How Often Do We Use Each Type of Clubs in Our Bags?

[Golf2Much]

As I was reading through the PING s159 wedge WebFit outcomes from that forum members' postings I started to question a few things about my golf game.  For example, how important are wedges to my game?  How often to I really use them?  How often do I use any of the clubs that I carry?  To answer those questions, I opened my Shot Scope data and collected some data.

I opened by looking at data from my last ten rounds.  I clicked on performance, went through the driver, approach, short game and putting areas counting how many times I actually used each club.  There were some overlaps (e.g. using an "A" wedge for an approach shot and short game, putter for short game aka Texas wedge and putting, etc.).  I tallied the shots taken by each club, segmented the clubs into driver, fairway woods, hybrid/irons, wedges and putter.  Given the aggressive lofts of my Paradym X irons, I counted the pitching wedge in the iron category and wedges from the 46 degree approach wedge to 60 degree lob wedge.  The results were a little interesting.

As I've mentioned many times, I am a short hitter.  Even with moving up to our senior "golf" tees, I typically find myself being short on most par fours.  Based on that, it's not too surprising that a majority of the clubs use are on or around the greens.  The putter took up just over one-third (36%) of all of my shots taken which was followed by my wedges at 22%.  The next two were also not too surprising in that 17% of my shots were with a driver and I had almost the same number of fairway wood shots (13%).  What was a little surprising was that my one hybrid and iron set shots only accounted for 12%.   For some reason, it felt I was using them more than I really was.

Now, I know I own these numbers.  It's who I am.  But running through these, it makes me wonder why I placed so much emphasis on my iron play when in fact it makes up the smallest portion of the shots I take?  I hit fewer iron shots that I do with the combination of 3, 5 and 7 wood.  Yes, you could argue that poor iron shots lead to more chipping and putting with wedges.  But I've been hitting my irons better during this data window (and I hope it continues).  

I have been playing better lately plus made the move forward to the senior's tee box.  How did that impact the percentage use.  The answer is not that much.  I took data from last summer when I was playing the white tees and not necessarily playing my best.  What changed?  My use of fairway woods jumped to 17% and iron usage went down 2% to 10%.  Not surprising in that longer layout would require me to hit a few more fairway woods than I do now from the golf tees.  The percentage of putts went down 2%, but I was hitting less greens in regulation and chipping more.  Again, I am what I am!

So where do I go from here?  Armed with this information, I'm going to reprioritize my practice efforts.   I'm going to allocate more time with my putting and wedge play in hopes to make sure I can maintain a higher percentage of up and downs for par (and for me saving a bogey from the dreaded double).  I also want to prioritize and get more time hitting my fairway woods as they are a decent percentage of my overall shots.  My driver has been very consistent of late both in yardage (which I've gained 5-10 yards in the last several months) and accuracy (typically in the high 70's fairways in regulation) so I expect to take less time there.   

The percentage of shots by club used also will help prioritize where I should be making my investments as well.  I know my DF2.1 putter is locked in my bag.  Now the focus should be on my wedges.  Apart from the Paradym X A wedge, my three other wedges are Edison 50, 55 and 60 degree wedges.  They have over 400 -450 rounds on them and likely are due for a refresh!  Given how important they are to my game, new wedges will likely be the next investment.  

The percentage of iron shots for me might suggest placing less focus on them.  The only thing I really need here is to determine if the Paradym X's should say in the bag.  I'm hitting them much better than during my review of them last year.  However, I'm still struggling hitting them high enough to hold on our small Rees Jones greens.    That will be the only real reason, based on these numbers that I would look at new irons.  

That's my story.  How about you?  What clubs do you hit the most and least?

 

[Shrek74]

I tried to copy what you did with the pie chart with my Shot Scope data over the 7 rounds I used it last year (just got it and only 7 rounds so far).

My Driver is a combo of an actual driver I no longer use and a 2 wood I replace it with.
My fairway woods are my 3W and 5W. The 5W is in and out with a 3H, but I've kept them separate for this exercise.
My hybrids are 3H and 4H. As mentioned, the 3H is in and out as the 5W is somewhat new.
Irons are 5-PW. My PW is at 45*, but I still decided to leave it in the irons as it's all the same make/model.
Wedges are 50/54/60. What really shocked me is that 20% of all my shots (123 out of 644) were with my 50*. I guess I use it a lot around the green.

