Most Personal Club in Your Bag

[GolfSpy MPR]

Another thread here got me thinking about which clubs in our bags we develop the greatest attachment to. Here, I'm not thinking of mere sentimental value. Rather, I'm thinking about from an on-course performance perspective, which club you would least want someone to swap out with a generic, off-the-rack replacement.

Obviously, this is a tough question to get at, because (for instance) you use your irons for a lot of shots.

So let's say you have to hit a single shot. You don't know what it is: it could be a drive, an approach, a short game shot, a recovery shot, or a putt.

Before I show you the shot, you get to choose one part of your bag that I cannot replace. What are you picking?

[null]

My 3 wood. My G410LST 3W has shown me why so many PGA Tour players rarely change their 3W. 
 

Once you find the one you can trust off the tee and the deck you should never let it go.  I have that in the G410LST. Confidence every time I look down at it 

The 3W is the club I’m most worried about going into CC5

[Berg Ryman]

Even though it's the newest club in my bag, it has to be the putter. It's the club which is 'most custom' to me with a different stock neck than most mallets, DLT tech so different lofts and even that's one degree weaker across the board, and different lie angle. Second choice would be like @jlukes, my 3 wood might be the best swing club in the bag.

[revkev]

I was fitted for putter by Guerin Rife 

 

I can go off the rack for fairway woods - I was actually fit for those and yet ended up off the rack in the fitting.

 

Drivers are super adjustable and have shaft options on the rack - I could easily fit myself there.

Irons and wedges I could eventually find a Ping set off the rack with a close enough shaft that was 2 flat and be fine.

 

Putter?  Not a chance I’m finding one anywhere that fits like the one in my bag does. 
 

This might change if you told me off the rack meant standard loft for irons - that would be very bad for me

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

I wish it was my putter but I do not have 100% confidence in my current gamer....

This was a tough one as my 4 IRON is one of my most versatile clubs, love hitting low stingers with it, its just pretty good in many aspects for me.

I chose driver though. After being fit and gaming the COBRA for a few rounds its extremely reliable for me right now. Could change in a few months but doubtful as the summer comes my driver comes alive typically....I dont know how much more alive it cane get but I am excited to see it.

[IDontGiveAchuck]

I'm going to say my wedges.  The reason is that I've had my wedges for a while now and they have served me well and I know how to hit them just how I want.  I can't say the same for my other clubs.  I do fine with the others but there isn't anything about them that gives me the same confidence as my wedges.

[bens197]

I'll always be a driver kid.  When people say "play it safe" and hit a shorter tee shot I'll always feel most confident with the 1W.  It doesn't scare me on the tee and I love hitting it.  Everything else, I would find a way to make it work.

[MattF]

My 3 wood. I have too much confidence in that club.

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

4 minutes ago, bens197 said:

I'll always be a driver kid.  When people say "play it safe" and hit a shorter tee shot I'll always feel most confident with the 1W.  It doesn't scare me on the tee and I love hitting it.  Everything else, I would find a way to make it work.

Driver has always been a club I relate back to a baseball saying "You hang em we bang em" on a non breaking curve ball. Thats how I look at driver...I am trying to smoke that thing everytime...

[GolfSpy MPR]

5 minutes ago, IDontGiveAchuck said:

I'm going to say my wedges.  The reason is that I've had my wedges for a while now and they have served me well and I know how to hit them just how I want.  I can't say the same for my other clubs.  I do fine with the others but there isn't anything about them that gives me the same confidence as my wedges.

I honestly expected this to be a more popular answer, especially given the variable lies you could get on your mystery shot. Stepping up to a sketchy bunker lie—or for that matter, some odd in between yardage from the fairway—with a wedge I've never used before strikes me as inviting a lot of unpredictably in outcome.

[bens197]

8 minutes ago, Lacassem said:

Driver has always been a club I relate back to a baseball saying "You hang em we bang em" on a non breaking curve ball. Thats how I look at driver...I am trying to smoke that thing everytime...

