Re: Come on,seriously?!

Well obviously the thing to suffer with only having one club is distance.

So the smart choice is to go with a club that gives you a little bit of distance, but stil plenty of workability around the greens. The green is, after all, where most shots take place.

So turn the par 5's into par 6's or 7's, 4's into 5's or 6's and 3's into 4's or 5's.

My choice?

8 or 7 iron. I would do an 8.

You can hit it any distance up to 140 (or whatever your max yardage is with an 8 iron). Bear in mind that you can intentionally thin it as well for extra roll/into the wind.

Strategy is most important. Almost never play the club to its full yardage. You should get any thoughts of any max distance out of your head. Learn to use it for what it is. You can play full shots, pitches, chips and bunker shots with an 8 iron.

But above all, have fun finding out what you can do with an 8 iron! You'd be surprised.

And it will open up your mind to what can be done with every club in the bag. So instead of having one club do one job, you'll find out that you could hit up to 20 different types of shot with each one (not including dumps or shanks!). What an arsenal to have!

Re: Come on,seriously?!

I pick a 4i. This gets me the most aggressive approach to making a low number, but exposes me to a potentially high one. If you want to win, you need this extra distance to get to the par 4s in 2. Where you are near the hole is then the hard part. If you are in a bunker, you have to make concessions (chipping backwards if you under a lip, etc).

If you want to just have fun, the 7-8i is the right choice.

Re: Come on,seriously?!

I'd bring my 150 club. I've played a round or two this way (just my 150 club - no putter) and I found two things happened. One, I didn't lose my ball, and two, my score was about average, maybe a stroke or two better than average. But certainly nowhere near my worst score.

Re: Come on,seriously?!

I second the choice of 7-8 iron.

Think of it this way. On a 500 yards par 5, three 7 iron iron shots will get you on, or close to the green. If you are not on the green, a good chip and putt will give you par.

It's a lot of fun and also is a great practice exercise.

Ted

Re: Come on,seriously?!

hi
i think more like Greg and i would go for a 5 iron as it not to hard to open the face and make it a 7 or 8 iron or play the ball forward so to add more loft to the face, or close the face and hit a big draw off the tees making it more like a 3 iron.
i watched Lee Trevino and Seve back in the late 70s at St Andrews in the bbc one club challange and both Lee and Seve took a 5 iron but they had to putt with the 5 iron as well. Seve won with i think with a 73 and Lee shot a 74. wonderful seeing them use a 5 ron out the pot bunkers at St Andrews,
both player's seem to make the club into what ever club they needed with ease and was a wonderful display of both there tallents.
like lowpost i have played many rounds with just my 5 iron and a couple of balls and it does improve your golf as you start thinking about distance off the tee and where you second shot will leave you what you will be left to the green and that then decides how to play the hole. also you think more about placing the ball as you will have a lot of chip and run shots so you have to put the ball where you dont have to fly bunkers. great way to get you thinking on the course.
cheers
Bill

Re: Come on,seriously?!

I think for my game I will choose a 5 iron. It is a club I am very comfortable using. I can hit about 150,choke it for a chip and run,just not sure about the bunkers.I will put in a bit of practice there.I appreciate everyones input it is a little way off yet ,but Iwill let you know how I go.

Re: Come on,seriously?!

The trick to the bunker play with the 5i is to play it as a real runner and expect it to go long to the back of the green (hopefully not into anther bunker)...so aim to a line where there is no other bunker regardless to where the flag is. You will be much happier to have another chip from grass then another bunker.

Don't try to loft it too much (opening up and swinging out-in)...this will need exact precision to pull it off and the misses will be huge blades that will go 100 yards (probably OB).

Short, choppy, way behind it (3-4 inches) but square on shots will get this out with a lot of run, but out.

For normal chipping, a 5i should go 1/5 in the air and run 4/5 on the ground... make sure you have room to play for this ratio...if not you have to play into rough to kill it. Practice this the most. Figure you will have about 70% of shots where you are playing into the rough to kill it.