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Long Side of the Bag

SuperStroke
After driver it comes down to how versatile the club is whether be off the tee or used from the fairway or rough. Yes I did say rough. My 2H is my go to club when I find myself off the fairway and where I need to advance it either to a number or to the green. Fairway 3w has to leave me feeling comfortable off the fairway, and a place I tend to struggle from, which begs the question should I be pulling 3w.

As for brand they do not need to match.
 
I completely reworked the long side of my bag last year.
New driver - Tour Edge
New Cally Epic Flash 3-5-7 woods

I did the new fairway woods to try and get more loft on the ball. I wasn't really after more distance, I just wanted the balls to land a little softer to hold the greens I was trying to hit with them.
The 5 and 7 woods replaced two hybrids.
So far I have been very happy with the results.
 
JB said:
How many clubs do you think is best for your setup there? Driver and two fairways? One FW? No fairways?
Click to expand...

For me, it's a driver and 2 hybrid that works best.

Cobra RadSpeed XB 10.5 and KingTec 17° 2 hybrid

I don't love any 3 wood and hit the hybrid so much better. I feel the consistency of the hybrid makes up for a slight distance loss of a 3 wood!

I absolutely love this Cobra KingTec
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Driver
3 wood/4 wood (3 wood if Driver is misbehaving as a back up tee club, 4 wood if I'm feeling frisky to try to reach a green in two)
3 hybrid
4 hybrid
GI iron to gap
6 iron to the rest....

I like being able to mix and match, and I big fan of adding a GI iron to the top of the bag for that 185 type shot.
 
I have a driver 10.5º, and three fairway woods: 17º/21º/25º. The fairway woods all have the same shaft.
 
I start with driver and 3 wood. My home course has two tee shots where I need a 3 wood. I also use a 3 wood on par 5s, when I feel like the risk reward is appropriate to move it as far towards the green as I can, or even reach the green in 2.

After that, what I put into the long side of my bag is dependent upon my wedges and irons. I start with my lob wedge and attempt to create gapping of 10 to 15 yards and continue it as far as I can towards my 3 wood. Depending on the iron set, it usually gets me a 5 iron (or hybrid, depending on the distance of my 6 iron, then a hybrid, which generally is around 21* and then a strong hybrid or 5 wood. The goal is that the 5 iron/first hybrid is 195 yards, the 21*-ish hybrid is about 210 yards and then the strong hybrid/5 wood is 225 to 230 yards.

Right now, I go:

driver
3 wood
17* UW
21* UW
5 iron

I don’t set out to match the top of the bag. I like the hybrids to be of the same OEM and style. Ironically, this could be the first time an a very long time that I may have all of the top end of the bag be the same OEM, the same release and the same shaft (other than weight).
 
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I keep it (somewhat) old school. Driver, 3/5/HW. 5 hybrid to bridge to my irons. Gaps perfectly for me according to Arccos.

I’ve always liked Callaway Fairways, and the Mav Max line just plain works for me. I tried a B21 3w, and traded it after a couple of rounds for a Mav to match the others. Don’t plan on changing them anytime soon.
 
I just go off my 5 iron carry. That’s about 180 so I want my 4H and 3H to be like 195 and 210 area. Then 3 wood whatever that is I know it’s longer than 3H then driver.
 
Driver, 17&19 UW, 19 Hybrid.

It took me a period to adjust to the fact I had two of the same loft even with them going different yardages and filling gaps perfectly.
 
My game is distance challenged. And I am just now starting to improve with my long clubs. 12° driver followed by a 4w and a 7w. Then hybrids 3-6. I may end up dropping either the 3h or 7w or swapping them back and forth.


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Currently driver, 4, 5, and 7 wood. 5 and 7 turned up slightly to gap properly from the 4 wood all the way to 5 iron. I am working some on the top end of my bag, but so far this combo is working ok. The thing is I can hit the 4 at 16.5 degrees and the 5 at 19.5 degrees close to the same distance so don't use the 5 much.

I may go back to a 3, 5, 7, but who knows. The 200 yard bracket can present some challenges depending on the course you are playing and I need more consistency in that part of my game.
 
I have 15* 3w, 18* 5w, then a 20* Super Hybrid that's turned up to 22* because it was going as far as the 5w. 5i is 23*, but that Super Hybrid still puts a decent gap, even with 1* of loft difference. Been considering dropping the 5w, playing the Super at 20*, then adding a 4i, or a 4H. That'll be the project for the spring/summer.
 
