_era_golfer said:

There is so much I like about this!  First I'm jealous you can golf in January.

One of my favorite set ups last fall was 1961 Mac MT2s and a 1961 TA AT2W 2w.  Although not a Ping putter and I think I had 9 clubs which disqualifies me from this thread.  However... next year!

Nice setup!  The New Year’s Eve golf was a very unlikely round after a super warm December.  It’s been nothing but snow, ice, and low temps ever since. 

[WeAreAllUnique]

I played 9 holes on Saturday. Almost 70 degrees in Illinois. Today it snowed. This year I have two sets of clubs, one full set and one half set. I am keeping track of my scores to see if playing a half set makes a difference. I played the half set on Saturday and shot a 37 on a par 32, 9 hole course. My first time out this season. My half club set is:

Titleist 907 D2 driver 

Spalding Match Play forged blades 3, 5, 7, 9

Cleveland classic lob wedge 

Ping Zing 2 putter 

 

My full set consists of: 

Titleist 907 D1 driver 

Callaway Warbird 3 wood

Bristol forged blades iron set 3-PW

Ben Hogan Special 60 wedge 

Ping Zing 2 putter (yes I have 2 of these)

 

I didn't miss the extra clubs. And my bag felt so much lighter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BIG STU]

6 hours ago, WeAreAllUnique said:

I played 9 holes on Saturday. Almost 70 degrees in Illinois. Today it snowed. This year I have two sets of clubs, one full set and one half set. I am keeping track of my scores to see if playing a half set makes a difference. I played the half set on Saturday and shot a 37 on a par 32, 9 hole course. My first time out this season. My half club set is:

Titleist 907 D2 driver 

Spalding Match Play forged blades 3, 5, 7, 9

Cleveland classic lob wedge 

Ping Zing 2 putter 

 

My full set consists of: 

Titleist 907 D1 driver 

Callaway Warbird 3 wood

Bristol forged blades iron set 3-PW

Ben Hogan Special 60 wedge 

Ping Zing 2 putter (yes I have 2 of these)

 

I didn't miss the extra clubs. And my bag felt so much lighter. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some good stuff you are playing in both bags--- A lot of people do not know about Bristol irons. They were vastly under rated back in the day. Ram Golf ended up buying that company--- And Ping Zing putters I have 2 also one MGB and the other one SS. The SS one will never go anywhere until I depart this world even though I no longer front line play it in its life I have made a lot of money with it. You will find in playing the part set to be more creative with less clubs. One of the reasons I carry only 11 or 12 clubs in my front line set as SOP

[BIG STU]

Well with the weather here I decided to set up the 7 club bag. A while back a fellow WRXer sent me a partial set of 985 Tourney Custom Macs. Had the 5 7 & 8 irons. I had lost them basically and found them this week when I was rounding up a set of MP-68s I had sold. I cleaned them up and cleaned the grips up. Did some minor tweaking on the lofts nothing drastic just a couple of 2* adjustments. Ended up putting a 57 Mac Cloverleaf 2 wood in because I can hit it off the tee as well as the deck. I also added a late 70s early 80s Spalding Executive 6 wood. Put an oldie but goodie for me a well used 252 series Vokey 52* wedge. After debating on a putter for a while I decided to put my old trusty Zing 2 SS in. Now I had to add 2" to the Zinger because the last time I used it I was at 33" which was my standard at the time. After my accident I can not bend over as far to putt so I went to 35". Extended it and put an old GP NOS STD wrap on it. LOl even had to work on the old Sunday bag. It is a cheaper Tourtrack which was a Golfsmith product. A guy I know bought it when they closed up. The spine for that bag was cheap thin plastic rod and it broke. Of course by then they were out of business so no warranty. He bought a Moonlight Ping one and was going to throw this one away. I ended up pulling the old spine out and cutting and fitting an old pull out graphite shaft in it. Works fine. Now frankly the strap sucked but I replaced it with an old Cleveland one from a stand bag I had laying around. I think this set up will play well for the little executive course up the road. I will wait until the weather clears and the tourons go home. My home course I love is not condusive to walking so I guess I will go up there. 