I did think I used my irons/hybrids/woods more than the graph indicates. I'm working on my irons now as I have a flip issue at impact that needs to go away to help with cleaner and more consistent contact and to increase the distance each one goes. That should help me with both GIR but also putts/round as I hope to be closer to the hole than I am now.

My new LAB DF2.1 will need lots of practice to get used to it and how it works for me. So that, along with more short game work will go into my improvement plan along with my iron swing work. I do have the GoSports popup chipping net 3-pack along with a hitting mat that should allow me to do some work around the yard as well as working at the various chipping areas at my community courses.

I'm looking to get fit in to new clubs this May, so all this will tie together as I look really hard at my bag makeup and what clubs I should actually look to invest in during and after my fittings. Likely the 5 iron will go away and be replaced by a hybrid, for example. I'll also really need to focus on my gapping as there looks to be some issues there.

Interesting exercise.

[Kenny B]

3 hours ago, Golf2Much said:

As I was reading through the PING s159 wedge WebFit outcomes from that forum members' postings I started to question a few things about my golf game.  For example, how important are wedges to my game?  How often to I really use them?  How often do I use any of the clubs that I carry?  To answer those questions, I opened my Shot Scope data and collected some data.

I opened by looking at data from my last ten rounds.  I clicked on performance, went through the driver, approach, short game and putting areas counting how many times I actually used each club.  There were some overlaps (e.g. using an "A" wedge for an approach shot and short game, putter for short game aka Texas wedge and putting, etc.).  I tallied the shots taken by each club, segmented the clubs into driver, fairway woods, hybrid/irons, wedges and putter.  Given the aggressive lofts of my Paradym X irons, I counted the pitching wedge in the iron category and wedges from the 46 degree approach wedge to 60 degree lob wedge.  The results were a little interesting.

As I've mentioned many times, I am a short hitter.  Even with moving up to our senior "golf" tees, I typically find myself being short on most par fours.  Based on that, it's not too surprising that a majority of the clubs use are on or around the greens.  The putter took up just over one-third (36%) of all of my shots taken which was followed by my wedges at 22%.  The next two were also not too surprising in that 17% of my shots were with a driver and I had almost the same number of fairway wood shots (13%).  What was a little surprising was that my one hybrid and iron set shots only accounted for 12%.   For some reason, it felt I was using them more than I really was.

Now, I know I own these numbers.  It's who I am.  But running through these, it makes me wonder why I placed so much emphasis on my iron play when in fact it makes up the smallest portion of the shots I take?  I hit fewer iron shots that I do with the combination of 3, 5 and 7 wood.  Yes, you could argue that poor iron shots lead to more chipping and putting with wedges.  But I've been hitting my irons better during this data window (and I hope it continues).  

I have been playing better lately plus made the move forward to the senior's tee box.  How did that impact the percentage use.  The answer is not that much.  I took data from last summer when I was playing the white tees and not necessarily playing my best.  What changed?  My use of fairway woods jumped to 17% and iron usage went down 2% to 10%.  Not surprising in that longer layout would require me to hit a few more fairway woods than I do now from the golf tees.  The percentage of putts went down 2%, but I was hitting less greens in regulation and chipping more.  Again, I am what I am!

So where do I go from here?  Armed with this information, I'm going to reprioritize my practice efforts.   I'm going to allocate more time with my putting and wedge play in hopes to make sure I can maintain a higher percentage of up and downs for par (and for me saving a bogey from the dreaded double).  I also want to prioritize and get more time hitting my fairway woods as they are a decent percentage of my overall shots.  My driver has been very consistent of late both in yardage (which I've gained 5-10 yards in the last several months) and accuracy (typically in the high 70's fairways in regulation) so I expect to take less time there.   

The percentage of shots by club used also will help prioritize where I should be making my investments as well.  I know my DF2.1 putter is locked in my bag.  Now the focus should be on my wedges.  Apart from the Paradym X A wedge, my three other wedges are Edison 50, 55 and 60 degree wedges.  They have over 400 -450 rounds on them and likely are due for a refresh!  Given how important they are to my game, new wedges will likely be the next investment.  

The percentage of iron shots for me might suggest placing less focus on them.  The only thing I really need here is to determine if the Paradym X's should say in the bag.  I'm hitting them much better than during my review of them last year.  However, I'm still struggling hitting them high enough to hold on our small Rees Jones greens.    That will be the only real reason, based on these numbers that I would look at new irons.  

