Most people, when they go to buy a set of new clubs, they limit themselves to two types of clubs: muscle backs (blades) and cavity backs. In my earlier post, I talked about how all club manufacturers make a couple different variations of both. I wanted to take the discussion further because I think players shouldn’t limit themselves to one or the other if they don’t have to.
Now if a PGA pro came up to me and said they wanted 4-pw in muscle backs, go for it. Who the hell am I to tell you what to do? But if you strike the ball well with your scoring irons, and maybe the look of a bladed 5 iron scares the shit out of you, then the combo set is the perfect alternative. Take me for example. I hate the way that pw with a cavity looks. I can’t stand it. I think it’s the ugliest thing in golf behind a two ball putter. They make me want to vomit. But that cavity inspires confidence when I see it on the back of a 5 iron. I feel like Francis Scott Key looking at the American flag writing the star spangled banner, knowing that with this cavity, everything is going to be ok. This is why the combo set is the best of both worlds. You can have your tiny blade down low where you want maximum control over the golf ball. And you can have that beefy CB up top where you can take a freer swing with a 4 iron and not have to worry about hitting it off the toe or heel.
Now the biggest question is… Where do I make the split in my set from MBs to CBs? The answer is… It’s all up to you and how much help you need in that first longer iron. For me, I think I would go with pw-8 in a blade and then 7-4 in a cavity. Because for me, I’m going to want a little more in my 7 just because I’m not trying to control a 7 as much as I would an 8 or a 9. Plus, my 8 is going to fly around 165-170, and that is where a lot of my second shots are coming from. I don’t really want to try and hit a blade 7 185. That’s too much time the ball is in the air for a little miss hit to ruin a good round.
So go out and play around with different sets and combinations. Golf is about experimenting with different ideas about how to take technology and make it useful to your game.
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