Cryss

Been in a similar situation as OP towards the end of last season, 21* and 24* hybrid and while I loved 24*, the 21* was inconsistent on good days and terrible on bad ones. Now I have 21,5* 7 wood in that spot and it's night and day. Carries around 10 yards further than the 21* hybrid, way easier to elevate consistently and gaps really well off my 24* hybrid.

@King_Bogey All good choices but the HL4 5 wood is overpriced. It wasn't expensive to begin with and is four years old at this point: https://www.pgatoursuperstore.com/hot-launch-4-fairway-wood/2000000008224.html If I had to make a choice for my bag between the clubs in your post, I'd go with 4+7 in the TE C522. Not because I don't like the srixon, but because personally I wouldn't want the shaft weight in my 4 wood to be lighter than the 7 wood. That's very personal though. Having both fairways look and feel similar might help as well if you're not comfy with FWs yet.

Like already mentioned, Sub 70 has pre owned ones on their site for good prices. Also can't go wrong with callawaygolfpreowned.com.

When I started playing a litte over 1,5 years ago, I got a hand me down 3 wood from my dad and bought a cheap 5 wood on sale to go along with it. Cuz that's what my dad played. I played with that setup for the bulk of the '22 season and while I really liked the 5 wood, the 3 wood was a dead spot in my bag. I couldn't hit it from the fairway (still can't) and it wasn't any more accurate than driver off the tee, at least for me. Towards the end of the season, I re evaluated my bag and did some testing in shops. Ended up switching 3 + 5 wood for 4 wood (or 3 HL as some call it) + 7 wood. Best decision I could've made. So if you're a beginner/high handicapper like me and want to bag two woods, my recommendation based on experience would be going with either 4+7 or 5+7, depending on if you want to use the lower lofted one off the tee a lot or primarily from fairway lies.

Interesting question. I didn't have Arccos for the past season so this is just guessing: It's somewhere between 4 wood, 6 iron (my longest iron and at 26° really a strong 5) and 60° wedge. Since I have Arccos now for 2023, I'm very curious if this holds true. That being said, I don't think I will replace any of them in case they turn out to be the least used. The yardages/situations just don't arise that often, but when they do, I'm glad I habe those clubs. I also don't know what to replace them with, since I don't feel I'm missing anything in the bag at this point in time.

Askgolfnut just uploaded a Video of ProV1's vs Srixon/Wilson budget Ionomer balls with different clubs. Tldr; For driver, longer irons and chipping there's very little difference. A good player will notice those little differences, a higher handicapper probably won't be consistent enough for it to matter. However, on fuller shots with higher lofted club's - ie 9 irons down into wedges, depending on your lofts - it's an entirely different story: Both the Srixon AD333 and the Wilson Ultra rolled up the face - despite him making good contact - and spun in the 4000's, while the ProV's got 'grabbed' properly by the lower grooves and spun over 11000(!). What that means for both shot accuracy as well as stopping power is pretty obvious. So what does that mean for the higher handicapper? If you can afford an urethane ball - no matter which one - and/or don't lose a lot of balls, go for an urethane ball. Ionomer balls simply don't work for that type of approach shot. Unfortunately it's an important shot that golfers are facing multiple times every round.

I'd say carrying a second tee club for tighter holes - or rather a 'situational' club in general because your gapping is fine without it - isn't unusual at all, it's getting more and more common. Phil has bagged two drivers at multiple events, strong 13,5* 3 woods are getting more and more popular on tour and are almost exclusively used as shorter and more accurate alternatives off the tee, Cam Smith is bagging a driving iron that has some distance overlap with his 7 wood and pretty much 'lives' outside of his gapping as a tee club/low launching option with lot's of roll, DJ bagging a 22* hybrid on top of his 21* 7 wood and 24* 4 iron as a pure utility club for certain situations even though the distance is already covered (meanwhile he swapped the hybrid for a 9 wood but you get the point). Especially amateurs tend to obsess over gapping, the 'perfect' bag makeup, stuff like that and undervalue the club that's just very helpful in situations that are otherwise challenging. Also very rarely will less-than-tour-swing speed players even be able to space out 14 clubs properly. Bag whatever you want that helps your score, be it a shorter but more reliable second driver, a chipper, a hybrid/driving iron that goes the exact same distance as one of your woods but has a lower/different flight, it doesn't matter. The tour guys do it, we should as well. Tldr; don't overthink it, bag two big sticks like a player and enjoy what they're doing for your game.

30.5* 7, 44* PW according to Golfdigest. Very interested in those as well.

Hi guys! I'm new here and this thread seems to be the right place to make my first post. 1. I just started playing this summer so please don't ask about my handicap. At 36 years of age I'm very late to the party, I am as hooked as one can be though. 2. I love the challenge, and it's a very aeshetically pleasing sport. I also love being outside and seeing different courses, they're all so different. 3. Been watching MGS on youtube as well as reading online articles. Realized there's a forum a while ago, and now finally made an account. 4. I'm from germany, I live in a small town close to Frankfurt, which is pretty much in the centre of the country. My home course is Attighof Golf & Country Club in Waldsolms. 5. Nothing bad to say about playing golf in my region, at least as of the time of this post. I probably don't play long enough to even have an opinion though. 6. I work as a coach and trainer for business communication for an asset management company. 7. The username has been around for many years. It's an analogy to my irl name. So, hi all, glad to be here. If you have any questions, feel free.