I don’t think I need to carry more than a 7-iron anymore.
Interesting claim without context, eh? Let me expand that thought process. I promise it makes some level of sense, even if it’s insane on the face of it.
In my opinion, the number on the bottom of your club doesn’t matter, not even a little bit.
If I hit a brand-new Srixon ZXi7 pitching wedge, it’s going to have 46° of loft. If I go grab a Wilson Staff Forged 9-iron from 1976, it’s going to have 46° of loft. Meanwhile, the new TaylorMade Qi Max A-Wedge has 48° of loft. No, it’s not identical, but with an intentionally hotter face than either of the others, it’s going to end up flying almost an identical yardage.
Three clubs, three different club designations stamped on the bottom, and nearly the same loft.
If all else is equal, one degree of loft in a wedge or iron typically equates to a difference in carry of three yards. Loft matters; the name given to the club does not. If you watch YouTube golf, you’ve likely seen Bryson DeChambeau hit his 7-iron somewhere around 230 yards, a number that sounds inhuman. Look at his loft, though, and his 7-iron is playing at 25° of loft, a 5-iron in most “Players Irons.”
Now, I’m not saying 230 yards with a 5-iron isn’t impressive; it’s an absolutely crazy number. Most single-digit handicappers are hitting their 5-iron in the ballpark of 190-210 yards. The extra 20-30 yards that Bryson is getting out of a club of the same loft is incredibly impressive, but it speaks more to an honest gap between the skill and strength of a professional athlete at his peak compared to a highly skilled amateur.
Now that we’ve established the prerequisite information for my earlier statement, let us get back to it. I don’t think I need to carry more than a 7-iron anymore. Instead, I would rather play possibly the craziest combo set known to man.
When I play my current irons, there’s a very clear breaking point. The 7-iron is a tool to throw darts; the 6-iron is a tool to generally get around a green, and hitting said green is a bonus. My ball striking is good enough that I would happily play a blade right up to the 7-iron, no worries whatsoever. Then it becomes bad enough that my Wilson CBs may not offer enough forgiveness in the 5-iron, and it’s to the point that I’ve taken the 2-4 irons right out of the bag.
So I know what I excel at, and where I need help, but where can I find that help? The lightbulb turned on when the Qi Max and Callaway Quantum irons showed up in my fitting bay at the start of this year. I preferred the look of the Qi Max, but honestly, there wasn’t anything in it apart from the visuals. I built the 7-iron in both with my preferred shaft and started hitting them.
“Wow,” I whispered to myself. “This 7-iron is the best 5-iron I’ve ever hit.”
My current 5-iron has 26° of loft. The Qi Max 7-iron? 28°.
So I’m getting a little more loft, higher peak height, a hotter face, no loss in spin, way more forgiveness, and an identical carry number out of the Qi Max 7-iron. Everything about it was playing like an easier-to-hit version of my 5-iron.
A thing of beauty.
Now, the size and shape of a game improvement iron is something I can handle at the top end of the bag, but not at the bottom. I grew up playing blades, and a game improvement head inspires forgiveness, but not accuracy. I need something smaller behind the ball, something built for precision.
Enter a video from Ian Fraser. In this video, Ian discusses the pros and cons of playing the pitching wedge that comes with a set of irons versus a specialty wedge at the same loft, and herein lies my lightbulb moment.
Let’s load the bottom half with wedges to gap out the game improvement irons at the top end! If I build a bag with the Qi Max irons 7-PW, then I can grab MG5 wedges gapped appropriately all the way down the bag.
So let’s hypothetically build it.
Qi Max:
• 7-iron 28°
• 8-iron 32.5°
• 9-iron 37°
• PW 42.5°
Ultimately, I don’t love the gapping between the PW and the specialty wedges this leaves, and I’d love just a couple more yards out of the 7-iron. So when it gets built, let’s go 1° strong. It’s not much, just enough to make everything perfect.
Then in the MG5 Wedges:
• 46° SB Grind
• 50° SB Grind
• 54° HB Grind
• 58° LB Grind
• 60° LB Grind
Why the 58 and 60? Simple, Taylormade doesn’t make a 62, so we’ll need to bend the 60 to gap it properly. In doing so, we’ll be adding 2 degrees of bounce, so we’ll start with the LB grind to have the least amount of bounce to start with - but we may have to custom grind it ourselves to make it perfect!
That’s a total of 9 clubs, making arguably the weirdest combo set you’ve ever heard of. Add in a 7-wood, a driver, and a putter, and I’m willing to bet that I increase my odds of breaking par.
For me, a 46° wedge is going to give me about 135 yards of carry, 140 if it’s warm out and I’m feeling good. As I mentioned earlier, one degree of loft is typically 3 yards of carry, so I should be perfectly gapped every 12 yards all the way down the bag. Build out a wedge matrix, and I’ll have approximately 25-30 consistent yardage numbers to choose from in scoring territory. What a lovely assortment of choice.
If I’m somewhere between the 150- and 200-yard markers, now I’ve got 4 game improvement clubs at the top end of the bag to give me that extra boost of confidence that I will still be able to get on the green, even if I mishit it a little. Sounds wonderful, as I’d love to have a few extra looks at birdie every round.
Yes, it’s insane on the face of it. However, I’d argue that building a bag based on “this is how it should be” is the crazier line of thinking. You get 14 clubs in the bag at a maximum. The set I just built out only has 12, but I’m willing to bet that 12 carefully selected tools designed to do very specific jobs would be more than enough to beat 14 clubs you pick up off the shelf.
XO Go Low,