[Jiggered]

Played in a 4-club challenge today, Stableford scoring.

In the bag:

John Letters "Shotmaster" 2 1/2 persimmon wood

St Andrew Golf Co "Royal Scot" 4 iron

Glenfarg, dot face, coated shaft 7 iron

Spalding "W Model" hickory putter

 

I started well and scored 21 points on the front nine.

No score on the 10th but got back into it until the end of the round where I frittered away a shot a hole on the 16th, 17th and 18th.  Still finished on 36 points though so can't complain.

 

[thepunch_out]

Still some snow banks here and there, but overall conditions were better than expected for the time of year. Not quite 7 or less, but I figure 8 is close enough.

Driver - Titleist 983E 9.5°

Fairway Wood - Cleveland RC75 4w

Irons - Ben Hogan Apex '99 (5,7,9,EQ)

Wedge - Ben Hogan BeCu 56°

Putter - Wilson Staff 8813

[scomac2002]

There's a certain irony, don't you think, to playing a half set of classic clubs whilst carrying along a Bluetooth speaker and laser rangefinder? 😏

[WeAreAllUnique]

31 minutes ago, scomac2002 said:

There's a certain irony, don't you think, to playing a half set of classic clubs whilst carrying along a Bluetooth speaker and laser rangefinder? 😏

That's what I love about golf, it can be truly individualized. That's when it's the most fun for me. Golf what I want, how I want. Golf peace. 

[Feelingofgreatness]

I often play with 7 clubs but I've found that 9 works almost as good as 14

 

12* Driver

21* 7w

Irons: 27*, 31*, 36*, 41*, 47*

SW 56*

Putter

[grooveolator]

I'm happy to have found this forum. I started playing with half a set when I was playing a lot in the '90s. (after which I took a 20 year layoff 🙄) I didn't realize that it was such a popular thing to do.

In addition to making the bag lighter, since I was and am into carrying, I figured I didn't need all the irons, since I was not and am not precise and consistent enough to need clubs in 10 (or 8, since I'm a short hitter) increments. And I didn't use a driver, so my set was usually putter, PW, 9, 7, 5, and Ginty 5 wood and an original Big Bertha 3 wood.

I unfortunately gave away all my wooden woods except the Ginty, and all my other vintage clubs about 8 years ago, when I was having a nervous breakdown and thought I would have to sell my house.
My current selection is putter, PW, Hogan Edge (1993?) 9, 7, a Cobra 4H or the Ginty, and once I get my swing a little more together again I have a Golfsmith Titanium 260 3W to use in lieu of a driver. All but the 4H and the Ginty have regular shafts, but my experience with the 4H confirms my suspicion that I need to move to senior flex. So I'm planning on shafting a set of Titleist DCI heads which I recently purchased with some lightweight steel A flex shafts, and finding a new shaft for the Ti 260 3W.

Anyway, nice to find some small-bag compatriots here! Cheers

[WeAreAllUnique]

I played another round with just 7 clubs. This time I played 18 holes. Was a bit rusty but my struggles weren't because I didn't have enough clubs. After 2 rounds with just 7 clubs I'm starting to believe that 7 is all you need. I said I was going to play both a full set and half set this entire season to see if there is a difference. So far, I haven't missed the extra clubs. Also, it's nice actually using all of the clubs in my bag. When using a full set, there are many after a round that weren't used at all. The lighter bag is definitely nice. 

Edited March 21, 2022 by WeAreAllUnique

[BIG STU]

To update my post from 3-11----- I am going to sub my recently acquired Jupiter Slugger for the 2 wood in the 7 club set up. I did a little bit of weight adjustment on it and it is a blast to hit. In fact carried it in the Shootout Saturday to use on a couple of holes where a lay up is required. It worked well. Really I could use the 3 or 7 woods but the Slugger is so fun to hit. And for me it is all about the fun these days -- The one hole is a dogleg left and I can turn it and it runs so that works out good. 

