One of my favorite moments from a golf movie is the scene in Tin Cup where Kevin Costner questions Don Johnson about if he had ever shot even par with just a 7 iron. Johnson’s response of, “It never even occurred to me to try,” is so fitting for the golfing industry and the status quo that it makes me laugh every time. You see, I’ve never been a ‘conventional’ golfer. Back in the day, when my friends all wanted Ping Eye 2 irons, I wanted tour blades. When spent hundreds of dollars on private lessons each month, I spent hours on the practice green working on my short game. I went toe to toe with many great players back then and managed to hold my own almost every time. It’s this line of thought that brings me to a challenge for you. Take a look in your bag and see how many clubs you actually use during your rounds.
“You need to know how far you hit your clubs to hit greens and you need to hit greens to score better.”I like to break down holes in 50 yard chunks. So starting at a 100 yard par 3 and moving out to a 600 yard part 5, you can take the hole apart to fit a very simple formula. If you know the clubs that you hit 200 yards, 150 yards, 125 yards and 100 yards, you can master any hole on any course. You need to know how far you hit your clubs to hit greens and you need to hit greens to score better. It’s a very simple approach to a very complicated game. Using myself as an example, I need a 5 iron to reach from 200 yards. I need a 9 iron to reach from 150, a pitching wedge from 125 and a sand wedge (54 degree) to reach from 100. Given those 4 clubs, I can work my way through any course very quickly.
“Breaking down the long holes into manageable shots will help you score better on them.”There is nothing worse than staring down a long par 5 thinking that you can’t reach it unless you hit a perfect drive. Even at 600 yards, I know that I can drill three easy 5 irons to get home. That may be a #3 hybrid for you or even a 3 wood that you never miss with, but it’s the same concept. Breaking down the long holes into manageable shots will help you score better on them. Instead of hitting a poor drive that leaves you in trouble off the tee, playing it safe and calculating your way through the course will make it easier and lower your stroke count on every hole.
“If I’m not going to use them, why do I have all these clubs in my bag?”This takes me to the budget buster portion of this post. If I’m not going to use them, why do I have all these clubs in my bag? That’s a great question and one you probably should have asked your salesperson before you left the store with them. Of course, those are the ones you have already, not that new $!200 set of irons you were looking at last week. If you use the numbers above and pick out your 200, 150, 125 and 100 yard clubs from your current bag, how many clubs would you need to purchase for that new set? Beginner sets have worked off this principle for quite some time, remember the sets that had a driver, 3 wood, 3 iron, 5 iron, 7 iron, 9 iron and putter? Those starter sets were inexpensive, but also made it easier for golfers to learn the game since they weren’t focusing on which 5 yard gap they needed to hit that shot. They simplified the game.
Why then do manufacturers sell sets that have so many options. Well, it’s more money in their pockets when they sell you 8 clubs, even if you’re only ever going to use 3 of them. That $1200 set features a single club price of $150. If you can remove yourself from the want to have a pretty matching set of 3-LW and everything that goes with them, you can actually get a set that will help you perform better and make play a bit more fun. Chart your clubs the next round you play and see how many ‘new ones’ you would really use during your typical round. Your results may surprise you.
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