Set Configuration, old and new.

[Ye Olde Boomer]

As lofts continue to get stronger with each generation of new equipment, have you found that you've had to change your set configuration?

I did. After playing essentially the same set for two decades, I had to drop a metalwood and add a second gap wedge.
Where I'd gone from 28-52º in seven irons (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, PW, GW), I now go from 25-53º in eight (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, PW, GW1, GW2).
That meant changing my metalwoods from 13, 17, 20, 23º to 13.5, 17.5, 22º.

Of course, both sets wind up at fifteen clubs, but that's a discussion for another day.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

When one falls off page one without a single response, one knows that he's started a very uninteresting thread.

Sorry.

 

[Curls]

Lol. Yeah it’s a well trodden path this one people are often asking for advice on gapping. The consensus is it isn’t the loft that you should be concerned about it’s how far you carry them/what options they give you.

I have a 4 iron and 4 hybrid. Carry the latter 10 yards further and can draw it at will. It goes high, my iron I can hit low. Two completely different clubs, same loft. Gap your clubs by distance and you’ll know what to do

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

Lol. Yeah it’s a well trodden path this one people are often asking for advice on gapping. The consensus is it isn’t the loft that you should be concerned about it’s how far you carry them/what options they give you.

I have a 4 iron and 4 hybrid. Carry the latter 10 yards further and can draw it at will. It goes high, my iron I can hit low. Two completely different clubs, same loft. Gap your clubs by distance and you’ll know what to do

My reliance on specialty clubs is what makes things difficult...a utility driving iron that I don't hit from the fairway and a utility sand iron that I don't hit from grass.
Most people wouldn't take up a spot in their bag for a club like either of those, but those two clubs are very important to me. It means that I have to pull something else for formal play under the rules, and usually, I guess wrong!

 

[ScienceBoy]

First fell the 3 iron, soon the 4.

We only need 4 wedges these days as only two are actual wedges. The rest are really just irons with a different name.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

First fell the 3 iron, soon the 4.

We only need 4 wedges these days as only two are actual wedges. The rest are really just irons with a different name.

That's true. The matching pitching and gap wedges that come with a set of irons are really 8 and 9 irons of the 1960s converted to modern sole stamping protocols--two clubs strong.
But that could lead to a second gap wedge replacing the original pitching wedge. If you add a sand wedge and lob wedge to that, you're now up to FIVE.

 

[Deleted member 23270]

When one falls off page one without a single response, one knows that he's started a very uninteresting thread.

Sorry.

You can change your settings to show more threads per page, problem solved

 

[Crow]

The golden era for me is the 1960s/70s and that's when a lot of my irons sets date to.

PW is around 52 degrees so no need for a gap wedge, SW is 56 degrees and going the other way everything gets 4 degrees stronger per club, nice and simple.

Leaves you with 2 or 3 woods and a putter to choose.

 

[jim8flog]

When one falls off page one without a single response, one knows that he's started a very uninteresting thread.

Sorry.

Saturday morning here at the time of your post and most of us (hopefully) will be on the course.

 

[jim8flog]

One of the niceties for me is that I now buy a set of clubs and do not need to buy clubs with it that I will not use preferring 52 and loftier clubs form wwedge manufacturers.

Last set of irons I bought were from Mizuno and they let you only buy the clubs you want, which for me was 6-PW and in hindsight I would have only bought 7-PW.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

What gets me in trouble with the fourteen club rule is my reliance on "one trick pony " specialty clubs. I know that I've said this before but not everybody reads every post.

I rely on a dedicated specialty driving iron that I only use from the tee, never from the fairway, and it more or less overlaps lofts with my fairway woods. It's just that I do noticeably better hitting the driving iron at tight landing areas and the fairway wood at greens. It's a big enough advantage to want both clubs.

