Perhaps I’m showing my age here, but when I reminisce about my first set of golf clubs, I am faced with rather horrible images of a perished green leather golf bag (weighing an absolute tonne), a handful of different coloured TopFlites, a collection of useless gadgets I’d been given for Christmas including that circular blue rubber ball-cleaner filled with sponge – remember those? – and an assortment of antique golf clubs. “That’s what my bag looks like now!” I hear you cry, but I know you’re joking because no self-respecting golfer would be seen dead with that collection of odds and sods today. Besides, mine was a half-set.

And I guess that’s my point. If golf clubs are anything like iPhones and trainers these days, I am sure having the best and the latest, not to mention a full quota, relegates any old sticks straight to the scrap heap.  Isn’t that a shame?  And doesn’t it actually diminish the art of shot-making?  Just think of that great master, Seve, learning his trade with a single three-iron on the beach at Pedreña. All those hours translated into the kind of vision and creativity that was the envy of almost every other professional golfer. I doubt even he would have had the imagination and skill if he’d been straight on the course with a full set at the age of eight.

It’s hardly an earth-shattering observation, I’ll grant you, but the great advantage of a half-set – as well as saving your back from aching – is that it forces you to be more creative and judge shots and distances by feel.  You can’t just step up and whack it as is the tendency with a full set. I don’t know if it’s about saving face or what, but we’re all guilty of it.

So I say, bring back the art of shot-making and chuck out a few of your clubs, even if just for the occasional round. Perhaps suggest it to your playing partners, too, so you’re all limited the same way.  As well as making you concentrate harder and improving your feel, it’ll also benefit your course management and freshen up the game to add a little fun and a new challenge.

There are other ways to add a bit of variety and help improve your shot-making, too.

Three Club Challenge

Playing with a half-set of golf clubs is the first step to improving your imagination and feel, but to go the full distance, how about taking on your friends in a three club challenge?  Suddenly no shot is easy and you’re forced into trying shots you’re completely unfamiliar with, chipping around the green with a five-iron, for example.  What you discover – and I bet this is true for almost everyone – is that your normal way of playing certain shots might not be the most effective. You’ll add a new dimension to your game – not only in terms of the number of shots in your locker, but also from how much satisfaction your take from playing.

Play from the Ladies’ Tees

Before you scoff at this one, just consider how your course will look if you took the best part of a 1,000 yards off it. Your score might be trimmed with it, which never hurts the confidence.  You won’t be able to bash your driver every time you step up to the tee and, while the course may look easier, you still have to hit the shots. If you find your scores aren’t getting any better, then it’s an indication that your short game is where you need to improve most.  Go on – just once, give it a go!

Irons Only

Leaving the woods (metals) at home for a couple of rounds will do a couple of positive things. On the face of it, the golf course becomes more daunting as you’re suddenly feeling the pressure to hit the middle of the clubface if you’re going to reach the par 4s in two. But you’ll perhaps consider other strategic options on each hole and your scoring won’t be much different to normal. Par 5s can be played as genuine three-shotters; fairways will seem wider and much easier to hit, and on par 4s you’ll often come up short of the usual trouble.  Who knows, you might suddenly discover there’s a better way to play that niggling nemesis hole.  I’d certainly be surprised if both your course management and ball striking didn’t improve.

So, all I’m suggesting is that occasionally we all think out of the box and turf a few clubs out of the bag.  Just for the fun of it.

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