My present setup is 1-3-7 woods, 28.5 fairway wood, 34H, 6-PW, 54-11,60-07,64-07. The 34H is a rescue club that I use in place of the 6-8 irons in certain situations. There is really no added value in carrying a 5 wood if you use a 21 hybrid - there MAY be about 10-15 yards; furthermore, it is a lot less effort to launch the hybrid vs a 5 wood. In regards to having difficulty hitting shots below 80 yards.... the basic fundamental is that a full pitch shot is about 66 percent yardage of a square stance full swing. If you hit your PW about 110 yards, a full pitch would be 75. If you hit your SW 80 yd, your full pitch is about 55 yd. Also, for every 1/2 inch you choke down with a full swing, you shave your distance by 10 yd. 1/2 swing should give you about 70 percent of the distance of a full swing (true because I pitch a SW about 50-55 and a 1/2 swing pitch is about 35) and you shave 5 yd for every 1/2" you choke. For me, a full pitch with a pw is 75 yd, 1/2 swing is 50 yd, 1/4 swing is about 30. With a SW, the distances are 55, 35, 20. With a LW, I pitch about 45 yd, 1/2 swing is 25 and 1/4 swing is 15. With an XW, a full golf shot is 45 yd and a full pitch is 25. I do have a pretty deadly short game. A lot of people try to vary the distance by changing how hard or soft they hit the ball.... WRONG! You should have the same tempo all the way and change the amount you choke and the length of backswing.

I have been working on the choked down sand wedge and PW. I guess I just dont feel comfortable on the course, being an AM I second guess myself all the time and end up standing up on it and skulling it or stayingdown on it too much and digging a freaking hole to china. I kind of hope the 60 will help me gain more confidence in my short game, (under 100 yards) and help lower my score. I alo agree with you guys in that my 5 wood is generally useless in my bag and it would benifit me to drop it for a wedge. Thanks for the advice. Probably going to pick it up today and practice with it all weekend. TPC Sawgrass on monday!!

When you're hitting a wedge, you need to have almost no weight shift to the back foot on the backswing. The reason you skull it is because your back foot is sticking on the ground on the downswing and you have entirely too much body motion and what happens is your upper body is getting ahead of the lower body. If you're digging a hole to China, you're standing too close to the ball and quite possibly casting the club on the downswing. This is also a cause of blocked shots. I see some of my golf partners practically tucking their arms in and that constricts the swing. You want to extend them just a little bit beyond hanging totally vertical. If you stand TOO far from the ball, you'll end up hooking it. If you stand too close, you block shots, hit fat or even shank. Swinging too hard is often the root evil of the above faults. A compact backswing (such as the Stack N Tilt) cures a lot of these faults. If you keep your head behind the ball and eye on it through the backswing and to making contact, a lot of these faults go away.

I would say its a good idea if your problems are with the short game. You might use the 5 wood 2 or 3 times at best and usually on par fives. I would say since u have the extra stroke on a par five use it to set up a good short game shot and use the 60 where its needed. You'll probably use the 60 degree more offten and on a much larger veriety of holes. I own a 3w,4w,5w, 3-pw, 52,56,60 wedges. I will adjust my bag based on the course and how i feel that day. I've actually gone with 4w and three wedges before. and the beutifull thing with the new 910 line of woods i can make that 4w into a 5w if im on a short course. or make it a strong 4w if i need a few more yards. Its all based on what course im playing.

That almost sounds like an old school setup (except for the GW and the LW). I used to carry 1-3-4 woods 2-PW and dual wedge for ages (I had some vintage sticks until 2006; Toski persimmons, Wilson X-31 1967 blade irons and I had the wedge since 1972). I used to love my 4 wood because I could hit it 230 yards down the middle just about all the time. My game had a big change in 2006 (when I started playing after a 3 year hiatus - school, band, work). What is pretty consistent is that the best combo to replace the 3-5 irons has been a 7 wood and a lofted fairway wood (27-28.5 deg). The rescue hybrid has been a fixture since 2007 as a backup for the 6 and 7 irons and for shots where I need to drop the ball on a dime from 140-160 yards. A 5 wood is no added value for me, considering that I have only a 15 yard gap between the 3 wood and 7 wood (I hit my 3 wood 190-200 and my 7 wood 175-185). Also, a gap wedge has never been any added value because I am pretty adept at working a PW. One of the things you learn when playing golf with a starter set (I used 1-3-4 wood, 3-5-7-9 irons and dual wedge between 1972-1979) is how to work a club. I broke 90 for the first time in 1975 with this set (I played quite a bit of golf up until 1977 - didn't play a lot between 1977 and 2006 and had two 3 year hiatuses from 1996-1999 and 2003-2006). I've been playing biweekly for the past 3 years.

Get the 60. You will be happy with the trade. the spin from a 56 doesnt even compare to a 60. it makes hitting short approach shots SO much easier

Hey thanks lou for the instruction lesson. I havent had any lessons yet. I have been playing golf for little over a year and a half. Everything I have learned is from videos, watching the pros and reading about them. So normally if I cant figure out what I am doing wrong I go google it, lol. Not always the best answer, but then again I dont plan on playing on tour any time soon. Thanks for the adive from everone. I got to use my 60 on saturday and it was great. Short game much better, but driver fell apart that day. Going to TPC Sawgrass today so hopefullly I can put togather a nice full round of golf.

If you want some good advice, go to www.allexperts.com (Golf) and look up Eddie Kilthau or John Brott. Eddie and one of my classmates (Don Timm) are Titleist teaching pros and they have Facebook profiles. There is also Revolution Golf (Paul Wilson is an excellent teacher). www.pelz.com is home of the Short Game Guru (Dave Pelz). If you play golf courses with rather tightly cropped fairways, a 5 wood is not exactly the easiest to hit off the grass. The 7 wood will launch off just about anything and it is also way easier to hit than an 19 or 21 deg hybrid (for me anyway). For me, the lofted wood I carry (a Louisville Niblick Even Stripe 28.5 deg persimmon 10 wood) takes care of the distances between 150-170 yards. The 34 hybrid (Louisville HL3 persimmon) is mainly carried as a conversation piece. I use it as backup for the 6 and 7 irons. I pretty much get 160 yards out of it (and can work it down to 140 yards with a full swing). An approach hybrid sometimes comes in rather handy (they have an "all carry" trajectory and they stop on a dime).

I agree, at least 75 percent of your practice needs to be short game. The only reason I go to the driving range is if I had a rough time with a certain club and even then I may hit 20-40 balls. Standard pitch shots and chip shots get automatic after awhile. Doing things like pitching over a bunker, from a mound down to the green, cut shots, bump n run...

Well the 60 did help out yesterday at TPC Sawgrass, were the rough is ROUGH. Litterally you cannot find your ball in the rough without standing on topof it and looking at just the right angle. I played pretty good 86 from the blended tees. But the 60 came in handy for around the greens. It saved quite a few bogeys for my by putting it close. I love it and I am glad that I dropped my 5 wood. Maybe someday i may look into a 7 wood. Alot of people seem to have them. But for now I lovemy 60. Thanks for everything guys!