More Club Selection Help

Evil R1 · September 4, 2005

More Clubs for the wife

So, currently my wife has a set of Callaway Big Bertha Irons 5 - SW and a Callaway Big Bertha 3W. When we play, she has a huge gap in her bag for distance. We demo'ed some clubs yesterday and am trying to decide what to get her next. She's only been played for a few months, but has been taking lessons every week and has a pretty good swing. Not much speed / power, but her shots are very straight. She's about 70/30 fairway/rough, but once she in the rough, she has a hard time getting back into the fairway.

That said, this is what were were looking at:

Big Bertha Fairway Wood 5w
Big Bertha Fairway Wood 7w
Heavenwood 3h
Heavenwood 4h
Big Bertha 2004 4i

She hit the heavenwoods well off the mat, but not as good at the Fairway Woods. I'm just concerned that a 5w will be rather useless from any rough. The 7w looks like it can make it through some light rough rather well.

She also hit the 4i well, so I'm leaning toward the 4i over the 4h (also being $100 less doesn't hurt either)

She doesn't have a driver, and probably won't get one this year since we would rather spend the $$$ filling in the gap, and her distance with a Driver vs the 3 Wood, is not that much.

She felt more comfortable with the Fairway Woods vs the Hybrids and she's leaning towards a 5w, 7w, 4i combo. Where I was leaning towards a 5w, 3h, 4i combo. Problem is, these were demo'ed off a mat, and not on an actual course, so when she's hitting on a slope, etc, I would think that the longer shafts of the Fairway Woods might end up being more of an issue. Or at least that was my experience with them.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

BigBaller · September 7, 2005

So, currently my wife has a set of Callaway Big Bertha Irons 5 - SW and a Callaway Big Bertha 3W. When we play, she has a huge gap in her bag for distance. We demo'ed some clubs yesterday and am trying to decide what to get her next. She's only been played for a few months, but has been taking lessons every week and has a pretty good swing. Not much speed / power, but her shots are very straight. She's about 70/30 fairway/rough, but once she in the rough, she has a hard time getting back into the fairway.

That said, this is what were were looking at:

Big Bertha Fairway Wood 5w
Big Bertha Fairway Wood 7w
Heavenwood 3h
Heavenwood 4h
Big Bertha 2004 4i

She hit the heavenwoods well off the mat, but not as good at the Fairway Woods. I'm just concerned that a 5w will be rather useless from any rough. The 7w looks like it can make it through some light rough rather well.

She also hit the 4i well, so I'm leaning toward the 4i over the 4h (also being $100 less doesn't hurt either)

She doesn't have a driver, and probably won't get one this year since we would rather spend the $$$ filling in the gap, and her distance with a Driver vs the 3 Wood, is not that much.

She felt more comfortable with the Fairway Woods vs the Hybrids and she's leaning towards a 5w, 7w, 4i combo. Where I was leaning towards a 5w, 3h, 4i combo. Problem is, these were demo'ed off a mat, and not on an actual course, so when she's hitting on a slope, etc, I would think that the longer shafts of the Fairway Woods might end up being more of an issue. Or at least that was my experience with them.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
33257[/snapback]

Well, assuming that the BB 3W you mention has 15* of loft and the 5I has 26*... that's the gap.

IMHO, the key here is that you'll want at least 3, and possibly 4, degrees between each prospective "new" club to ensure that she's not carrying 2 clubs that will produce duplicate distances for her.

That means you'll probably need an 18*/19* club and then a 21*/22*/23* club to fill the gap (potentially only 2 clubs).

The 3W, 5W, 7W, 4i combo that she's proposing would possess the following lofts respectively: 15*, 19*, 21*, 23*, and then on to the 26* 5I. Not bad, but there is only a 2* difference between her 7W and 4i.

The 3W, 5W, 3h, 4i combo that you're proposing has the following lofts: 15*, 19*, 20*, 23*, and then on to the 26* 5I. Here, you're bunched up even tighter with only a 1* difference between the 5W and the 3h.

You may be better off (and get away cheaper to boot) by simply going with 2 new clubs to address the gap - one 18 or 19 degree club, and then a 22 or 23 degree club.

If you check taylormadegolf.com, you can see that their women's miscela set has loft gaps similar to what I'm suggesting: 14* Driver; 17* 3W; 20* 4h/"midwood4"; 24* 5h/"midwood5"; 28* 6h/"midwood6", and then Irons beginning at 32* with the 7I.