That's my story.  How about you?  What clubs do you hit the most and least?

 

I don’t track data on what clubs I use during a round.  Maybe I will to validate what I am about to say, but I think I would be close to reality.

We have a very similar game; I’ve said that before.  Since I moved up to the senior tees two years ago, I have been able to hit more iron shots than I was before, but most of them come on Par 3 tee shots.  We have 5 par 3’s and 5 par 5’s.  We also have 3 short-ish par 4’s where I can hit driver-wedge.  All of the other par 4’s are still not reachable for me with an iron approach.  Of the 5 par 5’s there is only one that I don’t normally get to in 3 shots.  The other four are typically some iron approach for my 3rd shot.

So, let’s assume a typical score of 80.  I usually average 31 putts/round and I hit driver on 13 holes.  I hit 8 irons (5 par 3’s + 3 others).  Typically 11 FW shots (3W, HeavenWood or 9W).  I currently don’t have any hybrids.That leaves 17 wedges (48º, 54º or 60º).  

Club             %

Driver           16
FW                14
Irons             10
Wedges        21
Putter           39

So, 60% of my game is short game (putter and wedges.  This is why I practice short game a lot.  I typically hit a high percentage of fairways, so my scores are pretty much determined by how well I chip and putt.  Do it well and I can shoot my age; do it poorly and my wife will beat me.  Good incentive to practice!!  

 

[revkev]

I’ve done this exercise for myself and posted on the topic. For most players irons are ridiculously overrated. There are always exceptions but if you looked at them as groups - driver, fairway woods, irons, wedges, putter - irons are almost always in the 4th or 5th slot - and we spend more money on them and more practice time with them. Because they are often in the number 2 or 3 slot for the top .01
 

Good topic 

Edited March 9 by revkev

[Golf2Much]

1 hour ago, Kenny B said:

I don’t track data on what clubs I use during a round.  Maybe I will to validate what I am about to say, but I think I would be close to reality.

We have a very similar game; I’ve said that before.  Since I moved up to the senior tees two years ago, I have been able to hit more iron shots than I was before, but most of them come on Par 3 tee shots.  We have 5 par 3’s and 5 par 5’s.  We also have 3 short-ish par 4’s where I can hit driver-wedge.  All of the other par 4’s are still not reachable for me with an iron approach.  Of the 5 par 5’s there is only one that I don’t normally get to in 3 shots.  The other four are typically some iron approach for my 3rd shot.

So, let’s assume a typical score of 80.  I usually average 31 putts/round and I hit driver on 13 holes.  I hit 8 irons (5 par 3’s + 3 others).  Typically 11 FW shots (3W, HeavenWood or 9W).  I currently don’t have any hybrids.That leaves 17 wedges (48º, 54º or 60º).  

Club             %

Driver           16
FW                14
Irons             10
Wedges        21
Putter           39

So, 60% of my game is short game (putter and wedges.  This is why I practice short game a lot.  I typically hit a high percentage of fairways, so my scores are pretty much determined by how well I chip and putt.  Do it well and I can shoot my age; do it poorly and my wife will beat me.  Good incentive to practice!!  

 

@Kenny B, a man after my own heart!  I can only hope to someday shoot my age!  Either I have to get really good fast, age quicker or they change golf to about 13 holes.   

Even if you're self-motivated, it's still good to have some additional kind incentive of push to do well.  From now on I'll have to be careful on how I respond to my wife's question when I get home from golf..."How did you do?"  Punishment will continue until you get to a single digit handicap!  I have a feeling I may need some MGS visitors in the hospital.  

Keep it up the great play!

[Kenny B]

2 hours ago, Golf2Much said:

@Kenny B, a man after my own heart!  I can only hope to someday shoot my age!  Either I have to get really good fast, age quicker or they change golf to about 13 holes.   

Even if you're self-motivated, it's still good to have some additional kind incentive of push to do well.  From now on I'll have to be careful on how I respond to my wife's question when I get home from golf..."How did you do?"  Punishment will continue until you get to a single digit handicap!  I have a feeling I may need some MGS visitors in the hospital.  

Keep it up the great play!

