Every year I put up a WITB post. I skipped last year because I stayed home and didn’t go out to get myself exposed to you-know-what.
In my 2019 post, I had a set that starts with a driver, then a 16.5* FW and a club for every 4* of loft down to a 60* wedge. And a putter.
This year, I took out the FW and added second putter. One is a face-balanced putter for putts of up to about 12 feet. The other is a toe-balanced putter for the rest.
This post goes into detail about the two putters.
Blades vs. cavity backs=”game improvement” irons.
There is an article on the GolfWRX site by Terry Kohler about the matter. I was going to write a response, but some guy in the Comments column beat me to it.
What he said is exactly my story. Every word. EVERY WORD.
“I have found that my scores with blade irons are the same or better as cavity backs. Could be because I learned to play with blades nearly 60 years ago because that was my only option. Could be that they just plain look better to my eye because of that old historical tie. Or it could be because I get sloppy with a cavity back relying on that supposed forgiveness. So at this point I simply select a blade because it makes me happy. It makes me think about all the things I need to do to hit a pure shot, and when I don’t I only blame myself. Handicap 9.”
As you know, I play Hogans. Either 1999 Apex or 1989 Apex Red Line.
You might want to get educated on golf balls. This video by Dean Snell, of Snell Golf, explains it all for you.
Who is Dean Snell? Check this out. He knows what he’s talking about.
Pay close attention to his discussion of golf balls and distance at 13:02.
Here’s an authoritative article with honest information about differences between blades and cavity-back irons.
I play blades from PW through 6-iron, but I have played blades all my life (until about ten years ago even down to a 4-iron), and have no complaints about them.
Ten years go I bought a used set of irons, Ben Hogan Apex Redline from 1989.
They are wonderful clubs, probably the best irons the Hogan brand made.
I played wonderful golf with them. These are the irons that helped me get to single digits.
But to get to the point, they have to be put away. I got them off eBay, and everything on eBay has a Stiff shaft. Ten years ago I could swing a Stiff shaft. Now, I can’t.
I went to the range a few days ago with the 6-iron and had to work so hard just to get a passable shot out of it. It shouldn’t have been that difficult.
Today I went to the range again and took the 6-iron from the set of 1999 Apexes, which were custom built for me in 2003 and have Regular shafts.
It was like night and day. They swung easily, smoothly, they worked with me. They’re in the bag, the Redlines are out.
So farewell to old friends. I knew that someday I would have to switch back to the 1999s again, and that day has arrived.
But not to worry. I hit this killer fade with them that is going to make flagsticks very afraid.
I love to play around with my set of clubs. Every time I make a change I think I have really got it this time.
Here’s the set I’m playing with now:
Driver (11.5 degrees)
Fairway wood (16.5 degrees)
Fairway wood (20.5 degrees)
24-degree hybrid
27-degree hybrid
6-iron
7-iron
8-iron
9-iron
PW
GW
SW
LW
Putter
The clubs from the 16.5 fairway wood to the lob wedge have fairly consistent gaps in loft.
I’ve really got it this time.
Play with your equipment. Mix it up. The clubs you put in your bag dictate how you play the game. This is how I’m playing this spring.
Driver – Titleist 975D
Hybrid – Ben Hogan Edge CFT 17*
Irons – Ben Hogan Apex RedLine 4-E
Iron – Ben Hogan Apex Producer 9 (left-handed)
Wedges – Titleist Vokey 52, 56, 60
Putter – John Reuter Bulls Eye
No fairway woods, one hybrid, and a left-handed club. Really, I only need the thirteen clubs to get round the course in fine shape.
The left-handed 9-iron is the ultimate trouble club. Next to a tree or other object with no right-handed swing available? Ball beside a deep bunker you would have to take your stance in to swing right-handed?
A little chipping stroke will do, and it’s not that hard to learn how to swing from the other side. Let’s see how many strokes it saves me this year.
Unless you are a very good player, there is a gap in your golf game that you likely cannot close. That gap is between your 4-iron/24° hybrid/7-wood and your driver. Within that space, recreational golfers generally do not have a good chance to hit greens and make pars.
The solution is to judge the conditions carefully if you have a long shot into the green. When there’s no real trouble around it, then go for it if you can get there with a club you get into the air easily.
(Having said that, if it’s a club you don’t get into the air easily, maybe it shouldn’t be in your bag at all.)
If you miss the green, you’ll at least be hole high with a chip onto the green for a par putt and a sure bogey. Nothing wrong with that.
What if there’s trouble in the form of bunkers, water, tall grass? Now it might make sense to play short to a long chipping position. In that case, hit the shot with the longest club you have confidence in.
That way, you’ll eat up a lot of yards, be in front of the green with a good lie and a chance, again, to chip on for a par or a sure bogey.
If you have a gap like the one I’m talking about, and I do, it’s best to think of the longer clubs as advancement clubs — clubs that get your ball down the fairway without the risk of losing strokes.
Or, you can go one step farther and not even put them in your bag. That way, they will never get you in trouble.
I like a light bag, so I carry only 10 clubs. The set starts off with driver, 24° hybrid, 6-iron and on down stepwise to a 56° wedge and my putter. No 5-iron? I hit it well, but not often enough to carry it.
I hit my driver 220 yards. With a 175-yard second, I can reach the green on all but the longest par 4s. Long par 3s are hard to hit anyway, so playing short and safe works out better than playing long and into trouble. Par 5s are three-shotters, and 395 after two shots leaves a short iron into the green.
I’m not asking you to play wimpy golf. Not at all. I‘m suggesting that you be realistic about how to play from long distances so you don’t lose strokes needlessly.
The pros play golf one way. We play it another. When you’re ready to hit into the green from 200 yards without courting disaster, you’ll know.
If you use a laser rangefinder on the golf course, you get an accurate distance to the pin. It would be nice to know where the pin is in relation to the center of the green, though. A location indicator attached to the pin, or on the 150-yard marker, if they’re used, is only an approximation.
As you’re approaching your ball, and before it’s your turn to hit, find a sprinkler head with a yardage affixed and stand right above it. Shoot the pin and compare the difference between the yardage to the pin and the yardage shown on the sprinkler head.
If the sprinkler head yardage is higher, the pin is nearer to the front of the green. If the sprinkler head yardage is less, the pin is nearer to the back of the green.
Most of the time we are short with our approaches (but that’s another post). If you know because of what you just found out that the pin is toward the front of the green, you might what to take a longer club to make sure your ball gets to the green.
If the pin is behind the center of the green, you can take less club and hit an easier shot, knowing that you still have enough club to get the ball onto the green. Remember, most greens are at leasts 30 yards deep, which gives you plenty of room for error.
I played nine holes this morning with five clubs: driver, 4i, 7i, 54 wedge, putter.
The only thing that went wrong was on the first hole. I thought I had taken along a 56 wedge. It was a 54 and my pitch on to the green was way overcooked.
Other than that, I shot the same score I usually do and had to hit a few creative shots I don’t otherwise get to hit.
Great fun.