Which Club In Your Bag Do You Rarely Use?

[jameswaters65]

60 degree LW.  I can do just as good with my SW around the greens and would never try a full swing with it.

[Sgair]

5 iron for me. 

[homerun3]

Changed my bag to reflect the lack of use for the lob wedge. Relegated it to the extra bag with the highest lofted club now being the 56* sand wedge.  After that, the stronger lofted hybrid is not often used, though I really like it.  

[Cryss]

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.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Cryss

[StephenC]

Simple answer. 3 wood. 
thin fairways in Florida, particularly this time of year. You need to be able to pinch this club off the surface area of a dime!

[joedeausen]

49 minutes ago, Svengineer said:

I usually only play for fun and I always have 15 clubs in the bag, and I mentally take out either the 3wood, the 16 hybrid or the 4 iron out of the bag before I play the course, based on length of par 3s. I have been hitting the driver well for a long while now, and playing the yellow tees I almost never need more than a 7 iron into the par 4s, and very seldom need more than the 16 degree hybrid to get to the longer par 5s in two shots. So I almost never use the wonderful titleist 3 wood I bought in 2021. I think I probably made a mistake by going with a 13.5° since it is just so difficult to get off the ground, even after I adjusted the loft sleeve to 15°. The ball speed from it was just so amazing that I got greedy.

I may need to start playing off the white tees this summer because of my handicap which may require me to use the 3 wood off the tee or into the longer par 5s but I think I may need to look into having a 4 wood in the bag.

I also have tried a 64° CG12 cleveland, and a 73° feel wedge and these things are in my opinion very much unnecessary when you can always just lay open the 60° lob wedge. You can get all the height you need with that.

I have also compared a 20° Srixon U85 utility/driving iron with a 21° hybrid that I have kept in the bag for close to 10 years now, and the results were so clearly in the hybrid's favour that I very quickly sold the U85. Hybrids are way easier to hit than these hollow driving irons.

Wow.  svengineer... 73-degree feel wedge.... who makes that club?  I have a 64-degree made by XE1.  And, 3W is my leased used club.

[Everardo]

None. I constantly evaluate which clubs are needed, which under-perform (mostly it's the user), which are better for certain courses, etc

 

[Andrew75]

I carry 10 to 11 clubs, even for tournament play, and I use them all, frequently enough. 

5 handicap, walk/carry, superlight bag, hilly course, age 62, cancer survivor, it's about health and fun more than every advantage. 

[billybogey]

4 Iron as gone to 7W. Hit 7W better!! Got to be EZ for the Old Guy!!

Do not get any sympathy from the younger studs, [lol btw] I play with.

They think I should pay out. Not happening!!

[LebanonOz]

3 iron.  I left it in the bag while I acclimated to my 19* hybrid last year and kind of forgot it was there until this topic popped up.  Just went and pulled it out of the bag (and my signature) before I forget to do it again.  I only hit it one time last year and that was before I spent some time working on the 3 hybrid which now covers covers the same territory.  Now that the 3 iron is out of the bag I can say 8 iron is least used.  Something is wonky with it and I started choking down on a 7 if I needed that distance (which really wasn't that often).  I should probably get that checked out before the season starts again.  The rest of the clubs I spread the love around pretty well.

Edited January 23, 2023 by LebanonOz
Added comment that the 3 iron was also removed from signature

[Hakr4ever]

It has to be my 5i. I have a Callaway 7w that I love, so I use it on 5i shots.

[BCases]

On 1/22/2023 at 10:21 AM, firedad said:

I have a four iron, I basically use it on for punching out of the trees.

Well , wouldn't that make it a highly used club then ? LOL

[ChuckZ]

A great question and I had to really think about this one.  Started analyzing the course I play three days a week and found that I use all fourteen clubs during my rounds.  It is a difficult course and shot selection/management is the key.  I find myself taking advantage of the 14 provided in my bag, tee to green.  Just me.    

[AdoraBill_Lefty]

It's my 3H.  My 4H (Adams) is so clutch, I know I can depend on it, but when I swing my 3 hybrid (Adams), I never know what to expect.  It's weird that I'd be so inconsistent with 2 adjacent clubs.  Heartbreaking when you need to execute, but I refuse to give up on her.

 

[Svengineer]

44 minutes ago, joedeausen said:

Wow.  svengineer... 73-degree feel wedge.... who makes that club?  I have a 64-degree made by XE1.  And, 3W is my leased used club.

It was called Feel, I think I bought it off ebay or amazon probably about 10 years ago. Really silly club that had one use, flop shots and short bunker shots.

[firedad]

23 minutes ago, BCases said:

Well , wouldn't that make it a highly used club then ? LOL

 

Some days

[Tom54]

5 iron. I can’t remember the last round it came out of the bag. 

[Papa Tango]

I rarely use my 4 hybrid.

