Two Clubs and a Putter

I’ve been going out with my grandson the past month to play golf with him at local nine-holer. I decided these rounds weren’t that big of a deal for me, so I would just take a few clubs to knock the ball around the course, and so I could carry my bag instead of using my pull cart.

I pack a 7-iron, a gap wedge, and a putter. After three rounds of this, let me tell you. You can put up a pretty good score just that set. One of the reasons I’m only taking those clubs is that I’m undergoing a difficult swing change. A 7-iron is the longest club I can reliably hit right now.

We play from the red tees, since he isn’t hitting the ball all that far yet. Still, there’s distance to be covered. The red tees don’t turn it into a pitch-and-putt layout. I tee off with the 7 and hit it from the fairway, of course, hit 7-iron punches into greens, chip with it. It makes me feel like a regular Seve Ballesteros the way I have to create shots with this club.

And you know what? They work! Last time out I started bogey, bogey, bogey, then finished par, par, par, birdie, bogey, par. Not bad.

We have a three clubs and a putter day every year at the men’s club of the course where I normally play. The first time I tried it, I took a 2-hybrid, a 7-iron, a sand wedge, and my putter. Shot a 39 from the white tees measuring 3,150 yards.

There’s something about having a limited set of clubs that frees you up, even relaxes you as you stand over a shot that is clearly not suited for the club you’re holding, about to use it not as it would “normally” be used. Now your creativity has to save the day, and this is where golf starts to get fun. “If I do a little of this and play it like that, it just might work.”

If the shot doesn’t come off, it’s no big deal, since it wasn’t supposed to anyway. But if it does, you have added a great positive experience to your mental skill set that is quite liberating. Instead of playing golf the way everybody else does, the way your pro says to, the way you see on TV, you’re playing it your way. Once you get the hang of having to create, you’ll be in touch with a skill you didn’t know you had.

Try playing a round or two from the red tees with just three clubs and see what I mean. Then move on to playing a course you normally play, from the tees you normally play, with six clubs and a putter. Francis Ouimet won the U.S. Open in 1913 with just seven clubs.

I would pack a driver, a 3-hybrid, a 5- and 7-iron, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, and a putter. I’ll bet I could shoot a decent score, too. I’ll bet you could, too.

Golf is supposed to be fun. Do fun things with it. This is one of them.

For tips in how to hit the full set of clubs, visit www.therecreationalgolfer.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.