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Club Limit

Do you think carrying more than 14 clubs would help?

  • Hell yes the more I carry the more I can break

    Votes: 10 38.5%
  • No, wrapping 18 clubs around a tree is more expensive than 14

    Votes: 16 61.5%

  • Total voters
    26

Rockford35

Shark skin shoes
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Aug 30, 2004
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2. Hitting different shots with each club will make you more creative - WHO CARES!!! This is probably the dumbest excuse I have ever seen. The average golfer would benefit from not having to be creative, but rather being able to hit the standard shot with a different club to get the desired result.

Just my opinion. I am enjoying hearing what people are thinking on this.

If the average golfer had one wedge and mastered it instead of half assedly hitting the other 2 or 3 he/she carries, he/she would be way better off. It's not about being creative, it's playing to your strengths.

R35
 

limpalong

Mental Ward Escapee
Supporting Member
Oct 18, 2006
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If the average golfer had one wedge and mastered it instead of half assedly hitting the other 2 or 3 he/she carries, he/she would be way better off. It's not about being creative, it's playing to your strengths.

R35

Quote of the year!!!! And, if you didn't take the time to try to figure out which of your bag full of clubs you're going to choose to shank the next shot... it wouldn't take you 5 hours to play this game!! People take a fork full of food and, unless there's lots of alcohol involved, have no trouble hitting their mouth. Yet, they will stand over a shot... analyzing which club to use, where to place the ball, how much to choke down, how to get the grip just right... to put a 1.5 inch ball on a 20 foot diameter green. "Miss it quick!!!"
 

nututhugame

Winter Sucks!
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Dec 29, 2008
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I like having 14, but don't feel as though I need any more. I like having a lot of wedges.... they all have their own feel and produce a unique shot. I'm still up in arms about the long section of my bag. Don't want to add or subtract, but change around.
 

rolltherock

New Member
Dec 9, 2008
251
0
I am starting this thread due to some of the comments I saw in another thread on the possibility of using multiple different balls, and clubs in a scramble round.

I personally would love to carry more than 14 clubs. I would pick up two more woods, and another wedge. While fewer clubs leads to more creativity with how to hit a shot with the clubs at your disposal, more clubs would lead to even more creativity with shot type during the round. There are shots that you just can't hit without a club designed for it. Right now I carry a driver and 5 wood. I simply can not go at a green from 255+, but you give me extra clubs, and I would have a 3 wood, and probably a driver that I can hit off the deck. I also have a big gap between my 5 wood and 3 iron which would be filled with either another wood or a 2 iron. Then I would add in a 64* wedge. Would these clubs change the way that I play most rounds, probably not, but having them would be a big boost where I could hit a full club rather than jumping on or laying off of a club. I would also probably carry a lefty 7 iron. For that one time every twenty or so rounds where it would come in handy.

Being the old fuddy duddy here I have to put my vote in for 10-11 clubs. I would love to see the game move back towards 'The Indian and not the Arrow' days. Golf is certainly more fun with technology, but it's also providing a short term patch to long term problems by allowing people to bypass learning proper fundamentals with band-aid clubs. I can honestly say from when I played competitively in college in the early 70's I see FEWER fundamentally correct swings than I did then, but probably 3x as many people playing. I guess that is a good thing too b/c we need to grow the sport too.

I had to learn the game with Wilson Staff blades and Tommy Armour persimmon woods. Heck I played with 11 clubs until I got to college for heavens sake!

If you want to find out if you are a player or not, try taking a few bats out of your quill and see how you fare. My son and I have done it a few times and we each decide who gets what: he pulls 4 from my bag and i from his. It's a blast! I think there is so much fun in learning new shots, but not so much in grabbing a club that does it for you. I promise you will have fun with it!
 
OP
floggerrushmd

floggerrushmd

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Jul 11, 2008
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  • #21
I have played many many many rounds with three to four clubs only. And a couple with only one (thank you golf coach from hell). But I still find that playing tournament ready courses I would like to have at least one more if not two more clubs in my bag. I work a lot on my wedge game. I take time deciding which shot to hit around the green and pride myself on putting most short game shots within 7 ft. Which for me I feel is a makable distance. There are shots that I hit with my 52* that you can not hit with a 60* and vice versa. While you can hit similar shots to both with a 56* (which I also carry) the flop, and low flighted skipper lend themselves better to the other two wedges. I carry the 56* mainly for full swings from the fairway, which I leave myself a lot of on normal courses. I would love to have a 3 wood and a 2 iron in my bag along with my 5 wood, but I don't have the ability to carry over 14 clubs.

Did I think that playing with fewer clubs made me a better golfer? - ABSOLUTELY NOT, all it did was force me to hit shots from spots I would never be in again. While it was fun, it isn't productive in the long run. There is no reason to learn to hit a sand shot from the greenside bunker with a seven iron. Just like you don't need to learn how to hit a bladed iron off of a tee to get more distance. Two shots that I can now hit probably 3-4 times out of ten. What good does that do me. There are clubs designed for those shots. USE THEM. I have never been a proponent of withholding technology or advantages. If you have one USE IT, don't feel like you should feel guilty for it either. If we don't use the advances in the game effectively then what is the point?
 

rolltherock

New Member
Dec 9, 2008
251
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I have played many many many rounds with three to four clubs only. And a couple with only one (thank you golf coach from hell). But I still find that playing tournament ready courses I would like to have at least one more if not two more clubs in my bag. I work a lot on my wedge game. I take time deciding which shot to hit around the green and pride myself on putting most short game shots within 7 ft. Which for me I feel is a makable distance. There are shots that I hit with my 52* that you can not hit with a 60* and vice versa. While you can hit similar shots to both with a 56* (which I also carry) the flop, and low flighted skipper lend themselves better to the other two wedges. I carry the 56* mainly for full swings from the fairway, which I leave myself a lot of on normal courses. I would love to have a 3 wood and a 2 iron in my bag along with my 5 wood, but I don't have the ability to carry over 14 clubs.