I can tell you that it takes a lot of work.  When I retired, I moved to a course that has decent practice facilities.  That’s a must for me to improve.  I’ve had lots of lessons, been to several clinics, and put in the practice time, and there are still days when I wonder if I will ever hit the ball decently.  Most days I don’t but those few days when it all comes together are very satisfying.  The problem is that it then it seems so easy, and I should be doing that all the time!  Reality sets in, and I’m on to the next stage of golf development.  If I could only gain a few more yards off the tee, I think my handicap will drop quite a bit.  The problem is that age offsets any gains I make!  I guess I like the journey because I keep at it.  Whatever stage you are at, keep working and you will see progress.  

[Josh Parker]

The Shot Scope H4 hasn't arrived yet for me to start tracking actual club data yet but I do keep track of what I hit the old fashion way.  

I actually don't use woods very often. It's more of a consistency thing for me and typically play the par 5s in 3.  Currently I have a 3w and 3hybrid in the bag that may get used once a round or every other round.  All irons see play during my round and because of the par 3s and two holes, iron is played off the tee.  

My short game has always been a strong part of my game and I put a lot of time and effort in to it. Each wedge 50,54,58 are critical and I have several different shots for each wedge.  Irons have also been a large focus with being able to shape the ball or hit knock down shots depending on playing conditions. 

Lately the focus has been on woods and I am making good progress with those.  I will most likely delete the 3hy for a 5 wood this season as well as replace the 4 iron with a strong 3 for the few holes that I play iron from. 

[Wheelieb]

I would say I don't use all my clubs every round or even every other round. That may all change now though since I just got new Mizuno 225 irons. That is to be determined.

[cnosil]

here are my numbers based off of 30 rounds.  

[revkev]

6 minutes ago, cnosil said:

here are my numbers based off of 30 rounds.  

Interesting and a byproduct of you being younger and longer

But still irons are in the 4th slot. Part of what has irons so low for me is that 6 or 7 would be the longest iron that I game - normally 7. Where others might hit 5 or 6 I’m hitting 9 wood or 26 degree hybrid. 
 

Does anyone know what the break down would be for touring pros? LPGA players? 
 

This thread has also reminded me that I need to get back to spending more time practicing my wedges. 

[cnosil]

30 minutes ago, revkev said:

Interesting and a byproduct of you being younger and longer

But still irons are in the 4th slot. Part of what has irons so low for me is that 6 or 7 would be the longest iron that I game - normally 7. Where others might hit 5 or 6 I’m hitting 9 wood or 26 degree hybrid. 
 

Distance is probably a big reason as well as my on course mentality and bag setup.    I hit driver whenever I can so on most holes I am short iron or wedge into greens.   Like you the longest iron I carry is a 6.   

On the course I play quite a bit, driver is taken out of  my hands on some par 4 and 5s so I hit 3W, hybrids, and 6 iron off the tee and then all the par 3s are irons.   If I had a 4 and 5 iron in my bag the hybrids would get less usage since they wouldn't be there. 

There are a couple of courses I play that pretty much driver wedge on all the par 4s so like you said iron usage is pretty low.  

Edited March 9 by cnosil

[Tom the Golf Nut]

I can say based on my home course that I use every club in my bag each round. Its all about the layout of courses.

[revkev]

21 hours ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I can say based on my home course that I use every club in my bag each round. Its all about the layout of courses.

I use every club in my bag most rounds, too - 

 

The question asked and that should be considered is how often does one use them. As an ensemble I use my irons the least. Like a boob I’ve spent more money on them than the other ensemble groups in my bag or driver or putter (if I had purchased my putter.)  I also practice more with my irons than any other club when my usage suggests that shouldn’t be the case. So I appreciate this thread because it has me rethinking my practice time. 

 I will confess that I just bought a set of older PXGs on eBay but I bought them to pull the shafts - it was cheaper than buying the shafts.  But I would be better off investing that money on refinishing my trumpet or lessons or garden tools than irons - 

[Swood1994]

I think it’s pretty standard that putter will be used 30-40% of the time for most. Wedges will always be second (again for most of us). I carry 4 wedges so it’ll be a little higher for me as most courses I play are shorter and I like hitting driver off the tee. My 3 wood and 4-iron likely get the least amount of use as on most par 5’s locally it is driver then 4 hybrid thru 6-iron for my second shot in. 

