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Conference 7.286::golf

Title:Welcome to the Golf Notes Conference!
Notice:FOR SALE notes in Note 69 please! Intros in note 863 or 61.
Moderator:FUNYET::ANDERSON
Created:Tue Feb 15 1994
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:2129
Total number of notes:21499

119.0. "...and for the 14th" by RDGE00::MARSHALL (Steve Marshall, EURO ADG(UK)) Fri Jun 12 1987 19:44

    
    Hi folks. Just gunning for a few suggestions as to how to complete
    my club set. I currently have 13 clubs (I'm not suspicious, but
    just in case there is anything in all that bumf!) and have been
    pondering over what club to buy to make the set.
    
    I currently have :
    
    		Driver |
    		3-Wood  > Metal Woods
    		5-Wood |
    
    		3,4,5,6,7,8,9 Irons
    
    		Pitching Wedge
    		Sand Iron
    
    		Graphite Shafted Putter.
    
    
    	Any suggestions for the 14th ? I was thinking of a 2-Iron.
    
    
    		Ta muchly
    				Steve.
    
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
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119.1Suspicious?NANUCK::REHORI'd rather be golfingSat Jun 13 1987 03:3226
     
    I'm suspicious you're not superstitious.
    
    Your set looks like mine, except I carry a 4 wood.  The other options
    are a 2 iron, a chipper, and an R-90 (highly lofted wedge).
    
    The question is what do you do best?, or what type of shots do you
    end up playing most.
    
    If you can't hit a 3 iron consistently straight, then a two iron
    would be worse.  If you can't get your long and medium irons on the
    green, then you may be chipping and pitching alot, a chipper would
    be better.  If you're really short off the tee, and play alot of
    fairway woods, the 4 wood might be a great in between club.  As
    for the highly lofted wedge, my partner carries one (he's a three
    handicap), but doesn't use it much anymore.  It's not an easy club
    to hit.  He hit the ball so far that he needed a club for closer in. 
                                                              
    If you are new to the game, play with the ones you have for a while.
    Pretty soon you'll be saying to yourself, " I wish I had a _____
    for this shot."  If you say that fairly often about the same club,
    then you've answered your own question.   
    
    Good luck.
    
    
119.2STKHLM::LITBYYou're away!Sat Jun 13 1987 22:5819
	 I suggest  you  get yourself a 60-degree wedge.  This is what I use
	 as  a  ``confidence-building''  club  - it's great for short little
	 pitches  around  the  green  that  you  have  to  hit over bunkers,
	 streams,  tree  stubs or other nasty stuff that blocks your path to
	 the  flag.   It's  a  hard  club  to hit if you try using it like a
	 ``shorter  wedge''  - i.e for hitting 50-60 metre shots high in the
	 air,  but  I  don't  use  it that way.  Use it when you need a high
	 lofted  short  shot that you want to stop right at the pin, up to a
	 maximum distance of 10-20 m. 

	 You'll love  the  result  if you use a short slow backswing - watch
	 how the ball takes off straight up in the air and lands softly!!

	 The one  I  use,  a  PowerBilt  ``Renewal''  has  a generous flange
	 (bounce) so it's excellent for bunker play - in fact, I don't use a
	 sand iron at all.

	 -- POL
119.3Another choice perhaps?WORDS::NISKALAMan..... or Myth????Wed Jun 17 1987 18:2110
    	Depending on how you hit your woods, er metals, you might want
    to get yourself a 7 wood. Myself, I don't hit my long irons well.
    3 iron about 170-180 and my 5 wood is about 210. Big void spot in
    there. I shouldn't talk though, 'cause I keep telling myself to
    get the 7 wood, but haven't as of yet. Looking at the previous replies,
    it's up to you to decide, you know what the choices are. Just don't
    get a 1 iron, because as the joke goes: "Even God can't hit a 1
    iron."
    
    Keith
119.4SEVEN WOOD FOR 14TH CLUBRUNT2::SAURIFri Jun 19 1987 13:118
    	I WOULD AGREE WITH HAVING A SEVEN OR MAYBE A HIGHER WOOD CLUB
    LIKE A GINTY. NOT ONLY ARE THEY EASY TO HIT IN THE FAIRWAY BUT THEY
    ALSO COME IN HANDY WHEN YOU ARE IN THE ROUGH. I WOULD SAY A SEVEN
    WOOD IS EQUAL TO FOUR OR A FIVE IRON DEPENDING ON HOW YOU HIT THE
    BALL. TRY ONE OUT AT YOUR LOCAL PRO SHOP AND SEE IF YOU CAN HIT
    FIRST. GOOD LUCK AND LET ME KNOW HOW YOU MADE OUT.
    						ARMANDO RUNT2::SAURI
    
