While most golf bags start with a driver and a longest fairway wood, it’s the club that comes next that can be where the decisions start to be made during a fitting.
That club is usually going to be between 18 or 24 degrees, which leaves the options of a 5- or 7-wood, 3- or 4-hybrid or 3- or 4-iron. The choice of which one to put in your bag will depend on the optimal descent angle.
Approach shots with this group of lofts will be either the cause of bogeys or bogey avoidance, and the fastest way to drop your scoring averages is to avoid bogeys. Most 5-woods, 3-hybrids and 3-irons are played within one degree of 18 degrees of loft. Seven-woods, 4-hybrids and 4-irons will be played at around 21-24 degrees of loft.
Each option, assuming you can hit all three options equally well (seldom the case), will have its advantages and disadvantages. What makes this part of the bag tricky is that golfers tend to hit each club similar distances. We can figure out the answer for you by looking at your descent angle with each club.
Why descent angle is important
Fitters are looking to manage the ball’s descent angle. If the descent is too steep, you will not achieve your potential for total distance because you are getting little to no rollout.
On the other hand, if your ball is coming in too shallow, you are relying too much on the ball rolling out, which is difficult to predict in fair conditions, and impossible when faced with any type of weather or weeks with more rain than the ground can absorb.
The correct answer presents itself rather quickly in a fitting environment, especially one where we can see your ball in the air and not simulate hypothetical ball flight.
The argument for a fairway wood or hybrid
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If you play a traditional 4-iron or even a driving iron and find that your ball isn’t landing softly enough to hold greens, we need to look at a larger club with a deeper CG to get your ball higher in the air. When comparing CGs, the CG of fairway wood is furthest away from the ball, the CG of an iron is closest and CG of hybrids is somewhere in the middle. In this instance, a fitter would be looking to get a fairway wood or hybrid in your hand.
If a player cannot stand the look of a hybrid at address or he finds that hybrids are too draw-biased, then a fairway wood will be the best option for him. If we can find a hybrid that does not want to turnover and stays relatively straight, that will be a better option over a fairway wood because the shorter shaft we can get in your hands, the simpler the game is.
The argument for a utility iron
When a player has quite a bit of clubhead speed and hits the ball high, that’s when a driving iron might be the best answer. With more clubhead speed comes more ball speed and a higher peak height, thus descent angle isn’t as critical.
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Bottom line
If you feel that you are giving up too many strokes on approach shots and find yourself behind greens or have excessively long putts, you may have a club that’s not giving you the best chance to shoot low scores.
Book a fitting at True Spec Golf to find the best clubs for the top of your golf bag.
Want to find the best clubs for your bag? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.