Did I think that playing with fewer clubs made me a better golfer? - ABSOLUTELY NOT, all it did was force me to hit shots from spots I would never be in again. While it was fun, it isn't productive in the long run. There is no reason to learn to hit a sand shot from the greenside bunker with a seven iron. Just like you don't need to learn how to hit a bladed iron off of a tee to get more distance. Two shots that I can now hit probably 3-4 times out of ten. What good does that do me. There are clubs designed for those shots. USE THEM. I have never been a proponent of withholding technology or advantages. If you have one USE IT, don't feel like you should feel guilty for it either. If we don't use the advances in the game effectively then what is the point?

Well that may very well be the case for you and I guess it's a generational thing. When I was coming up a SW loft was around 53 degrees with virtually no bounce and ya know what? I learned how to hit a million kinds of shots from different lies with it. If I were to have to rid myself of 4 clubs they would be a 3 iron, 5 iron, 6 and 7. Never would I dump my wedges b/c that is how you score, but I can compensate on iron shots from the fairway/rough and I usually hit 8 or less into greens. I agree that technology is a great thing, but I also think it keeps people from progressing to their full potential. Tech is great and I'm all for it, but the poll wanted to know where personal feelings were and this is where mine are.

If you want a real world example I will forgo my competitive career and insert my son. I made him learn the game and didn't allow him to buy the game like many of his friends have. Consequently, he has a rock solid swing where many of his pals are still trying to figure out why the ball is going sideways with their new $500 driver that 'worked great last week'. At 14 years old to be carrying a 6 handi is not bad and my days of beating him are coming to a close rapidly. He has dusted his pals for one simple reason, he learned how to golf his ball rather than to find a crutch. I could grab his 3-7 iron and I doubt it would effect his score much if any. Yank his wedges and he would suffer....I know I would too.

My point on lowering clubs was focused on drivers and fairway woods, which I didn't explain clearly, my fault. I'm a wedge freak and carry 4.

For sure the wedges are scoring tools and I for one take full advantage carrying 4 of them, but I think in specific terms of game improvement band aids the driver and woods are where the big money is spent. To that end I see most mid to high handicappers hitting nothing but full out drivers on the range....and chunk a few scoring clubs and go back to wailing at drivers into the trees right.

The one axiom of golf that will never change is the closer you get to the hole the harder it gets. The addendum to that is 90% of golfers spend 90% of their time working on the wrong stuff.
 

rolltherock

New Member
Dec 9, 2008
251
0
If the average golfer had one wedge and mastered it instead of half assedly hitting the other 2 or 3 he/she carries, he/she would be way better off. It's not about being creative, it's playing to your strengths.

R35

What I call The Jack of All Trades, Master of None. Whoever coined that term was an insightful person. I will take a player who is a master of 7 clubs and he will beat the Jack of None with 20 bats every single time.
 

kidzwitgunz

Jn 15:13 Ductus Exemplo
Jun 25, 2009
43
0
Been a long time lurker, but when I caught this I had to join up and share! I think it's fun to maybe carry a club or two more than the limit.......just because if I want to work on my game, or wanted to go back to playing competively then I would but I like having the choices it's as fun to me as playin with a 1,4,7,PW and a putter!:p (my first set left overs from my dad)

I regularly play with anywhere from 14-18 clubs and I walk AND I still keep up with proper pace of play, but then again the whole time I'm walking to my ball I'm thinking about the shot and where I need to land it so next shot is good to go!

Although on a side note I kind of get into all the fun stuff so I am probably the only one who actually uses the cyg thingy on my evolver just because I bought it so might as well use it ya know!
 

Pa Jayhawk

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2005
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I have little question that I could score better with more clubs, however it is mainly because I do carry a lot of wedges and spend a lot of time practicing with them. I could see carry clubs like say my Clutch Iron for specific circumstances, or say a specified sand club, or chipper, or maybe 5 different lofted 460cc drivers, and because I carry a lot of wedges I have become very good at knowing when not to use clubs.

Although from a USGA standpoint, I would actually like to see them go to less. I think the analysis of your game and figuring out what combination of clubs to use is one of the best parts of this game for me. It took me about 6 years to finally get a combination I am comfortable with for the first time. If they went to say 10 clubs, it would give me many more years of enjoyment. I spent an entire year contemplating the best way to modify my irons to make room for an extra wedge. Before I would have to analyze the course to determine if a 5i or 3w belonged in my bag so I could carry 3. I likely enjoy what I do off the course with golf almost as much as playing the game.

Then when practicing and playing, the best part of the game for me is the shots that require creativity and having 8 different ways to execute a shot. If I had a club for every specific purpose and had no need for creativity, I would likely score better but would probably have a hard time enjoying the game nearly as much.
 

mddubya

Hybrid convert
Nov 6, 2007
6,029
2
Great! Been waiting for someone like you to pop in & give us your insight. Now we can lock this topic up.


Wow, so eloquent, I especially enjoyed the way he weaved statistical evidence in to demonstrate his point. May be the best 1st post ever? :thumbs up:
 

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