Building the Top of Your Bag

[dcbrad]

So I am hardcore pondering right now the top of my bag for the Morgan Cup. I am trying to decide what I want to do FW and Hybrid-wise and thought this might be a good thread to get some opinions from some fellow THPers.

What is your goal when you are trying to match-up your gaps between FW and Hybrids and Hybrids and Irons. Do you like to space the degrees of loft out into certain intervals (like say, 4*/club?) or are you more focused on keeping it in a certain yardage (say, 10-12 yard drop per club?) or maybe a bit of both?

What about playability? Do you take a club that you can double as a "safety net" off the tee or do you go with a club that you can hit off the deck better? As a guy who is new to building a bag, it'd be interesting to see how other people have gone about it with their bags and get an idea about their philsophy behind it.

 

[blugold]

Top of my bag is about two things for me. Driver alternatives and then ease of use from the course.

 

[ArmyGolf]

As far as gap control I like to use yardage as the main factor, using just lofts can mess with you due to differing launch angles/conditions.

I'm probably not the guy you are asking because the top of my bag is quite empty. I bag a driver and a 5 wood and that's it. I find that my 5 wood moves into my 4 iron quite nicely with a 20 yard gap, a gap that I've never really found the need to fill.

 

[Damaikis]

I used to look for a driver alternative. Now that I don't need on, I'm all about how I can play it from the deck and yardages.

 

[jlukes]

For me it as about yardage gaps. I carry a 3 wood and then my irons started at 4 iron, so I found a club that fit in between the two. (3 hybrid)

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD

 

[dcbrad]

As far as gap control I like to use yardage as the main factor, using just lofts can mess with you due to differing launch angles/conditions.

I'm probably not the guy you are asking because the top of my bag is quite empty. I bag a driver and a 5 wood and that's it. I find that my 5 wood moves into my 4 iron quite nicely with a 20 yard gap, a gap that I've never really found the need to fill.

Hey man, no one is excluded at all for this! Thanks for throwing your input in!

 

[War Eagle]

Im with Blu, here. When looking at the top of my bag, I am looking at giving myself two options from the tee (driver, 3w) and then at least two options in woods/hybos for fairway use (5W/7W/Hybos).

I rarely, if ever, hit 3W off the deck, it's just not something that I do a lot. So, two long club options off the tee, then two options for hitting from the fairway, then on to my irons.

 

[dcbrad]

I used to look for a driver alternative. Now that I don't need on, I'm all about how I can play it from the deck and yardages.

I think I am going to incoroporate a driver alt. and a 1-2 clubs that have good playability off the deck in the top. If that means possibly losing a wedge at the bottom, I might go that route.

 

[Hawk]

I'm looking for the easiest clubs to hit at the top. I want tight gapping with hybrids to a degree, but I just look for the fairway wood that is the easiest to hit and goes the farthest.

 

[dcbrad]

Im with Blu, here. When looking at the top of my bag, I am looking at giving myself two options from the tee (driver, 3w) and then at least two options in woods/hybos for fairway use (5W/7W/Hybos).

I rarely, if ever, hit 3W off the deck, it's just not something that I do a lot. So, two long club options off the tee, then two options for hitting from the fairway, then on to my irons.

That's basically the exact strategy I am taking in to this. It may change over time, but I like this strategy, it gives you a lot of flexibility I think.

 

[ryebread]

I've spent a ton of time in the past year nailing down the long clubs in the bag. I'm still not a long hitter (intentionally slower swing speed), but my accuracy and confidence in this area of the game has improved drastically.

For me it is:
- Driver -- easiest one I can find to hit
- Driver alternative -- insurance policy in case the driver isn't working. Used for shorter holes off the tee.
- Longest wood I can hit off the fairway -- for me that is a 4 wood
- The last spot creates an even gaps between the longest wood and the longest iron I carry -- for me that is a 7 wood.

I think if I got better, I'd drop the insurance policy club. I'd split the 7 wood and 5 iron with a 4 hybrid that I have. If I weren't carrying an extra wedge, I'd already be doing that.

 

[Puttin4Bird]

Like Hawk says I'm just looking for something that I can hit long and that's relatively easy to hit. I need a 3w that I can hit well both off the tee and out of the fairway. I don't really even focus on distance gaps at the top but I do when it comes to the hybrids.

 

[Howzat]

Great thread. I am pumped to be playing Cobra this year as the loft adjustability will make is easy to dial the gaps in. Everything goes off the irons for me. I find out what the longest iron I am comfortable with and then try to get the gaps where I want them from there. I like having multiple options off the tee and will sacrifice a wedge to do so.

