Should Rule 4.4 (Maximum of 14 clubs) be altered?

From the manufacturer's perspective.

Lets double that number. we could stick 3 drivers in the bag; one with extra draw; another with more loft and another just for show. We could have 3 fairway woods, 3 hybrids and a driving iron. Add to this all the irons from 1 thru to 9 and then 5 wedges - 48°, 52°, 56°, 60° & 64°. That leaves enough room for a couple of chipping irons and a prile of putters. Callaway, TaylorMade et al would be licking their chops and I bet plenty of golfers would go for it.

Would golfers play better with double the choice?   Noooo!    I find that the opposite is closer to the truth.

For the good of the game.

Lets leave the present rule alone for the pros. They have put in the hours and can float a 9 iron consistently to 140 and an 8 to 150 and so on. I know very few normal golfers who do this with any consistency.

I personally play with 7 clubs in my bag and I can shoot around par with them. When i go out with 14 clubs I normally play worse because I often choose the wrong club. I have a driver for my tee shots; 5 wood for 170 plus tee shots and longer fairway shots; 5 hybrid for all shots 150-170; 7 iron for 130-150; 9 iron for all shots from off the green to 130; 56° wedge for sand and when I have to go high and finally my putter. With this selection I rarely choose the wrong club.

I would change the rule for amateurs. I am not a lover of the handicap system but I know its there and its probably there to stay. It does however make this new rule easier to apply. It goes like this...

Class (1)  Handicap 4.4 or lower may use up to 9 clubs.

Class (2)  Handicap 4.5 to 11.4 may use up to 8 clubs.

Class (3)  Handicap 11.5 to 18.4 may use up to 7 clubs.

Class (4)  Handicap 18.5 to 25.4 may use up to 6 clubs.

Class (5)  Handicap 25.5 or higher may use up to 5 clubs.

I do this with many of my students and they get to class 1, 2 and 3 very quickly. When I play with class 4 and 5, I restrict myself to one club, my 9 iron and usually play bogey golf with it (and yes I do putt out with it). I can guide most of my students to bogey golf with 5 clubs but when they go out with more it all goes sideways.

We don't have a putter for 10 ft and another for 20ft, we use a thing called touch. I chip anything from 5 to 40 yds with my 9 iron using the same skill, and can use this skill to vary the distance with any of my 7 clubs.

Want to get down to a lower handicap, then get to know 5 clubs inside out before you pop another one in the bag. 

P.S. I love playing with only my 9 iron and it gives me plenty of challenge to play bogey golf. It also improves my creative skills which add a new dimention to my game.

Patrick, you are only reiterating what I have always stressed on this forum and that is that the game is all about feel, not yardages, simplified even more today with the introduction of irons that are very forgiving, but lack any kind of shotmmaking abilities,

It seems to me that every modern course built to USGA specifications have greens that are very receptive to even the worst struck shots, thus giving the player a false sense of his actual ability. It is not until one ventures onto an older style course like Saunton, where fairways are narrow, rough is impossible to play from and greens that are undulating as well as hard and fast does one realise that they are nowhere near as good as they think they are. And if they were playing this type of course under strict Open competition rules they would most probably be completely shattered.

I'm a beginner and played my first full 18 round last weekend after several months playing on the local par 3 course. I used 4 clubs - 5 iron for my tee shots, 7 iron for shorter, PW for close into the green and sand then my putter. I shot 111, and agree that any more clubs in my bag would have damaged my score. I can see clearly that as my skills improve I will need to fill the gaps and will probably add a driver to my bag very soon as this will knock a few shots of the par 5's, I'll probably take my SW next time as well. It makes complete sense that beginners should master each club before they consider adding more. It also means that you can buy a few quality clubs rather than a cheapo beginners set full of clubs you would never use.

Fascinating stuff, i read this last night and decided to give it a go.

I managed 9 holes at Hobbs Cross on their Weald course after an extremely tedious meeting in London today, so wasn't perhaps in the best mindset but took my driver 18* rescue, 6 and 8 irons, SW and putter. Shot 44 on par 35. Driving was good, gaining FIR on all but one hole and putting was a off with 3 3 putts. My 8 and SW shots were pretty reliable but the biggest struggle was with the 6 - i seemed to massively under-hit so need to work on this.

I then went onto the shorter Par 3 Valley Course and really practised with my 6, playing several balls off each tee and found success on the holes circa 120 -140yds when I had expected to be hitting further.

As I said, a fascinating exercise and one i think i shall persisit with.

I like this rule , I can't help but laugh when I see High hcpr's with 3 or 4 specialist wedges in their bags! infact I should'nt have them ! did I just say that http://www.golfshake.com/scripts/ckeditor362/plugins/smiley/images/embaressed_smile.gif" title="blush" width="20" />

I started out many years ago with a half set, 4 6 8 wedge 3wood and putter. Used to play to around 6 handicap then at 14 years old. After reading this I may just do it again. I have played my local track with 3 clubs. 7 iron, wedge and putter and shot 10 over and can see that you stay on the fairway more, can't reach the trouble off the tee, can reach or virtually reach every green in regulation so if your short game is reasonable, par or at worst a bogey is very achievable. Hmmmmm. Me thinks that my bag will be very light in this Sunday's medal.

Hi Patrick,

thanks for the advice.

i used the 18* as i'd just bought one! I hit this much further than i was expecting meaning quite a gap between this and  a 7 iron, hence choosing the 6.

As you guessed, club selction was pretty straightforward with the occassional decision between under-hitting the 8 or giving the SW full beans!

I play a lot through the winter months with no driver and only a half set of irons and I can shoot level par just as easy as with a full set. Even if I was taking out my full set, I only carry two wedges, pw and sw, I dont use a lob wedge or gap wedge. One club can easily cover three clubs by drawing the ball to go longer and fading to go shorter, if you haven't tried it give it a go, it is much more fun than just picking a club and hitting the same shot every time.    

Hi Patrick,

This thread has got me thinking, I cart the same 13 clubs around week in week out, but how often do I actually use them individually? I think I will experiment this weekend, as when I'm playing well, I rarely use more than 6 clubs.

No is the answer, I have a full set so I will continue most of the time to play with a ful set, however if the rules were to change then I would probably use a set up like this I would not use a driver but use my 13 degree Fairway from the tee I can carry that 260 yards a bit further with a draw, which wood be far enough off the tee then for my Irons I would use a 3,5,7,9,sw and putter, for me I feel I would then cover most yardages by hitting fades and draws.