Chicago Public Golf

It’s just not necessary to haul around 14 clubs. This chart should give you the framework to bring fewer clubs and enhance your golf life. By carefully culling out unneeded clubs in a systematic manner, you can do so with minimal impact on your handicap.

Think about all the benefits:

• You can walk 36 holes and not feel beat down for that final 9.
• You free up a lot of space in your trunk so you can pick up all your buddies for that road trip to a far off course.
• Air travel is much simpler. My wife and I only bring one travel bag for air travel, we put both of our clubs in one regular bag and then I just stuff an old Callaway Pencil Bag (I don’t think they make it anymore) in the travel bag. Piece of cake.
• Fewer clubs allows you to develop better feel because you are forced to hit the same club multiple distances.
• If you have to cross a creek or brook, you can just leap over it rather than finding a bridge because you are so nimble with the lighter bag. This makes you look like a bad-ass and intimidates your playing partners.
• It feels good to break the game down into the four components and attack it from that perspective. It doesn’t matter how many clubs you have, you still only need to be able to Drive, Approach, play the Short Game, and Putt. You just have to be more creative and strategic when you use fewer tools in those aspects. If you like puzzles, brain-teasers, and thinking your way around the course, this is for you.

It’s not something that you leap into quickly though. I would start with no less than 11 clubs then gradually make your way down to the seven club package. I don’t always play with this few clubs. I like to mix it up a lot so I will switch back and forth.

The benefits for a trunksmasher are evident. It’s easier to walk, easier to travel (road or air), and easier to manage out of your trunk. Later, we will get into how exactly this can be used to grow the game by making it “stickier.” You gotta stop back for that analysis.

In no particular order, comments…suggestions?

1. Have a bias for walking. Walking 18 holes gives the round a more natural rhythm than riding.
2. Fourteen clubs is too many clubs. A set of substantially fewer doesn’t detract materially from your score and could make you a better player. Plus, it saves your back and shoulders.
3. A golf weekend away with 3 or more members of the same sex does not make you a bad spouse, an uncaring boyfriend/girlfriend, or a neglectful parent.
4. Memorize the entire contents of your golf bag.
5. When you arrive at the course, if the bag boy drives up to your car while you’re putting on your golf shoes to see if you “need help with your clubs,” you should politely decline and disregard any reprisal from the bag boy or your playing partners.
6. Have a desire to grow the game and make golf more accessible to those not as passionate or proficient as you.
7. Playing an emergency 18 holes after already playing 36 because “there are at least 2.5 hours of daylight left” is normal and is an acceptable alternative to “having a few beers by the pool” or “getting a good steak.”
8. Always have a towel handy in the trunk to wipe off a small space on your back bumper to sit while you put on your golf shoes so you don’t get dirt on your ass.
9. Bag-drop, what’s that? Couldn’t it damage my clubs if you drop them?
10. A five hour round is not stressful and waiting on half of your shots should not be met with bitching and moaning. Actually, this situation could be construed as relaxing. It gives you more of a chance to converse with your playing partners and contemplate the resolution of world problems.