Driver then the next selection is for something that will get used in a similar to iron's rotation to other gaps.

There is a large gap to begin with off the tee machine. It suits me well for shorter Par 4's and still have the opportunity to be aggressive on Par 5's.
 
When it warms up I will test out the 4w, 3h, 4h, 5i, and 6i. Determine which ones should be dropped or replaced.
 
For years I went with driver, 3 wood and a hybrid for no other reason than that's what I have always done. The 3 wood was always my fall back tee club when I struggled with driver.

I finally started tinkering with different setups to try and better fill the gap between 220-250 yards. My 3 hybrid gets me that 200-220 shot and my Super Hybrid fills the rest of the gap.

That's created better versatility but with the Super Hybrid I don't feel like I have that go to tee box alternative that the 3 wood would give me distance wise. But it should keep me in the fairway and is still plenty far.
 
I have a pretty standard set up for the first 3 clubs. Then I have a hybrids and usually take the 5 iron out as the hybrid was easier for me to hit. I like having the 3 wood as another off the tee option. The 5 wood comes into play a lot for shorter tee shots and 2nd shots on par 5s.

driver
3 wood
5 wood
4-5 hybrid
 
Four woods and a driving iron at the top. (That's five)

13.5° driver , 17, 21, 25° fairway woods, and a 20° driving iron that I only play off the tee.

Only the two higher lofted fairway woods match.


5-9 in the middle, 27-42°. They all match. (Now up to ten.)

48-54-60-putter at the short end. (And that's fourteen.)

No hybrids right now.

I love threads about set configuation. Thanks.
 
This is such an interesting part of the bag that can be setup so many ways. In general I want pretty even gaps and versatility. My ideal setup would probably change based on course layout. Some courses I can get away with less than driver on most holes where others command a longer tee shot.

In general this has meant driver, 4W, 3H and then into 4 iron. Overall it's a solid set but I like my mini driver too much.

For this year I'm considering driver, mini driver turned up to 14.5 as a pseudo 3w, 3H at 19.5, 4H iron replacement type hybrid at 22.
 
Driver obviously (p avg 265)
3w for both fairway and tee shots (pavg 241)
I just added a 5w but so for it's as long as the 3w so I might need to hunt down a 7w (I do not get along with hybrids) because my 4i is only 205
 
Driver up till this year was pure distance. Going forward it will be accuracy with distance. After that it will be function and use. I don’t use fairways enough to justify a 3 wood. I will hit it just as far off line as a driver. I have 4 clubs within 6 degrees of each other. The two RADSpeed hybrids (21 and 24) are becoming a 4 iron and the 5W/3H will need adjusted or one replaced.
 
The top end of my bag has been a mess the past few years. Not that I don’t do well with it, but I don’t have a good setup to allow me the best chance at playing well.

I have driver, 3w, 20*h, 21*h and then 5 iron.

the three 3w is not fit well for me. The hybrids are just thrown in there and I’m not sure how dynamic they are for me in terms of yardages. I need an overhaul there haha.

ideally, I would like to change it up and get gapping done properly. Not sure why I haven’t really. Mainly money but also, it seems like part of the bag I didn’t use a lot until now since I’m either playing longer courses than I have previously or I’m taking different approaches off the tee box than just pounding driver.
 
For me it's gonna be driver, 3W, 3/4 HY which blends nicely into my 5 iron. Gapping is correct for carry distances. Have had this setup for years and it works for me.
 
Have always been a FW fan so Driver, 3w (15°) and 5w (19°) are always in my bag. Look to hit certain max yardages out of my fairway woods as an extension past 4 hybrid. Off the deck, that is about 205 for 5w and 225 for 3w. Driver is the head/shaft combo at my disposal that I can get the most yardage out of while still keeping it in play.
 
brand agnostic and will use whatever feels right, looks good and fills the gaps I need.

Driver (Cally Max Ls)
4 wood (Sim Ti)
6 wood (Ping g410)
*21 X Forged UT
Then 5-pw

It was a lot of fun crafting the top end of my bag. the Sim Ti i use off the tee quite a lot. Thing is long.
 
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I choose a driver on workability and distance efficiency for my swing. I'm not a driver carry guy. I don't ignore it, but it's the one club where total (and how you get there) matters more.
I don't really ever end up using a 3W and prefer a UW to a 4/5W. More versatile to me and the shots I play. Can milk it off the tee or control it on approach. Mix in a 20* utility for gapping and shot versatility. Then I tend to play a spicier 4i that's 1/4" longer than the rest of my iron set.
 
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