Same with the dedicated specialty sand iron that I don't hit from grass. It's not a matter of either the loft or the bounce. It's that very curved leading edge, onset in front of the shaft, that's great in fluffy sand and utterly useless from a tight lie on the grass.

I should probably go down to one fairway wood at about 20º loft instead of the two I play now and the three that I've played most of my golf life. It's not like I break a lot of flag sticks from that far out anyway.

By the way, are your flag sticks shorter than ours or do they just appear that way on TV? On my two trips to my country's motherland, I never made it to a golf course.

 

[Deleted member 23344]

That's true. The matching pitching and gap wedges that come with a set of irons are really 8 and 9 irons of the 1960s converted to modern sole stamping protocols--two clubs strong.
But that could lead to a second gap wedge replacing the original pitching wedge. If you add a sand wedge and lob wedge to that, you're now up to FIVE.

I really wish manufacturers would stop putting 3, 4, 5 etc on irons and instead use the loft. It will not guarantee an absolute comparison between makes, but it will provide more of a chance ... and avoid having to look up the specs online each time one looks at irons.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

I really wish manufacturers would stop putting 3, 4, 5 etc on irons and instead use the loft. It will not guarantee an absolute comparison between makes, but it will provide more of a chance ... and avoid having to look up the specs online each time one looks at irons.

Agree totally.
Hogan did it for a while but it didn't sell well for some reason.
Edel irons offer it as an option.
But overall, with club number / loft correlations changing constantly, I'm all for it.

 

[HankMarvin]

Does it really matter ?

You have 14 clubs to choose from so surely you can work it out after a few rounds.

I see more hybrids in bags these days than irons, it a sad thing to see.

 

[Deleted member 23344]

Does it really matter ?

You have 14 clubs to choose from so surely you can work it out after a few rounds.

I see more hybrids in bags these days than irons, it a sad thing to see.

We weren‘t talking about comparing irons WITHIN a set, and what they can do, but rather comparing different makes/models of irons. A 6 iron in one maker‘s set is not directly comparable with a 6 iron in another maker’s set if they turn out to be (say) four degrees different in loft. Even the same maker will have different lofts for the same numbered irons. Hence the comment about putting the loft on the club, not a seemingly variable number.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I figured out you have a legitimate set that is 4 wedges and four irons, hybrids, fairway woods, driver and a putter.

Iron lofts are being encroached on one end by wedges and the other by hybrids.

I therefore confidently predict by 2040 we will have a set of just wedges, hybrids plus driver and a putter.

 

[bobmac]

https://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/threads/6-9-irons.81722/

 

[harpo_72]

Does it really matter ?

You have 14 clubs to choose from so surely you can work it out after a few rounds.

I see more hybrids in bags these days than irons, it a sad thing to see.

Do you think the increased number of hybrids is because there distance gaps created by forgiving drivers? By that I mean people hit drivers better than previously and now have expectations of distance from other clubs that don’t have the capacity to forgive .. except a hybrid might?

 

[harpo_72]

https://forums.golf-monthly.co.uk/threads/6-9-irons.81722/

I would argue my set is conventional if you forget the numbers .. I carry a 4hybrid as my ability is limited but have 5 iron to 60 degree lob ( which is a speciality and dropped in winter)
I have a 52 and 56 wedge .. the 56 degree was always a sand wedge and forged through out my time playing. The 52 has varied between 50 or 52 depending on the set as the PW lofts got stronger.
So for me I would buy a set 5-pw and then seek to address the distances either side. I have accepted that my iron distances are limited and my skill level is not worthy of low lofted hybrids or irons sub 19 degrees.
I carry a driver, 5w, 4h at the top of my bag. If that is not enough then it’s lay up and minimise the damage.

 

[Deleted member 23344]

I play hybrids from 3-7, because I can hit them more consistently than the equivalent irons. However, I take Hank Marvin’s point ... I would prefer to use irons if I could, but I want to score the best I can. I think I would feel more of a “golfer” if I used irons.