Golf Tip Video PGA Qualified Golf Teaching Professional Transcript
Often when I'm chatting to golfers, we get to a position where we're trying to balance their bag and make sure they've got the right number of clubs within their bag. And golfers generally drive a 3-wood, 5-wood, then the irons, then the wedges and the putter. And if they want to try and get an extra wedge in their bag at the top end to help them with the short game, there's often a decision there of “which club should I leave out”.
And very few people ever consider the fact that a 3-wood and a 5-wood don't need to be in your bag, and you can probably replace them with a 4-wood. A 4-wood is pretty much going to do a job exactly between what a 3-wood and a 5-wood does. So it might give you a nice option off the tee to drop down away from the driver. It's got about 16 degrees of loft that's still going to do decent distances, going to go nice and high.
A 4-wood would be a little bit stronger than a 5-wood if you were to play it as a second shot on a par-4 or par-5 from the fairway, so the 4-wood can work nicely there. And it just simply covers the bases of those 2 golf clubs that actually cover themselves. A driver 4-wood into the irons and then having extra wedges at the top end, you might just feel a lot balanced and the bag's slightly better for you. 4-wood, a little bit shorter than a 3-wood on the length of shaft, a bit more controlled, but again a little bit further off the fairway than your 5-wood.
So if you're considering trying to get a balance in your bag that's a bit better with more top end clubs, more wedges, therefore you need to lose a club at the bottom end. Don't be afraid of getting rid of the 3-wood and the 5-wood, and sticking a 4-wood right in the space.