After measuring shots on the range and course over many different days, I've decided to drop my 5i because I don't hit it as well as either the 6i or 5h. The gap between the 6i and 5h is fine without another club between them anyway. So that frees up a slot. Here's what I'm considering (no purchase necessary, these are all in the misfit bag currently.)

• Taylormade R1 as a second driver
• Callaway Bertha Mini 1.5 between 11.5 driver and 21.5 Heavenwood (I don't carry a 3 or 4 wood now)
• Callaway Big Bertha 11w (it's money on a specific par 3 at my home course, but overlaps my hybrids otherwise)

I'm not a long hitter, so the extra driver or Mini would provide more options off the tee to avoid trouble. Also, the quality of my strikes with the 11w off the fairway is considerably better than the Mini. Thoughts?

How are you gapped from PW, GW, SW to LW? Do you have 3H, 4H and 5W?

Easier to show here.


My wedges are 43.5, 48.5, 54, and 58. I have a 64 that I really love, but the 58 is more consistent.

Hybrids are set at 22 (avg 140/158, 106 ball speed) and 25 (avg 133/151, 103 ball speed.) The Heavenwood is my most consistent FW, and serves as a 5w.

In the hill country, most of us carry a demo 6 iron or some other iron as a trouble/rock club. If you hit it in the rough and have rocks to deal with, it doesn't tear up your irons. I personally carry a 4 iron and a 4 hybrid, with the iron being my get out of jail club.

jj9000 said:

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Buy a Chipper to fill the 14 slot.

No need for 2 Drivers, and certainly no need for a 64*.

No, I'm not kidding.

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That's also an option. I have a Cleveland SmartSole 2.0 C chipper, as well as the S wedge (58).

jj9000 said:

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I'll add this.

Drop the 3-4 Hybrid.
Drop all FW woods except the 7 and 11 woods.

Whatever you do, stick with what you pick, and practice with the 14 you pick.

Edit...I suggest a Gap wedge to fill in the 75-100 yd gap.

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I like this idea, actually. The only hesitation I'd have is not having a hybrid for rough lies, but the old 11w has a Warbird sole and a smallish head. I've used it out of the rough with good results.

I already have a GW in the bag, but no shot data on this sheet. It goes 85-90 consistently.

I'd opt for GW too, unless you're already really crafty with dialing back the PW.

So how does this look for 14?

Driver
Heavenwood
11w
5h
6i - GW
54
58
Chipper
Putter

Any other thoughts?

G-Mar... more MISIG man.. I think you're about 2 years older than me. should swing harder!!

Ok Ok...I kid.

I really put a lot of thought into your yardage data and actually booted up my laptop to type this out.

Looks like you don't have the data for the 48.5 and 58 wedges. Your PW is 43.5 and you have a 48.5 deg GW. 5 degree spread. I guess it's ok though I prefer 4 degree gap between my wedges. Then you have 5.5 degree gap between your GW to SW (54). It also looks like you have almost 25 yard differential between your PW to SW and I'd think you have 10+ yard gap between your PW to GW while your gaps are about 7 to 8 yards between clubs. And I'm going by your ball flight distance and not total.

Faster the swing speed, larger the yardage gap between clubs. With 4 degree gaps in my wedges, my yardage gaps are precisely 11 yards between clubs.

If I was you, I'd get a new shaft for the driver - lightest shaft with the correct bend point and flex to squeeze extra distance. Then I would add 2 gap wedges, 48 and 52 then add 56 and 60 degree wedges. Yup 5 wedges but, quite frankly, your 43.5 degree PW really isn't a PW. And unless I'm chipping, I'd learn to hit a partial pitch shot from 10 yards to 70 yards with one wedge and use the rest for full swing only.

Once you dial in your 5 wedges, you'll be deadly from 120 yards in and make birdies here and there and annoy the **** out of your playing buddies.

G Martin 87 said:

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So how does this look for 14?

Driver
Heavenwood
11w
5h
6i - GW
54
58
Chipper
Putter

Any other thoughts?

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Really???? C'mon man.

AggieDruggist89 said:

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G Martin 87 said:

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So how does this look for 14?

Driver
Heavenwood
11w
5h
6i - GW
54
58
Chipper
Putter

Any other thoughts?

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Really???? C'mon man.

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I chip really well with the 58 already, so no real need for it. But Crossfield likes 'em.

AggieDruggist89 said:

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If I was you, I'd get a new shaft for the driver - lightest shaft with the correct bend point and flex to squeeze extra distance. Then I would add 2 gap wedges, 48 and 52 then add 56 and 60 degree wedges. Yup 5 wedges but, quite frankly, your 43.5 degree PW really isn't a PW. And unless I'm chipping, I'd learn to hit a partial pitch shot from 10 yards to 70 yards with one wedge and use the rest for full swing only.

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Thanks for taking the time to respond. Much appreciated, for sure. Regarding my wedges, yes the PW and GW are part of the iron set and really only get used for full swings anyway. I'll find and post the shot data for those and the driver later.

Lately I've put a lot of practice into pitching and chipping with the 58 (10 deg bounce.) Getting pretty good with it using Stan Utley's approach to using the bounce.

jj9000 said:

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Take 50 shag balls to the green.

Drop 10 balls around the green in 5 stations.

Make a 3" circle out of kite string and tee string them into the green around the hole.

Take the chipper and the 58* to the practice green and run through 2-3 rounds.

You'll have at least double the success with the chipper. Guaranteed.

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If I can start dropping them in a 3" circle around the hole, I'll be ready for the tour.

Just play with 13.