As for the specific clubs that you end up going with, that's up to you/her. I would suggest that you find a pro shop/retail store that will let you demo the clubs you're looking at ON THE COURSE, rather than merely off the mats (shouldn't practice off the mats except for teed up balls either, but that's a different thread). If you can't get on the course with them, at minimum find yourself a grass practice area. Have her hit some balls off the deck (from different lies if you can), and then off the tee, with each club. Go with whatever works best.

Good luck with it.

SirShanksAlot · September 7, 2005

So, currently my wife has a set of Callaway Big Bertha Irons 5 - SW and a Callaway Big Bertha 3W. When we play, she has a huge gap in her bag for distance. We demo'ed some clubs yesterday and am trying to decide what to get her next. She's only been played for a few months, but has been taking lessons every week and has a pretty good swing. Not much speed / power, but her shots are very straight. She's about 70/30 fairway/rough, but once she in the rough, she has a hard time getting back into the fairway.

That said, this is what were were looking at:

Big Bertha Fairway Wood 5w
Big Bertha Fairway Wood 7w
Heavenwood 3h
Heavenwood 4h
Big Bertha 2004 4i

She hit the heavenwoods well off the mat, but not as good at the Fairway Woods. I'm just concerned that a 5w will be rather useless from any rough. The 7w looks like it can make it through some light rough rather well.

She also hit the 4i well, so I'm leaning toward the 4i over the 4h (also being $100 less doesn't hurt either)

She doesn't have a driver, and probably won't get one this year since we would rather spend the $$$ filling in the gap, and her distance with a Driver vs the 3 Wood, is not that much.

She felt more comfortable with the Fairway Woods vs the Hybrids and she's leaning towards a 5w, 7w, 4i combo. Where I was leaning towards a 5w, 3h, 4i combo. Problem is, these were demo'ed off a mat, and not on an actual course, so when she's hitting on a slope, etc, I would think that the longer shafts of the Fairway Woods might end up being more of an issue. Or at least that was my experience with them.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
33257[/snapback]

I like the 5w, 7w, 4i combo. The 4i is like a hybrid already... thick sole and lots of forgiveness. I think the 7w would be easier out of the rough for her and it's deep enough that she can use it off the tee. If you are worried about the length, take half an inch off the 7w. I have had lots of ladies come in and get their 7w and 9w shortened. They say they do it for control... they don't hit it long anyways so they might as well be straight. They lower their scores by hitting to a certain area and keeping the ball in play... not by hitting the ball a mile.

Evil R1 · September 7, 2005

Well, assuming that the BB 3W you mention has 15* of loft and the 5I has 26*... that's the gap.

IMHO, the key here is that you'll want at least 3, and possibly 4, degrees between each prospective "new" club to ensure that she's not carrying 2 clubs that will produce duplicate distances for her.

That means you'll probably need an 18*/19* club and then a 21*/22*/23* club to fill the gap (potentially only 2 clubs).

The 3W, 5W, 7W, 4i combo that she's proposing would possess the following lofts respectively: 15*, 19*, 21*, 23*, and then on to the 26* 5I. Not bad, but there is only a 2* difference between her 7W and 4i.

The 3W, 5W, 3h, 4i combo that you're proposing has the following lofts: 15*, 19*, 20*, 23*, and then on to the 26* 5I. Here, you're bunched up even tighter with only a 1* difference between the 5W and the 3h.

You may be better off (and get away cheaper to boot) by simply going with 2 new clubs to address the gap - one 18 or 19 degree club, and then a 22 or 23 degree club.

If you check taylormadegolf.com, you can see that their women's miscela set has loft gaps similar to what I'm suggesting: 14* Driver; 17* 3W; 20* 4h/"midwood4"; 24* 5h/"midwood5"; 28* 6h/"midwood6", and then Irons beginning at 32* with the 7I.

As for the specific clubs that you end up going with, that's up to you/her. I would suggest that you find a pro shop/retail store that will let you demo the clubs you're looking at ON THE COURSE, rather than merely off the mats (shouldn't practice off the mats except for teed up balls either, but that's a different thread). If you can't get on the course with them, at minimum find yourself a grass practice area. Have her hit some balls off the deck (from different lies if you can), and then off the tee, with each club. Go with whatever works best.

Good luck with it.
34207[/snapback]

You bring up a very good point, I didn't look at it that way. So if she already has a 15º 3 Wood and then a 26º 5 Iron. It looks like a 19º 5 Wood and a 23º 4 Iron would fill the gap and she would end up with:

15º, 19º, 23º, 26º, 29º...