I don’t have any data to back this up just what I know from playing the same few courses each season. It would be interesting to start tracking this though.

[GolfSpy_APH]

On 3/8/2024 at 8:58 PM, Golf2Much said:

As I was reading through the PING s159 wedge WebFit outcomes from that forum members' postings I started to question a few things about my golf game.  For example, how important are wedges to my game?  How often to I really use them?  How often do I use any of the clubs that I carry?  To answer those questions, I opened my Shot Scope data and collected some data.

I opened by looking at data from my last ten rounds.  I clicked on performance, went through the driver, approach, short game and putting areas counting how many times I actually used each club.  There were some overlaps (e.g. using an "A" wedge for an approach shot and short game, putter for short game aka Texas wedge and putting, etc.).  I tallied the shots taken by each club, segmented the clubs into driver, fairway woods, hybrid/irons, wedges and putter.  Given the aggressive lofts of my Paradym X irons, I counted the pitching wedge in the iron category and wedges from the 46 degree approach wedge to 60 degree lob wedge.  The results were a little interesting.

As I've mentioned many times, I am a short hitter.  Even with moving up to our senior "golf" tees, I typically find myself being short on most par fours.  Based on that, it's not too surprising that a majority of the clubs use are on or around the greens.  The putter took up just over one-third (36%) of all of my shots taken which was followed by my wedges at 22%.  The next two were also not too surprising in that 17% of my shots were with a driver and I had almost the same number of fairway wood shots (13%).  What was a little surprising was that my one hybrid and iron set shots only accounted for 12%.   For some reason, it felt I was using them more than I really was.

Now, I know I own these numbers.  It's who I am.  But running through these, it makes me wonder why I placed so much emphasis on my iron play when in fact it makes up the smallest portion of the shots I take?  I hit fewer iron shots that I do with the combination of 3, 5 and 7 wood.  Yes, you could argue that poor iron shots lead to more chipping and putting with wedges.  But I've been hitting my irons better during this data window (and I hope it continues).  

I have been playing better lately plus made the move forward to the senior's tee box.  How did that impact the percentage use.  The answer is not that much.  I took data from last summer when I was playing the white tees and not necessarily playing my best.  What changed?  My use of fairway woods jumped to 17% and iron usage went down 2% to 10%.  Not surprising in that longer layout would require me to hit a few more fairway woods than I do now from the golf tees.  The percentage of putts went down 2%, but I was hitting less greens in regulation and chipping more.  Again, I am what I am!

So where do I go from here?  Armed with this information, I'm going to reprioritize my practice efforts.   I'm going to allocate more time with my putting and wedge play in hopes to make sure I can maintain a higher percentage of up and downs for par (and for me saving a bogey from the dreaded double).  I also want to prioritize and get more time hitting my fairway woods as they are a decent percentage of my overall shots.  My driver has been very consistent of late both in yardage (which I've gained 5-10 yards in the last several months) and accuracy (typically in the high 70's fairways in regulation) so I expect to take less time there.   

The percentage of shots by club used also will help prioritize where I should be making my investments as well.  I know my DF2.1 putter is locked in my bag.  Now the focus should be on my wedges.  Apart from the Paradym X A wedge, my three other wedges are Edison 50, 55 and 60 degree wedges.  They have over 400 -450 rounds on them and likely are due for a refresh!  Given how important they are to my game, new wedges will likely be the next investment.  

The percentage of iron shots for me might suggest placing less focus on them.  The only thing I really need here is to determine if the Paradym X's should say in the bag.  I'm hitting them much better than during my review of them last year.  However, I'm still struggling hitting them high enough to hold on our small Rees Jones greens.    That will be the only real reason, based on these numbers that I would look at new irons.  

That's my story.  How about you?  What clubs do you hit the most and least?

 

Definitely clubs I hit the least or not at all, but I don't have the stats to back it to. 

4 iron is next to non existent for use and same with the 60. Just don't use them much. 

[Rob Person]

I removed 3-6 irons from my bag, can't hit them well as far as distance is concerned. I barely hit my 7i as a prefer the 7w. Putter ans wedges are pretty equal in usage, as I use the Texas wedge more than I probably should...

[BreakfastBall15]

I’ve never tracked what clubs I can use each round but I can tell you for certain that I’ll go multiple rounds without pulling out my hybrid or one of my 3 or 5 woods. This has me interested in tracking though