Which Is Your Most Important Club In The Bag?

Alfred Nobel is someone we all know. He's not the guy who sends you hampers. That's Noel. Alfred appeared wrongly on an obituary meant for his brother and that's when he realised the world remembered him for his great invention which was actually something destructive - dynamite. As a result, he decided to fund the Nobel Prizes. His name is today connected to humankind's greatest achievements. When one does a kindness for someone else, you set forth a power of goodwill that keep going long after you are gone. So why not give out more handicap strokes to your fellow golfers and you will be long remembered and talked about?

Which is the most important club in your golf bag?

Is It The.....


Driver?

If every shot you make with your driver from the tee split the fairways, just imagine what you could have saved at the end of a game. When you don't make a profit then you save. Savings from penalties incurred for getting into the waters or veering off course to Out of Bounds (OB), etc. helps eliminate strokes. There was a time when good putters were outperformed by all the long hitters at the top of the money list so shouldn't it be said the other way round as "putt for show and drive for dough"? Basically, the driver is the most difficult club to use because it is the longest club in the bag. To some, this is their best club. Is that true for you?

Fairway Woods

Some folks play their woods better than their irons. So it becomes essential for them to have their 9 or 7 woods to replace their long irons on top of the more regular 5 and 3 woods. A 3-wood can be a life-saver on a long par 5, to make a good recovery after a poor shot and especially important and very useful on long par 3s or to tee off as a second driver for very tight fairways. Hitting them off the deck (on fairways) can be difficult for some but seems easier for others. Is this your favourite club?

Hybrids?











How about a hybrid for an average golfer? You can argue till the cows come home but you will slice your drivers or fairway woods at least some of the times no matter how much they cost you or how good they proclaimed them to be - $500? $1,000? You will even putt the same way whichever given any putter you use. Using a hybrid to replace your fairway wood or long irons would then be a life saver getting you in the fairways and nearer the green safely or even straight onto the green and immediately save you countless strokes and energy burned out in fighting with those other more difficult clubs. Jensen Button's girlfriend Jessica Michibata is half Argentinian and half Japanese while Louis Hamilton's girlfreind Nicole Scherzinger is from the Pussycat Dolls (not sure if half pussycat half doll). So, there you have it, the half iron, half wood and perhaps the most important club and innovation in recent years. Don't you think?

Irons?

Irons are the bread and butter clubs of the game. They are like work horses, always there for you grinding away on any lie or situation you are in. They are often under-appreciated like Cinderalla grinding her way in the kitchen and before her transformation to a Princess and often taken for granted but these are really your scoring clubs! That's why they have such a wide range from 3-iron to PW. Isn't it true that if you could play all of them well, you don't really need the others? They are like a group of good old friends always around for you during the good times and the bad. Develop the skills for solid iron play and you can cover up and make up for the embarassment of the other clubs? These clubs are very important?

Wedges?

What do you say about the wedges? The 52, 56 & 60 degrees wedges or in some other combo you could have them in say 50, 55, 60 or even 48, 52, 56 or 54, 58, 62 degrees. The world's best putters only really made about 15% of all their best putts from 15 feet in. So does it makes sense that pitching and chipping it up close when you have missed the green is a truly big deal? 

Most golfers are going to make maybe 5 or 6 GIR (Green In Regulation) and I'm talking about quite a decent golfer at that therefore, chipping it well is extremely crucial and critical. When you send your shots up close and really near the pin, you are left with a sitter, a tap-in. You completely eliminate the possibilities of non-conversion. How important is that to your game? If you have the hands of a magician playing them with great feel, confidence and spin and when you get so near the hole, your confidence soars and suddenly golf seems easy. It is very important isn't it?

Putter?

To each his own. Different folks, different strokes. Is the putter the crowning glory? The putter is cheaper to make than a driver and it is so vital and important and certainly worth every penny if it works the magic! Some can argue that it is the driver. Ask yourself a simple question - have you ever incurred penalty strokes using a putter? Putt a shot into the water or OB? Never! If you have done that, may be you should take up bowling. 


At least the gutters at both sides of the lanes need some cleaning. The only way you can incur penalty strokes with a putter is when you use it to hit someone you do not like and in that case your penalty comes from the penal code and the strokes from the rotan. There you have it. Putting is a key part of the short game which is so crucial. You often see people hit two shots onto or close to the green over a few hundred metres and then from 20-30m need another 3-4 putts. Shouldn't this be the most important club in your bag? Isn't this the most used club? 


Drive for show and putt for dough is the common refrain. The putter to golf is like a striker to soccer and also liken to a toilet roll. They are all there to apply the fnishing touch - get in the hole, score a goal and clean the backside respectively. Please don't get this mix up and go around telling people that I said you can use the putter to clean.....This must be the most important club?

Others?

Which is the most valuable? The Driver, yes because it usually costs the most. The Putter, yes as it has a big influence on your score. I am going to surprise you that to some golfers, the most important equipment in his bag is a non-playing club. It is the Ball Retriever. The long pole that can be further extended so that you can reach out as far as possible to retrieve balls that ended up killing a few fish in the pond. 


To immediately find your own ball in the pond and then to retrieve it is OK and it is also OK if you fish out a few other balls that don't belong to you only if the flight in front has halted your play but not otherwise. I have seen golfers fishing for balls when the flight in front is clear and the flight behind is waiting. I suspect these golfers' main ambition and purpose is not to golf but they get a high of retrieving some other people's lost balls and at the end of the day, while others are counting the scores, they are counting their balls. For this group, the most important equipment is the ball retriever. Sigh. For these people, you will need a seasoned diplomat to talk to them because a diplomat is someone who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you will look forward to the trip.

The late great Chinese Premier Deng Xiao Ping once quipped: 'It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice." So which is that most important club in your bag to you? One that can catch mice or pars and birdies? Fill me in.....


Golf as in life, play as it lies!