Fourteen clubs: what belongs in an Australian bag

The rules allow fourteen clubs. Most amateurs carry fourteen, use nine, and have a thirty-metre gap somewhere in the middle of the bag that costs them a shot a round. Building a set is arithmetic, not shopping.

Start with your real carry distances

Not the one you hit downwind on a hot afternoon. The number that repeats. Write down the carry for every club from driver to lob wedge. As soon as the list exists you will see either a gap of more than fifteen metres or two clubs going the same distance, and usually both.

The top of the bag

Plenty of golfers carry a 3-wood they cannot launch off the deck and a 5-wood they never use. If the 3-wood is a tee club only, keep it and drop the 5-wood, or replace both with a 4-wood or a strong hybrid. The test is whether you would use it from a fairway lie with confidence.

Long irons or hybrids

A 4-iron needs clubhead speed to get airborne. A hybrid of the same loft launches higher and lands softer, which matters on firm greens that reject a flat long-iron flight. Unless you have a genuine reason to keep long irons, two hybrids in place of the 4 and 5-iron is the most reliable improvement for a mid marker.

The gap under the pitching wedge

Modern pitching wedges are strong, often 44 or 45 degrees, while the sand wedge sits at 56. That is twelve degrees and roughly thirty metres of nothing. A gap wedge at 50 or 52 closes it. This is the most common set-makeup fault, and it comes from buying an iron set and a sand wedge and never checking what lies between.

Bounce on sandy soil

High bounce suits soft turf and deep sand, low bounce suits firm ground and tight lies. On sandbelt courses the fairways are firm and the bunker sand is fine, which is an argument for a mid-bounce sand wedge and a lower-bounce gap wedge. On heavier soil in Victoria’s west or after winter rain, more bounce forgives more.

Then take something out

Adding a hybrid and a gap wedge means two clubs leave, usually the 3-iron, the second fairway wood, or the lob wedge that produces one good shot in five. Fourteen is a maximum, not a target.

Where to measure your gaps

Drummond Golf has fitting bays with launch monitors in many stores, and an hour produces your full distance chart. Independent fitters and PGA of Australia professionals attached to ranges will do the same and are usually better on lie and shaft, with the fitting fee often redeemable against a purchase.

Failing that, a rangefinder, your own balls and an empty paddock at seven in the morning gives you the same list for nothing. Panxis Golf has no commercial relationship with these retailers and takes no commission.

Before you buy another club

• Write down the carry distance of every club you own.
• Circle any gap over fifteen metres and any two clubs within eight.
• Fill the gap first, then remove whatever the new club replaces.

A set with no gaps and twelve clubs beats a full bag with a thirty-metre hole in it, and it costs less.