 

[dcbrad]

Great thread. I am pumped to be playing Cobra this year as the loft adjustability will make is easy to dial the gaps in. Everything goes off the irons for me. I find out what the longest iron I am comfortable with and then try to get the gaps where I want them from there. I like having multiple options off the tee and will sacrifice a wedge to do so.

I'm in the same boat. I would be perfectly willing to take a wedge out of the bag to accommodate it. I am pretty interested to see how the cobra guys build out their bags.

 

[Rageshadow]

This year for me I went with Driver and 3 wood then jump to a 3h as that I found the 3h was within about 15 yards of my 5 wood and the 4h is spot on for my old 7 wood. The biggest reason for this change for me was the ease of the hybrids to hit off the deck. Take this how you will as I am no scratch golfer lol far from it.

 

[Tadashi70]

Take the driver away as if you don't need it. Now I need a 3W that I can rely on with length and consistency. Then I'm looking for a hybrid that I can work both direction and is also long off the tee and hits bullets of the deck. Now the fun begins, I want a long iron that can handle 200 plus par threes and recover from errant shots into the gunge. This is either a 4hybo or 4i.

The distances in top end, for me, have to over lap at the lower end of the distances. This insures I have no gaps.

 

[dhill]

Great Thread. I have been going into overdrive as well. I've got a lot of ponders going on and there is a chance for great info here.

I'm looking at top vs. bottom of the bag and here are some thoughts I've had so far. I'm not sure what distances I'll hit the clubs and I know that'll play in as well.

 

[arydolphin]

I'm a little bit weird in that I want pretty tight gaps at the bottom end of my bag. Determining what wedges and short irons I will have in my bag will then determine how many clubs I have to work with at the top of my bag. The way I see it is that I'm going to have many more shots from 50-125 yards as opposed to 200+ yards, so I want to focus on the shorter distances. It also helps that I can hit the ball a decent distance off of the tee, so I don't have very many hybrid or fairway wood approach shots.

Once all that is done, I'm usually looking to add a fairway wood that will be used more off of the tee than the fairway, but I have to be able to hit it off of the deck as well. I don't care about the loft or the number on the bottom of the club; I've played a 3 wood and 4 wood in that slot at times, whereas my dad has gone to a 5 wood as his fairway wood, it's whatever works off of the deck. After that, there will usually be 2 hybrids before getting into my irons.

 

[Buckjob]

I think this is gonna be difficult for me since you're gonna need some different shots in myrtle come July off the tee. I am gonna see what I hit my 4 iron and go from there I def want a 250 club. Might go between 250 and what I hit my 4 or between 250 and my driver.

 

[Oregon Golfer]

I'm all about filling gaps. Take my longest iron distance and fill gaps all the way up to my lowest lofted FW. I should be hitting my lowest lofted FW as far as I can and still have 15yd gaps or so all the way down to my irons.

 

[Golf Ghost]

I see a lot of 3w, but shocked over the lack of 4w's. Any reason for that?

 

[rb81]

I'm okay with some yardage gaps at the top. I go driver...3 wood (15.5*) .. then I drop all the way to a 4h (21* rescue 11) that i use to replace my 3 iron. For me I want consistent yardage gaps out of my irons / hybrids , and will sacrifice consistency at the top to be dialed in the lower portion of my bag.

 

[SharkHat]

I see a lot of 3w, but shocked over the lack of 4w's. Any reason for that?

I currently don't have any fairway woods in my bag, because in the past I've not been able to hit them. I'm currently considering going with a 4w to fill the gap between my driver and 3 hybrid. For the most part though, I think that the 4w is often overlooked as kind of a one-off club.

 

[giedz]

I'm not concerned as much with the loft differences as I am about distance gaps. knowing your yardage with every club is crucial, especially with the longer ones.

 

[TheHeez]

I currently don't have any fairway woods in my bag, because in the past I've not been able to hit them. I'm currently considering going with a 4w to fill the gap between my driver and 3 hybrid. For the most part though, I think that the 4w is often overlooked as kind of a one-off club.

That's essentially what I have done. I gap up (based on distance, not loft) from my longest iron with my hybrid, then 4w and call it good. Like a few others, I'm far more concerned about the bottom of my bag. The top of my bag is all about positioning, if its open I hit driver, if its not then the fairway and hybrid are used. I rarely use the top of my bag for a precise approach where having tight gaps is essential. Again, it's all about positioning myself to make par as safely as possible.