How Many Golf Clubs to Carry in a Golf Bag?

For most golfers, three woods are sufficient to get through a round of golf. Most golfers have a driver, a 3-wood and a 5-wood. Some golfers will choose to play without a 5-wood because they find it difficult to swing a wood from the fairway and choose a hybrid club instead. The driver is used on most tee shots on par 4 and par 5 holes. The 3-wood can be used to tee off or hit from the fairway, while the 5-wood can also be used from the tee, fairway or the very short rough.

Many golfers will carry a 3-, 4-, 5- and 6-iron. Very few golfers carry a 2-iron. Some golfers will also use hybrid clubs in place of long irons or fairway woods. A hybrid club has the hitting power of a fairway wood but is easy to swing, like an iron. Most golfers will have four long irons or three long irons and a hybrid club.

Most golfers will have a 7-, 8- and 9-iron along with a pitching wedge, a sand wedge and a putter. However, gap and lob wedges are used on shorter approach shots. Many golfers have one or the other, and some have both. If both are carried, the golfer may not carry one (or more) of the long irons or woods.