Honestly dude. We get to choose where and how high to tee it up, I get excited when I can hit some bombs. 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

5 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

I honestly expected this to be a more popular answer, especially given the variable lies you could get on your mystery shot. Stepping up to a sketchy bunker lie—or for that matter, some odd in between yardage from the fairway—with a wedge I've never used before strikes me as inviting a lot of unpredictably in outcome.

For me I feel like I can hit any wedge, I have preferences out of certain lies but its really only loft. @B.Bostoncobras have different grinds then mine do and I hit them just fine having never swung them during the cobra challenge last year. I feel like I sound very blunt saying "any wedge" I am sure there are some that would not suit me but I could make them work I think.

[GolfSpy BOS]

I had to go putter here.  A close second would be my wedges.  

My reasoning:

-If I have to hit a tee-shot or approach shot I should be able to hit a REASONABLY good shot with any off the rack club.  My misses will certainly be better with properly fit clubs, but generally a good shot will be a good shot.  I just might have to factor in differences in loft/lie with my starting line.

-If I have to hit a wedge shot once again I should be able to hit a reasonably good shot with an off the rack wedge.  I'd likely just choke up a bit more to have more control.  I'm pretty confident in my ability to hit a flop shot or something like that if needed.  

-I want my putter in my hands.  I know that I can putt well with most any off the rack putter.  But if you're telling me I have one shot at a putt, I know my best shot at making it is with my putter.  All the other shots listed a success vs fail has more room for error than the make or miss of a putt.  

 

[GolfSpy_SHARK]

1 minute ago, bens197 said:

Honestly dude. We get to choose where and how high to tee it up, I get excited when I can hit some bombs. 

Bingo. Hot zone every time!

[GolfSpy_APH]

I would have to go with my irons. They are the clubs I trust the most and rely on the most. Even for the 4 club challenge a few years back I dropped my driver and 3 wood and used a 2 iron instead and had a few great rounds. 
Plus they have my z cord grips which I am a huge fan of.

[HeathS16]

I went with my irons....but this was a very tough question! I love it, really got me thinking.  Putter was obviously the second choice. If anything this has really made me think about utilizing the best part of my game more often. The irons-only rounds really opened my eyes last year during the Cobra Connect competitions to playing some of my usual tracks much differently. 

 

[YYCRed]

You try to replace my Scotty Cameron Squareback, we're gonna have an issue. 

[MattWillGolf]

Currently it is my 3 wood. Lately that has been my most consistent club. It’s a PXG 0341 3 wood. It’s set to 16 degrees. It has a Project X Even Flow Blue 5.5 shaft. It just goes straight. It’s the best 3 wood I’ve ever owned. I used to be a TaylorMade guy but when PXG offered this one for $95 I decided to take a chance. It’s more than paid for itself. 

[BKordon]

I vote for wedges. While putters are personal and have a certain feel, how often do they get put into the corner for behaving badly. Same can be said for a driver. 

My wedges are all built with the identical shaft and grip setup. They feel the same. The lofts are the only variable. I can hit them high, low, flighted, front foot, back foot. For me, they are scoring clubs. 

I will say that my irons are second on the list. It's a feel thing. I don't like the feel of some irons.

[TR1PTIK]

On 5/19/2021 at 10:41 AM, GolfSpy MPR said:

Another thread here got me thinking about which clubs in our bags we develop the greatest attachment to. Here, I'm not thinking of mere sentimental value. Rather, I'm thinking about from an on-course performance perspective, which club you would least want someone to swap out with a generic, off-the-rack replacement.

Obviously, this is a tough question to get at, because (for instance) you use your irons for a lot of shots.

So let's say you have to hit a single shot. You don't know what it is: it could be a drive, an approach, a short game shot, a recovery shot, or a putt.

Before I show you the shot, you get to choose one part of your bag that I cannot replace. What are you picking?

I really like this one @GolfSpy MPR! I had to give it a little thought and decided to keep my wedges.

