Set makeup: looking for opinions

Equipment
#1

Looking at my bag this year and wondering if I’m definitely making one change, but wondering if I should go a set further. Last year’s bag had: Driver, 3 wood, 3 hybrid, 4-P, 52, 56, 60 and putter. The irons are fairly traditional lofts with 6i = 30*

Could be old age and/or lack of practice, but the ballstriking seriously drops off beyond the 6 iron. I hit the other clubs decently off the tee, but not as consistently otherwise. I mainly wish I had more confidence in the hybrid, but I think the loft (marked 18*) is too low for me. I can hit this thing almost as far as my driver at times because it’s a low rocket launcher. Great in the wind, but not so much otherwise. My initial thought was to just get a similar hybrid with more loft and I probably will, but then I started wondering about the irons.

I’m thinking maybe the hybrid should be shorter and heavier than most are and then maybe have a 6-P iron set that’s stronger lofted. I can swing a 6 iron pretty consistently near 80 mph, but I get pretty inconsistent after that. In many cases I’m slower with a hybrid, then faster, then slower, etc. I’m wondering if the 6 iron was more like a 5 iron loft and so on and then I had say a 20-21* hybrid that’s shorter and heavier if I would be more consistent. I tend towards poor tempo and shorter heavier clubs and I tend to get along better.

Appreciate any thoughts! I need an easier to hit hybrid or maybe it’s a 7 wood or whatever any way, but wondering about the rest. Thanks!

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#2

I’ve been contemplating set make up a ton this off season. You have some different needs than I do, but we can figure this all out…

I think the 7 wood is a good idea, or possible just a fancier hybrid… The Callaway Super Hybrids are allegedly insanely long, and should launch higher… you can also chase a different shaft and get something high launching… My boy Max Homa is gaming a 7 wood right now, and he’s won 2 million dollars so far this year… I’d definitely check out a 7 wood!

From there, I think another hybrid or 2 might work well… cover the 22 and 26 degree clubs. Once again, I hear good things about the Super Hybrid from Callaway.

I think from there, you can see what your distances are and what your next club should be… You’d have a couple of different options. If you get a new set of player’s distance irons to keep up with the hybrids, you could look at changing the loft progression and move them from 4 degrees to 5 degrees… This would hopefully bridge the gap between the hybrids and the irons without adding another club.

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#3

Length you hit clubs? Shaft types?

I’m 62, Love my irons, but my 5i = 30* They are old school cavity back.and I reshafted a 10 years back to Steel TT Dynamic Gold S200, Low Traj, I changed from S300. All my Swing Weights are D4.
My Bag:
Cleveland CG12: 60*(10B), 54 (12* B), 50*(10* B), 46*(8B)
Spalding Tour Edition Redlines: 8(42), 7(38), 6(34), 5(30), 4(26)
Tommy Armour 22 7W aldila R shaft mid Kick point
Adams Boxer 18* hybrid aldila R shaft low Kick Point
TM SLDR 3W set at 14* Fujikura Speeder 65 R shaft low Kick point
TM SLDR Dr set at 10.25* Fujikura Speeder 55 S shaft mid Kick Point
TM Rossa Daytona 6 Putter
Do you know your carry distances? I dropped the 3i as I fell in love with this Armour 7W years ago, it’s a go to club for me and I’m scared to change it. Same with the irons and wedges…LOL The boxer hybrid and the 3W I actually change out all the time…The SLDR Dr… nope not yet.

If there’s a Second Swing by you go mess around in the hitting room and see what you like and how you feel. My belief has always been (except for Driver make-up because of ability move weight MOI) it’s all about the shafts especially long irons. Guys in my group finally listened to me and did go to graphalloy in lower loft irons and were amazed with the results.

What club is your go to? The one that feels best in your hand…find out the swing weight, then go to your pro and find out the Swing weights of everything else in your bag…then try to make all the swing weights are the same or as close as possible. For me, that’s Y they invented lead tape or drill out some weight in the iron to gain or lessen…you’ll be amazed.

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#4

I feel like the hardest part of the bag to get right is between the driver and the mid-iron. I love my 3-wood and use it frequently so that’s staying in the bag but debated driving iron, 5 wood, hybrid, etc for a long time. I’m pretty happy with the current 3-wood, 5-wood, 4-iron setup right now but I always feel way more confident with a 6 iron than a 4 iron and wonder if i could do better.