119.52-iron a no-noRDGE00::MARSHALLSteve Marshall, EURO ADG(UK)Fri Jun 19 1987 15:0424
119.6Why get a 14th at all?????GLIVET::HUSTONTue Jun 23 1987 01:2920
    
    Why get a 14th club.  It just makes your bad that much heavier.
    I have the exact set up as you except no sand iron.  I just use
    my pitching wedge from the sand, works great.  Since you are new
    I would say don't get anything at least not for awhile.  Then if
    you do decide to add I suggest forgetting about clubs like the 7
    wood and high lofted woods.  These, in my opinion are just clubs
    that give you a way around hitting the correct shot.  7wd is the
    same as say a 4-5 iron so why get one, just hit the 4-5 iron.
    The 60 degree wedge is simply a way around learning to hit a pitching
    wedge with half to 3/4 of a swing.  Easy to do, just takes some
    practice.
    
    In my opinion you should learn to correctly use the clubs you have,
    then if you still want another club I would suggest a 4 wood.  From
    playing with many different people this seems to be the most popular
    and there have been times when I wish I had one instead of having
    to really lay into a 5 wood or lay off a 3 wood.
    
    --Bob  (handicap 8)
119.7Mad Man's RemedyDIXIE1::WESTCLGator GolferTue Jun 23 1987 03:105
    Go and find an old beat-up club.  Any wood or iron will do.  Stick
    it in your bag and when you get totally fustrated take it out and
    beat the hell out of it.
    
    Good luck.
119.8Eureka!STKHLM::LITBYWhere EAGLES dare...Tue Jun 23 1987 11:527

	re .7:

	I LOVE it...

	-- POL
119.9How about this??WORDS::NISKALAMan..... or Myth????Thu Jun 25 1987 21:328
    	How about getting a lefthanded club for those shots when your
    pinned against a tree for a normal righty shot. You end up hitting
    the ball lefthanded anyways and it means using your 3 iron backwards.
    Does anybody do this?? It is legal, right?? There have many times,
    too many actually, when I needed that lefty club. Probably can pick
    up a 3-5 iron second hand in most pro shops. 
    
    Keith
119.10VINO::RASPUZZIMichael RaspuzziThu Jun 25 1987 23:3915
    As far as leaglities go -
    
    It does not matter *what* clubs you have in your bag. You can have
    a wonderful mixed bag of left handed and right handed clubs. As
    long as the total number of clubs does not exceed 14 you are set.
    
    About hitting a right handed 3 iron - it's perfectly legal. Nicklaus
    even suggests it in one of his books. As long as you strike the
    ball with the face of the club it's OK.
    
    I know of a couple of friends who carry a left handed 5 iron (a
    little easier to hit than a 3 iron) for just such a tree type of
    emergency.
    
    Mike
119.11Total ContradictionHEFTY::WELLSPEAKIt's a BoyMon Jun 29 1987 22:4822
    RE .6
    	    Boy is that contradiction or what!!!  First you say that
    getting a 60 degree wedge is just an excuse for not learning how
    to hit a half or 3/4 pitching wedge.  Tell that to your local Pro
    and I'll bet on what he'll say.  Then you say to get a 4 wood, because
    you don't want to lay off a 3 wood or beef up a 5 wood.  Using the
    same logic you used for not getting a 60 degree wedge, thats just
    an excuse for not learning how to hit a half or 3/4 3 wood!!!
    Ant Pro will tell you that once your good enough, every swing should
    be as close as possible to being the same with each club.  And that
    if possible, getting a club that allows you to take a full swing,
    as opposed to taking a half or 3/4 swing, will only help your game.
    I'm not saying that a 60 degree wedge, or a 2 iron is for everybody,
    but the reasons you gave, are rediculous.  The way you sound, you
    should save yourself some money and play with only a 3, 5, 7, 9
    irons and a driver and 4 wood and just learn how to hit each club
    full, 3/4 and half!!!
    
    PS:  This isn't meant to be rude, just stressing
         a point.
    
                                                       Beak
119.12DICKNS::F_MCGOWANTue Jul 07 1987 21:0529
    Anyone remember Dick Mayer? I think he won the U.S. Open in 1957
    or somewhere around then. Anyway, after winning one of the big tour-
    naments, he did what so many people do: he wrote a book about how
    to play golf. Since I was reading all the books on golf I could
    find, I read it. (By the time I got through, I was about as confused
    as anyone could be, as you can imagine.) Anyway, about all I can
    remember from Mayer's book was his assertion that it's perfectly
    feasible to shoot a respectable round of golf with as few as four
    clubs: 3-wood, 5-iron, 8-iron & putter. I never tried it myself
    (though I did take only 1/2 a set on vacation, and managed to do
    okay, by my standards anyway); but earlier this year, I ran across
    a couple of guys who were playing a full-sized 18-hole course with
    one (1) club apiece: one guy had a 6-iron, and the other had a 7!
    Each of them managed to shoot in the mid-90's, which was (according
    to them) about 10 strokes higher than normal. Apparently there are
    clubs that have gimmick tournaments, one of them being a "one-club"
    format.
    