I've played a variety of off-the-rack clubs, tinkered with buddies drivers, and borrowed sets that look nothing like my own when traveling. The #1 thing I struggle to adjust to is always the wedges. Unless we're talking an off-the-rack major OEM wedge, I think there's just too much to get wrong for me. The shaping, the sole grind, the lofts, face milling, etc. all culminate into a versatile tool designed to help me score. I'm not the best golfer, but I'm good enough to be able to make a whippy driver shaft, chunky upright irons, or a bargain bin putter work if I need to. Wedges are an entirely different ball game and the wrong wedge would limit the variety of shots I feel comfortable playing.

[MaxEntropy]

I like @revkev's logic, but have to go 3W. Of course, my putter was not fit to me by Rife, so....

[revkev]

On 5/19/2021 at 12:24 PM, GolfSpy MPR said:

I honestly expected this to be a more popular answer, especially given the variable lies you could get on your mystery shot. Stepping up to a sketchy bunker lie—or for that matter, some odd in between yardage from the fairway—with a wedge I've never used before strikes me as inviting a lot of unpredictably in outcome.

That’s true with our gamers though -

[Kenny B]

It's a tough choice between my putter and wedges; however, I will pick my wedges.  

I can adapt to any driver; I can play most FW, but I don't have to play one; a low lofted hybrid will do; I'm not the best iron player and I could probably make anything work as well as my gamers.

Since I miss a lot of greens, I use my wedges a lot and I have confidence in shots around the green.  I could never get out of bunkers before I got my Callaway PM Grinds.

I love my putter and it was fitted for me; I would hate to give it up.  However, with a little practice I think I could make any putter work OK.  I used to play a Heavy Putter and I played pretty well with a Bullseye... just about opposites.

[Shapotomous]

Tough choice for me between driver and wedges as once I dial them in I have long term relationships with those clubs.  But I chose driver!

[myherobobhope]

I guess it depends on what you mean by generic off the rack clubs... There are far more driver shafts I don't get along with than there are iron shafts... but if we are just going straight stock demo bag from the local golf course, I'd probably pick my putter... I'm sure I could make a "regular" putter work for one swing, but I'd much rather putt with mine, as it's long, center shafted and built for me... 

After that it would be my driver, but mostly because I like the midsize grip and heavy shaft... if I could keep that part, you can toss any modern head on the end of it, and I'll miss the fairway just the same as I do with my current driver.

Love my hybrid and utility iron... but they aren't special... same with my irons and wedges... Off the rack would be fine for one shot... but I built my bag for me, and every club in there (other than my 3 wood) makes me happy and helps me perform better than if it was replaced with a generic equivalent. 

As a side note, if you have an off the rack 3 wood, feel free to send it to me... My pro took the one he gave me back and I'm using my adams speedline again... it's fine.

[Hook DeLoft]

I picked driver because I hit a lot of fairways.  I would have picked wedges if the question specified full shots.  I'm a little shaky on shots under 70 yards, but am very confident with gap through lob wedge on full swings.

[TBT]

I was torn between my wedges and my putter.

I choose wedges.

 

I don’t hit the ball a long way anymore and I don’t hit a lot of greens either so I rely on my short game to score. 
 

I get up and down a lot! I choose wedges because I leave myself inside 5 feet quite a bit.

[pouetvl]

Driver, I play a ping g410 SFT, my drive would be way too hard to control without this driver at the moment with an off the shelves generic driver.

 

[Watchnut33]

I hold my wedges more than I hold my...never mind. 
 

I’ll deal with off the rack for whatever else. Not my wedges. 

[golfish!]

Had to be driver for me as that is the club I feel is best fitted for me. I have hit other clubs in the bag off the rack and seem to be ok with them. Driver is the one club I think everyone would benefit most from being fit for! Especially me! I was averaging 240 off the tee before my fitting. Now I am averaging 265 off the tee and even hitting 300 yard bombs here and there. Definitely could not do that with my old driver!