Strategic club swapping in the top end of your bag?

[BIG STU]

With me lately it has been a lot of experimenting on the top end with all health wise going on with me. But I am regaining swing speed and realized it this week, Did a Max change on the top end pulled out the 2 hybrids because I can get more out out of the 19* 5 wood than the 19* hybrid. I also seem to get a little more out of the 5 & 6 irons with the shaft and head combo. I am only carrying 12 clubs so if I am playing a different course I can add the 21* 7 wood on the top if needed and the old Zing 2 60* if I need a SW for fluffy greenside traps. But I am not one to carry un needed clubs because it opens me up to indecision. The 12 I have I can scrap it around my course fine. 

[BIG STU]

On 2/22/2021 at 6:44 PM, MaxEntropy said:

With the terrible inconsistency of my driver, I have been known to swap in my old Callaway 3W in the driver slot - it is a bit longer than the Bridgestone 3W, but a bit less accurate. Once I buy @MattF's M5 and I figure out which of the two shafts works better for me, all my driving woes will be over, right? 

I don't know on the M-5 but I am loving my M-6 it is a straight cannon for me. Love the head shaft combo with the Twisted Sister face that thing feels like butter to me. 

[BIG STU]

10 hours ago, StrokerAce said:

Interesting responses....

One other thing I hadn't thought of - does anyone ever swap shafts in/out of a head?

All the time of course I am the tinkerer king and love to experiment with combos of shafts etc. 

[Jedaigeki]

I've occasionally tinkered with putting a hybrid in the bag instead of the 2 iron but the idea never lasts long when I hit the course. 

 

When it rears its ugly head my swing fault just doesn't fit well with a hybrid where as I can get away with it on an iron. 

[DPattGolf]

For awhile I was prepared to swap back and forth between a driving iron and a hybrid for tournaments based on the course and whether it was going to be used mostly from the fairway or the tee. After awhile I started finding myself just not hitting the hybrid at a tournament level so I have retired the idea for the foreseeable future. 

[aerospace_ray]

I rotate certain clubs pending course/conditions. Top of bag down to 9 iron is set but the pw,aw,sw,and lw will get changed out.

[JDHolmes]

Interesting responses....
One other thing I hadn't thought of - does anyone ever swap shafts in/out of a head?

I've used a driver shaft in a heavenwood. 230 yard 20 degree fairway wood. Smooth, easy swing crushed it...but it could get whippy.

Sent from my SM-G950U using MyGolfSpy mobile app

[revkev]

This is one were I thought I was being so smart - I had my winter top end and my summer top end - winter, 5 iron, hybrid, hybrid, 3 wood - summer 5 hybrid, 4 hybrid, 3 wood - just brilliant.

 

Until I got on a launch monitor and had ARCOSS demonstrate how absolutely inept I was with every single one of those clubs - instead I now game 9 w, 7 w, 5 w - the gapping is perfect, I hit 5 w just as far as 3 w only with the proper trajectory and height.  Before I'd eye ball 185, hit 4 hybrid and almost always be hole high somewhere around the green - tack man revealed that I was carrying it 160 and it was rolling out to around 182.  I carry 7 wood 178 and it rolls out to 185.

 

I think it's worth considering changes at the top of the bag based on course conditions but you should carefully consider whether or not you are getting bang for the buck when you change.  If you're new here you might consider reading the Ping long game gapping thread from two years ago.  It was an eye opener for all of us.

[Peaksy68]

On 2/25/2021 at 9:44 AM, StrokerAce said:

Interesting responses....

One other thing I hadn't thought of - does anyone ever swap shafts in/out of a head?

I know a guy who swaps between stiff and regular depending on the wind. I’m very unsure as to the science behind it, but I think his theory is to swing easier when it’s windy. Only in his driver, so I assume he always swings his irons the same

[BIG STU]

14 hours ago, revkev said:

This is one were I thought I was being so smart - I had my winter top end and my summer top end - winter, 5 iron, hybrid, hybrid, 3 wood - summer 5 hybrid, 4 hybrid, 3 wood - just brilliant.

 

Until I got on a launch monitor and had ARCOSS demonstrate how absolutely inept I was with every single one of those clubs - instead I now game 9 w, 7 w, 5 w - the gapping is perfect, I hit 5 w just as far as 3 w only with the proper trajectory and height.  Before I'd eye ball 185, hit 4 hybrid and almost always be hole high somewhere around the green - tack man revealed that I was carrying it 160 and it was rolling out to around 182.  I carry 7 wood 178 and it rolls out to 185.

 

I think it's worth considering changes at the top of the bag based on course conditions but you should carefully consider whether or not you are getting bang for the buck when you change.  If you're new here you might consider reading the Ping long game gapping thread from two years ago.  It was an eye opener for all of us.

Well said as SOP for you anyhow. Yep us older guys we do not have the SS anymore to elevate a 3 wood and we are better off with a 5 wood or a higher lofted what I call a 4 wood @ 16*. Yep it took me a long time to turn back the man card and admit it but it is true. I have really learned it in the last year or so with my injury. You have known me a long time on here and would you ever think you would see me with CBs and graphite shafts plus a Gap wedge in the bag? Yep my Signature is a long departure from what it used to be. Oh when I heal up again I will play the old stuff some for kicks and giggles. But at this stage I had to change or quit because it had became a painful struggle to try to play.