    As for which 14 to carry goes, I am probably a major offender when
    it comes to duplication, since I carry both a 5-wood and a 2-iron
    (1,3,5 woods, 2-pw,sw, putter); but there are times when it just
    seems "right" to use one and not the other. For example, I would
    feel silly hitting a low chip shot with a 5-wood, but I've saved
    holes by knocking a 2-iron from under low-hanging branches onto
    the green. My feeling about a 3rd wedge is, I have enough trouble
    hitting the wedges I've already got - why increase the misery?
    And if I find myself up against a tree (where a lefty club might
    be used), I take an unplayable lie...
    
119.13Not really a contradictionGLIVET::HUSTONWed Jul 08 1987 22:3534
    
    re .11
    
    Your point is well taken.  Let me further clarify what I mean. 
    No matter what clubs you carry you are sometimes going to find yourself
    between two clubs, in which case you have 2 options:
    
    1) Hit one harder than usual
    2) Lay off one.
    
    In my opinion I would rather learn to lay off a wedge than a wood.
    Even with a 60 degree wedge you still will have to hit 1/2 and
    3/4 wedges. Let me explain.     
    
    A full wedge will go around 100 yards (average).  Anything inside
    that and you have to lay off it. That is alot of different distances
    to learn to hit. Even with a 60 degree wedge, which will go maybe
    80 yards (a rough guess) you still are going to have to learn to
    hit half wedges.
    
    With a wood there is only about a 10 - 20 yard gap between clubs,
    by inserting the extra wood you take out the need to hit woods of
    varying strengths. Thus allowing you to take the same swing with
    all clubs.
    
    So with or without the extra wedge you still have to hit half wedges
    and if you don't have to hit half woods why should you.  I agree
    that you should try and make every swing the same, I believe that
    it would be easier to do this by adding another wood rather that
    a wedge.
    
    Your point is well taken though.
    
    --Bob
119.14A few more points for thw WedgeHEFTY::WELLSPEAKIt's a BoyThu Jul 09 1987 01:1916
    	Bob, I hit my PW, on average, about 130 yards.  I hit my  
    SW, on average, about 60 to 65 yards.  Now I could hit my SW 
    probably about 90 yards, but would have to swing extremely hard
    to do so.  Being that the most important factor in the short game
    is accuracy, not the only factor, but the most important factor,
    you are defeating the purpose, by having to "Kill" a shot.  Now
    with the long clubs, woods and 5 thru 1 irons, the most important
    factor is distance, not the only factor, but the most important.
    This allows you to take a rip at it a little more.
    	Another thing is this.  What does the average golfer do more
    of?  Hit wedges and short irons, or woods and long irons?  And what
    does he expect to accomplish with each particular shot?  I myself,
    miss a lot of greens, and hit more SW's, PW's and 9 irons, than
    I do fairway woods or 2 or 3 irons.  What do you do more of Bob?
    
                                                  Beak
119.15You backup what I am trying to sayGLIVET::HUSTONThu Jul 09 1987 19:4521
    
    Beak, Thanks for the reply, a little nicer and more conversational
    tone than the first.  I believe that what you say is true, I also
    believe that you back up what I am trying to say. The most important
    thing with the longer clubs is distance, though accuracy is very
    important. Let explain. A small degree off from 200 yards could
    end up 20 yards or so from the green, here with your SW you have
    to hit the half wedge. In the case of hitting a hard wedge a small
    degree off could still end up on the green or real close. I would
    rather have the extra club at the long end hence be closer to the
    green in more occasions.
    
    Even in the distances that you quote (130 pw; 60-65 sw) you must
    have to hit alot of half wedges (anything between 110 - 75 or 55
    and in). What I tried to state in my original reply way that in
    my opinion it would be better to learn to hit this half shot with
    the wedge, which you will have to do anyway, rather than learn to
    hit the half wedge and a half a long iron.
    
    Bob
    
119.1660 degree unpredictable for meMDVAX1::TATUMThu Aug 06 1987 04:3014
    I carry a 60 degree wedge but hardly use it anymore because it is
    so unpredictable.  Open the face a little too much and you get a
    cut shot with no distance... close the face a little too much and
    get a shot over the green... hit it with the ball sitting up high
    and cut entirely beneath the ball...  It is great for 'special effects'
    but not very dependable for me.
    
    I need all the short game help I can get, but have found partial sand
    wedges to be much more predictable than full 60 degree wedges.
                      
    What about some of the new 64 degree wedges?!?!
    
    PS.  I too find a gap between my 3 iron and 5 wood and am considering
    to putting a 2 iron back in my bag.