I feel your pain.

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#5

I have been trying to fill gap between 3w and 4 iron for 25 years. It is an ever revolving door for me.

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#6

18° 5 wood & 21° hybrid fill that gap nicely for me

#7

What kind of ball flight do you have? If you have a medium to low ball flight, you could probably benefit from the high launch of a 5w/7w.

Still, a lot of it just depends on how comfortable you are with hitting woods. I would personally game hybrids and long irons in this range, but that’s mostly because I struggle to hit fairway woods well. My brother loves fairway woods and will hit them whenever he can.

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#8

Well I was at the fitters last night and although I didn’t completely resolve anything just yet I left feeling pretty good. I got warmed up and found that apparently the very consistent workouts and less consistent swing speed training have been helping. I picked up at least a club length of distance with my irons. No issue consistently (and fairly easily) hitting my 30* 6 iron 180 carry and I’ve needed 5 iron for that yardage for the last 5 years or so. I even juiced more than a few to 185 carry. I tried a stronger lofted 6 iron (~ 27*) and really didn’t gain anything significant so I think my irons will stay for now.

I played around with various hybrids and my utilities and we agreed I hit my 3h too low. I may keep it around for those really windy days, but it’s not in the bag. I found some other 3h and 4h models I liked. I liked a 7w too, but I definitely had better dispersion with the shorter hybrid. The best results were with a Big Bertha/Aerotech HLS90 that looked like an ugly little 7 wood to me, but the club just wanted to hit high and straight. I didn’t buy it yet as I also had an older Ping hybrid of mine that once we added some lead tape to the head performed nearly the same…plus the club was kind of ugly lol. I may start the year gaming the Ping to see what actually happens on the course.

All in all I left pretty excited, but mostly about swinging so well in early March. I actually didn’t feel like my swing was that great, but getting the old clubhead speed back was nice.

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#9

That’s great, if that 6i feels great, find out the swing weight and get the club fitter to get all your clubs as close as possible to that swing weight. That will help tremendously with your swing feel and tempo…guaranteed!

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#10

My irons are MOI matched and I’m a believer in that. The main problem was the 3h. I had one he fitted me for back in 2016 that I liked. I always felt it hit a bit low, but just a bit. It was a 19* XR16OS, but then the face flattened. Callaway was nice enough to send me a new Rogue X 3h to replace it even though it was out of warranty, but it was 18* and I would guess it was actually less (fitter never touched it). I really didn’t use it like I did the older one and I’m not that great with 3 wood off the deck. I hit irons well so I tried a 3u and that was okay, but didn’t have the forgiveness I need.

The course may be different, but last night on the launch monitor I felt like I could play 5-P or maybe just 6-P with the 4h and have good yardage gaps. With the distance the hybrid was getting me I may not even need the 3 wood for the doglegs. I actually wouldn’t mind if I could pare down to Driver, hybrid, 6-P, G, S, L and putter.

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#11

Go in it with confidence and do it! Sounds like something to try for a few rounds for sure. I bet that off season work really paid off. Go on ebay and find something cheap to mess with b4 you drop any big dough. I went to that Adams boxer hybrid last year, I picked it up cheap for like $25 I extended the shaft 1 inch to match my old 4 wood length and 1.5 pieces of lead tape towards the toe…I like it and it’s way more versatile…for me. It’s 18* and I am hitting it 200 carry…215-220 with a draw consistently on Trackman this year, I can get it 230.

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#12

Yeah I already had the hybrid and with some lead tape it seems to work. I used to do a lot of club work so I may pull the shaft from the low launching Cally hybrid into the Ping hybrid since it’s a really nice shaft that was fit to me. I can afford a new club, but it was nice to get on the launch monitor and see what really works. Pretty much any new clubs are at least 2-4 weeks out right now any way and although it’s warming up this week I don’t expect to be playing regularly for a few weeks. New England is known for it’s late March/early April snowstorms.

I may even try a Maltby hybrid. I have been really impressed with their recent offerings and all of their hybrids have a nice sole weight so I can easily get clubs heavier like I prefer.

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