Fourteen clubs, measured in a February simulator

The rules allow fourteen clubs. Most amateurs carry fourteen, use nine, and have a thirty-yard 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 in August. 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 yards or two clubs going the same distance, and usually both.

Do it on a simulator in February

Canadian golfers have five months a year when the courses are closed and the simulator bays are not. An hour on a launch monitor in winter produces a complete carry chart with your own balls, no wind and no slope, which is better data than most people ever gather in a season.

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, lands softer and is far better from rough, which in a wet Ontario June is most of the argument. Two hybrids in place of the 4 and 5-iron is the most reliable improvement available to a mid handicapper.

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 yards 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 for soft spring turf

High bounce suits soft turf and sand, low bounce suits firm ground and tight lies. A Canadian season starts soft and finishes firm, so if you carry one sand wedge, mid to high bounce covers more of your year than low bounce does.

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

Golf Town has fitting studios with launch monitors in its larger stores, open through the winter. Independent fitters and PGA of Canada professionals at indoor facilities do the same and are usually better on lie and shaft, with the fitting fee often redeemable against a purchase.

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 yards 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-yard hole in it, and it costs less.