[revkev]

Very interesting topic - 

 

For the past several years I've reviewed my club usage based on Shot scope stats, learning early on that the answer was not going to be what I expected.  First, there was usage to consider and second there was and is effective usage.  

 

Usage wise it's always a club in the 5 iron (9 wood for me) range.  I just don't have a lot of shots in the 165-175 range on the course that I play most.  So that's almost always my least used club.  My 3 wood and my 56 degree wedge were for the longest time my least effective clubs.  I ditched the 3 wood for a 5 wood and was far more effective with that.  However I recently had someone build a fairway wood that has a 4 wood head with a 3 wood shaft and I am doing well with it.  I've taken the 5 wood out and put it in.

 

I tried to work around the 56 by taking it and the 52 out and putting in a 54-59 combo.  Not a wise move on my part because I am most effective chipping with the 52.  Currently it and the 56 are back in and I'm using a different 59 with a very high bounce as an exclusive sand iron.  Jury is still out there.  

 

So usage wise it's 9 wood but I would not take that out of my bag as I do use it at least every other round and I'm very effective with it when I do.  I'm most likely to use it to lay up on a couple of par 5's or under certain conditions from certain tees on one of two par threes on my course.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

It's a never-ending story. It started with the 4 iron. Then I added a 7 wood to replace it. Then the 5 iron. I put a 5 hybrid in its place. Then it was my 60 degree.  So now there is a 56 degree with a wide sole which is great out of the sand and only out of the sand. Then a 55 degree which is great out of the fairway, and I can open that one up if needed without raising the leading edge off the turf much. My set gap wedge is 50 degrees so 55 made sense. So far, an entire season without making a change. 

[Rob W.]

I got arccos a couple years ago, and after 12 rounds realized I only used my 60* 3 times! down the rabbit hole we went.

So out it went, and since I was struggling with tight lie chipping, I put in a chipper. 

Once I got the feeling back with 7i chipping, the chipper & 56* went out, and 54* & 58* went in.

Didn't like that too much, so 54* & 58*out, and 56* & 19* hybrid in.

Didn't use the 19* at all (like 3W & 22* mashie better) so pulled that out, and carried two putters (blade & Mallet) to help with lag putting.

After I got laughed at, I finally came to my senses, and put a "desert" wedge in.  Not many desert courses in Illinois, but it's nice to have a junk PW to hit from paths, bridges, roots, flower beds, acorn shells, sand less and/or crunchy bunkers and other exotic locations I sometime find myself in.  No fear of snapping it on a root or wrapping it around a tree trunk, when a replacement is $10 in the bargain barrel. 

 

[David Leighton Reid]

Probably a toss up between my lob wedge and 5 iron.  It actually depends how many errant shots I hit in the trees which requires a 5 iron punch to get back in play.  

[bozo]

I rarely use my 3 hybrid. I'm not too good at hitting hybrids so I prefer my 4 iron or 4 wood.

[GPS111]

Any hybrid.  I've had them in my bag and tried them but hit longer irons and shorter woods better.  So I guess they're not in my bag anymore and the question doesn't apply!

Of what is there the 60 degree and SW don't get exercised as much as the rest.

[solly5]

5 iron - use 6h that gives similar distance and higher ball flight.  Also 3W - hit the driver just as straight and not as far as I used to, and the next in the bag is the 5 wood that also gets up in the air more easily, so not so different distance as the 3W.  With those two out, the bag is easier to carry (play with 12 clubs.)

[AdoraBill_Lefty]

I'm seeing so many people mention 3Wood as their least used club.  I have the Callaway Rogue ST (16 degree 3W) and can't imagine not swinging that baby multiple times per round.  It's the best 3W I've ever had, and is phenomenal off the tee or off the deck.  

[CP Golfer]

I honestly can’t say. I use them all based on distance required. I would like to add another wedge or left handed 7 iron but that would give me 15 clubs in the bag.

[drb1956]

I have a 4 hybrid @21*, and a 4 iron @24* that do not see much action, but there are occasions when I use them...

[Andrew75]

5 hours ago, Everardo said:

None. I constantly evaluate which clubs are needed, which under-perform (mostly it's the user), which are better for certain courses, etc

 

I like that. Though I only carry maximum 11 clubs, I will sometimes take a 59 degree wedge and other times a 15 degree Freiheit driver, depending on the course. The main question is how will I configure wedges. Typically I go 38, 46, 55, but I can also go 38, 43, 49, 56 or 38, 46, 54, 59. I have a lot of really nice wedges. Bounce will also fluctuate, but never more than 11.

[Beakbryce]

For me it depends on what tee I am playing. It's not one club. Lately, if I play a longer tee than I hit mostly woods and 4 hybrid and not to many irons. If I move up a tee, than a lot of irons and not so many woods. It's kind of a stark contrast. I generally play three courses and it's the same way on all three. Good times.