In our forums, our members have been discussing the validity of dropping a middle club from their bag. WRXer ‘joostin’ is considering leaving his 5-iron out of his bag in favor of adding an extra wedge or long club, and our members have been having their say on the strategy in our forums.

Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.

• Christen_The_Sloop: “It makes more sense to take one from one of the ends as they are more “extreme.” It really depends on the course, if you are a better player, which I am not these days. It doesn’t matter which 14 I take out I wish I had to two different or vice versa.”
• Rapidcat: “I don’t play a 5 iron, my gapping between 5 and 6 is only 8 yards in carry. I lengthened my 6 iron by half inch and as such gapping is workable between 7 to 6 to 4. May choose to weaken my 4 iron by a degree but need to do some testing post-Covid.”
• hagimihale: “I took my 5i out of the bag. Choke down on a 4 where needed (and I don’t miss the 5). Gives me an extra spot to use depending on the course I’m playing. Currently go back and forth between a 3rd wedge, or a DI for windy days when I want a low-running shot off the tee.”
• MelloYellow: “There is something that feels distinctly temporary about removing an iron, like even if it works it’s not destined to last very long. I can’t say there’s anything wrong with it given that my 4i and 5i are far and away my least-used clubs. But I still don’t think I would ever permanently remove one. Again, I think this only makes sense if you (1) play the same course all the time and (2) never seem to hit it off the tee or on approach shots. If that’s the case, it’s hard to believe a soft 4 or a firm 6 could suffice as said above.”
• LCP: “Technically, I jump from a “strong” 5 iron to a 2 iron (G410 5 iron at 22º with an X100 shaft to a U85 2 iron at 18º with a Modus 105X shaft). That’s with 4 wedges at the short end, and a strong 5 wood, strong 3 wood and driver at the long end. I feel there’s a bit of a gap there, but it’s really due to the low launch of the 2 iron making its distance inconsistent because of launch angle and rollout varying so much. But it’s the club I want off the tee on tighter par 4’s that aren’t too long. With X-flex swing speed, you really have to make some compromises on gaps if you’re not playing 15-16 clubs.”

Entire Thread: “Dropping a middle club from the bag”