[WeAreAllUnique]

BIG STU I updated my bag as well. I substituted my Titleist 907 D2 driver with a Bristol maple laminate driver I got from Goodwill. My exploration with minimalist golf has also included not spending exorbitant amounts of money on equipment. Irons, sand wedge, and driver cost me $7 dollars from Goodwill. I did pay $35 for my Ping putter from ebay and $15 for my Callaway Sunday bag from Play it Again Sports. So my entire half set cost me less than $60. I know guys who pay that much for a box of golf balls. I'm still shooting the same scores and having lots of fun doing it. Probably because I care less because I didn't spend an arm and a leg on equipment. I would imagine if I dropped thousands of dollars on sticks I would feel pretty badly about myself if I shot the same scores I did before I emptied my bank account. 

[BIG STU]

6 hours ago, WeAreAllUnique said:

BIG STU I updated my bag as well. I substituted my Titleist 907 D2 driver with a Bristol maple laminate driver I got from Goodwill. My exploration with minimalist golf has also included not spending exorbitant amounts of money on equipment. Irons, sand wedge, and driver cost me $7 dollars from Goodwill. I did pay $35 for my Ping putter from ebay and $15 for my Callaway Sunday bag from Play it Again Sports. So my entire half set cost me less than $60. I know guys who pay that much for a box of golf balls. I'm still shooting the same scores and having lots of fun doing it. Probably because I care less because I didn't spend an arm and a leg on equipment. I would imagine if I dropped thousands of dollars on sticks I would feel pretty badly about myself if I shot the same scores I did before I emptied my bank account. 

That is exactly the way to do it low buck fun. I was lucky or cursed how every you look at it. Before I retired I drove a truck for a metal recycling company and found a lot of Gems. If you read through the past pages you will see some of the finds. One of the famous ones was I found some stuff including a set of 57 Mac Diamondback irons on the pile one day. Actually put together a junkyard bag included at scrap price for less than $5 seriously. Beat my boss and 2 others the next day who were playing the latest and greatest form Cally and TM. Had some curious tourons behind us that were smirking at the set when I plopped it down at the bag drop. Beat the crap out of them too. It is fun when you can hit and play effectively clubs people consider junk or outdated. Your analogy is great you have less in your whole set up than some have in a dozen pro line balls. In my case I was lucky being a scrapyard employee and scrap prices down I built a bag for less than $5. Employee scrap price at the time was .05 per pound so you do the math on the 13 clubs I bought. Yep you have adapted well to the 7 club thrift store/ yard sale thing

[WipeyFade]

I have been playing 5-10 clubs for the past year and have determined that the 6-8 range is the best for me. Right now the irons are set. I play Mizuno MP-53 4, 6, 8, PW. The sand wedge is still up in the air, I have a 54* Vokey I have been using lately. Putter is set and probably not going anywhere, it's an old PING Zing 2i. For now the woods are unsettled. Last round I played with some MacGregor Nicklaus DIV 1 and 4 woods. I love the feel and it was one of the few times I have gotten through a round only losing a couple of balls due to a crappy tee shot. I just play for fun so I may be in the market for some nicer persimmons in the future. All this is carried in a PING Moonlite which I may upgrade to a Jones or Mackenzie.

Edited March 22, 2022 by WipeyFade

[WipeyFade]

On 2/7/2022 at 9:31 PM, evensorodds said:

I thought the followers of this thread would appreciate The Golf Practice Podcast episode :

 

The Seven Club Tournament in 1964 at Turnberry

 

It’s a fascinating concept, and I would love to see a modern incarnation, though it’s never likely to happen.

 

For the past 2 years, following a long sabbatical from the game, I’ve been a minimalist golf practitioner. My “full” set is 9 clubs. D 4w 3 5 7 9 50 56 P. And I frequently play with less, down to as little as 3w 3 6 9 56 P. It’s been a blast, and very enlightening to see how I can manage with less.
 

I rotate between modern equipment and classic, and find myself grabbing the classic gear more and more.

I listened to that podcast last month. I found it pretty interesting. It would be awesome to watch a match play event hosted at Bandon. I played my first 18 hole round with a couple of laminate woods last weekend, and now I have been looking all over eBay for some real persimmon woods. I love the feel, and the fact they were easier for me to keep in play. There doesn’t seem to be too many lefties available though. 

Edited March 22, 2022 by WipeyFade