One of the most common questions for new players once they learn that they are limited to only 14 different golf clubs in their golf bag, is to decide on what clubs to include in their bag setup. Most often, players will want to carry a driver, a putter, several irons, a wedge or two, and then some combination of woods and hybrids.

The main consideration is to avoid putting redundant clubs into your golf bag. For instance, there is no reason to use both a 2-iron and a 5-wood if they are both the same loft and a player is going to hit both of them the same distance. This leads to some important decisions about which clubs should make the cut and which clubs aren’t worth carrying.

The History of Hybrids: A Wood and Iron Alternative

One of the largest areas of overlap is between woods and hybrids. The hybrid wasn’t really a common thing to see in a player’s bag until the 1990s. For decades before the hybrid hit the market, players used all kinds of woods—anywhere from a 2-wood to a 13-wood was being manufactured and could be found in players’ bags at all levels of golf.

The idea behind making so many woods was that long irons are notoriously difficult to hit. Players who didn’t have the precision ball-striking skills to hit 1- and 2-irons that looked about as thin as a butter knife would opt to carry more woods to cover those distances. This was very common up until the hybrid club started becoming popular.

Hybrids gave a player an option to hit a club that had the forgiveness of a wood but carried a smaller profile, more similar to an iron. A major selling point of hybrids early on was that they were easier to hit out of the rough, especially heavy rough. This is what led to them being referred to, even occasionally today, as “rescue” clubs.

Focusing on Loft

The options for combining woods and irons have now expanded to include hybrids. When creating a bag of clubs, the driver generally is followed by a 3-wood, which is normally about 15 degrees or so in clubface loft. The next club, which would help cover the next 10-15 yards of distance shorter than the 3-wood, would generally have about 18 degrees of loft.

Today, there are three different types of club options you can utilize at 18 degrees. A typical 5-wood would’ve fit this role for a long time in many players’ bags since most would not have carried a 2-iron, which also commonly comes in 18 degrees. These two options would be split based on player skill, with only top-tier ball-strikers opting for a 2-iron over a 5-wood. More recently, however, a 2-hybrid has added another longer club option to the mix.

Wood Hybrids vs. Iron Hybrids

Hybrids can come in two forms. A wood hybrid generally has a bigger backing and more offset in the club. An iron hybrid or driving iron will look more like a typical long iron, generally with some type of back on it that is thicker than a normal blade.

Just like their namesakes, the ball flight for each generally follows the design. A wood hybrid is more of that “rescue club” that can dig the ball out of the rough and hit some higher approach shots into greens. An iron hybrid generally has a more penetrating ball flight and would be great for a player looking to hit lower shots off the tee that will roll out. Many players will put an iron or iron hybrid into their bag when going to play links-style golf courses, such as at the Open Championship (British Open) in Europe.

What Should You Carry?

Players can opt to carry whatever club they feel is the best fit for their game. Players can even own multiple clubs and swap them out depending on the course that they’re playing, the conditions the morning that they play, and even just whatever club the player is having an easier time using lately. (Keep in mind that if you are playing in any kind of USGA-sanctioned event, or just playing to establish a USGA handicap, you are limited to carrying a maximum of 14 clubs at a time.)

These options for woods or hybrids exist for a few different “slots” in the bag. Players can opt for a 3-hybrid or 7-wood, and some players even weigh a 4-hybrid versus a 9-wood, although many more are choosing a 4-hybrid over a 4-iron to fill this slot in their golf bag.

Thanks to hybrids, there really is no a reason to play woods that are higher-lofted than a 7-wood anymore, and fewer manufacturers are putting out models of woods that are that high lofted. Using an older model of a club just to play a 9-wood is going to cause a player to miss out on the technological advancements that have been made in club manufacturing since the leading club manufacturers stopped mass producing high-lofted woods. For example, newer hybrids often are adjustable and come with a wrench to move weights and even clubhead loft. Any older model of wood won’t have those types of customizable options to help players adjust their equipment to better fit their game.

High Lofts

Speaking of the 7-wood, players on the PGA Tour and across professional golf actually made a push in 2021 to include a 7-wood in their bags. Dustin Johnson and other longer hitters were putting a higher-lofted wood into their bag because the ball flight was so high that it would allow the ball to land softer on the green when hitting second shots into a long par 5.

Ideal Trajectory

Better players who are looking for a higher trajectory would really benefit from stocking an extra wood in their bag, in addition to their 3-wood. Players who need a low ball flight, due to wind, rain, or other course conditions, would benefit from putting an iron or iron-hybrid into their bag. Most of these players should opt for an iron-hybrid, especially because many club manufacturers aren’t producing stock 2-irons that match the rest of an iron set anymore. Even the long-carried 3-iron isn’t as popular anymore and is difficult to find in a stock iron set. Hybrids have made it easier to use these lofts, and many club manufacturers make a driving iron that can be subbed into the bag for these longer irons that players may be missing from their iron set.

High Handicaps

As for higher-handicap players, they should be opting for more hybrids in their bag than woods, just because the game improvement aspects of hybrids are going to offer the player a high launch angle option with ample offset that will help get the ball out of the rough and back into play. High-handicappers will find woods especially difficult to hit out of the rough, especially if they are lacking in swing speed and aren’t able to just muscle a wood through the long grass without having the clubface twist and turn through impact.

Off the Tee

In the fairway wood versus hybrid debate, it is also worth considering if the player will be using these clubs as an option off the tee. Perhaps accuracy with a driver isn’t a strong point in a player’s game (this author included), and they want to have some options to hit that will help them keep the ball in play. Also, occasionally, the course design will call for a player to change the number of hybrids or woods they carry because they need a club specifically to play a challenging hole that doesn’t have room to miss, or is too short to use a driver on.

Phil Mickelson actually used a hybrid very frequently off of the tee on his way to winning the 2021 PGA Championship and thus becoming the oldest major champion ever at over 50 years old. This allowed him a ball flight that didn’t balloon like higher-lofted woods can. The ball would then roll out off the tee, giving extra distance and making it more practical to hit a hybrid off the tee, even when playing from the distances that tour players tee it up from.

Whether you are looking for a long-term replacement in your bag, or just want to know more about your options when playing specific golf courses, golfers everywhere could benefit from learning more about the differences between these longer club options for their bags. At the end of the day, personal preference reigns most important over all the statistics and information available about the differences between club designs, as having a club in your hands that you can be confident swinging makes a world of difference. Feel free to reach out to me, or a fellow Golf Expert here on Curated, anytime to get assistance in choosing the best long clubs for your game, so you too can maximize your options to fill a bag with 14 clubs when you hit the links!