OK, here's some more data. (These are nearly all from on-course measurements via GPS, so I just have total distance.)

6i @ 27*: avg 143.6 (n=56)
7i @ 30.5*: avg 128.8 (n=16)
8i @ 34.5*: avg 125.3 (n=22)
9i @ 39*: avg 119.7 (n=42)
PW @ 43.5*: avg 108.1 (n=31)
GW @ 48.5*: avg 96.5 (n=24)
AW @ 54*: avg 81.3 (n=20 full swings, no pitches or chips)

Pretty obvious that my favorite iron is my 6i. I don't have any full swing distances for the 58*, but from experience I know it will carry 60.

As for my driver, it's a Cobra F-Max @ 11.5* with a 50g Cobra "Superlite" shaft, 45.5" length. Total avg is 192 (n=111) at 80-85 mph club speed. I have no AOA or spin numbers, but my ball flight is straight unless I swing hard. (I aim waaaay left then.) No ballooning at all. I generally control height and distance by tee height and gripping down if needed. The Taylormade R1 goes a little further if I adjust it to 10.5*, but the shaft is a 55g stiff. I don't have much data for that one and it's not in my bag. The F-Max is easy to hit and reliable.

2nd putter or a left handed club.

jj9000 said:

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I know you're working hard on gapping your bag...but here's 2 things that stick out to me:

1. You need to get the lofts/lies checked on your set. Your 7i and 8i should not be ~3yds apart with a 4.5* loft difference.

2. I suggest going with a 52* / 56* wedge setup. Your low end bag gapping needs help. Too big of a gap (15 yd) between the 54* and your 48.5.*. Also, too big of a gap between the 58* and the 54* (21 yd).

If you don't want to buy new wedges, just have the current wedges bent 2* strong. Also, don't worry about the comments below mine about decreasing bounce. FWIW...a 56* wedge is a SW, and you can do just about anything with a 56* that you can do with a 58*.

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This^^^^^

Your gaps are all over the place

15 yard gap is normal.
9 oclock should be close to dead middle

Bend the 5 iron a degree stronger
6 iron a degree weaker
Drop the other 6 iron

Buy a 58degree wedge and a 50 degree wedge

G-Mar, like I said before, add 52 GW and 56 SW and get ur 48.5 bent to 48 - not critical. And since u have a room for one more club, add a 60 LW. Or bend your 54 down to 52 and 58 to 56.

I bent my 56 to 54. That club is money from 95 yards

Good discussion so far; got me reevaluating all my clubs. Getting fit for new irons/wedges won't be in the budget until 2024, so I need to put together a bag for 2023 from what I have, or maybe add 1-2 from eBay or the like.

So, I went to the range yesterday with impact tape and dry erase markers to check length and lie. According to the current Ping color chart, I should be +1/2" over standard and right on the line between Green (2* up) and Blue (1* up). Never gave it much thought before this thread, but my irons are standard length and lie. Impact tape consistently showed hits towards the toe on 6i, 7i, and 8i with good vertical lie marks. This is the 6i tape after 5 hits, for example.



Then I used a couple of demo clubs I had laying around: a Ping G10 7i Blue dot +1/2", and a Tour Edge HL4 6ironwood 2* up +1/2". This is the Tour Edge 6iw after 5 hits, for example. (The Ping 7i looked like this too.)



Couple of questions:

• This looks like confirmation to me that I should be playing irons at +1/2". Lie doesn't seem to be as important, but more up feels right. Does that seem like a reasonable conclusion?
• Could playing too short lengths be responsible for inconsistent gapping, assuming that lofts are correct?

Love your dedication to the game.

I'm not familiar with how to use the impact tape. I think I'm going to trial it on my hybrids. I believe it will help my long game!

AggieDruggist89 said:

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Love your dedication to the game.

I'm not familiar with how to use the impact tape. I think I'm going to trial it on my hybrids. I believe it will help my long game!

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Works like foot powder spray, but a lot less messy. You put one of the labels on the club face with the circle over the center of the face. The impact of the ball leaves a mark on the label. I'm a right handed golfer, so the left end of the labels I posted above corresponds to the toe, right side is the heel end. The label will interfere a little with spin numbers, so be aware of that if you're using these with a launch monitor that measures spin rates. (Garmin G80 doesn't.) In the 6i example, my hits were low and towards the toe. The 1/2" longer clubs had hits nearer the center of the club face.

To check lie angle, I used a blue dry erase marker line on the ball, with the line oriented vertically when placing the ball on the ground/tee. If the line is pointing straight up (as shown above) on the club face after the swing, your lie angle is good. If the line is angled towards the toe, the lie is too upright. If the line is angled towards the heel, the lie is too flat. Caution: you can't measure the angle of the line to determine how many degrees the lie angle is off so that you know how much to have the club bent. This method isn't precise enough for that. It's just a check, same as hitting a lie board.

What is your handicap? Do you keep stats on your game?

MoneyG said:

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What is your handicap? Do you keep stats on your game?

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I started off 2022 playing off 20-21, and wasn't able to play for most of the year due to wrist surgery. Since coming back and practicing almost exclusively short game and putting, I'm at 18 now.

Played 11 partial or full rounds since September totaling 171 holes:

Fwy hit = 52.2%
GIR = 17.5%
Putts per hole = 1.825

My focus in 2022 was solely on just being able to play again without pain. I'd like to set more ambitious goals for 2023 after full recovery. (3 more months to go to reach a year post-op.)

ETA: One nice thing about not being able to play much was that I used the time off to teach myself how to regrip clubs. First project for 2023 will be extending my irons 1/2". My package from Golfworks arrived yesterday.