Ok - since having to carry, due to a trolley ban I have got used to playing with just a -

3 wood (off the tee and fairway) 19* rescue, 5,7,9 and 52* gap wedge and putter.

Funny thing is - I never really got on with my 3 wood and it stayed in the bag most rounds, now I'm hitting it a treat.

Playing yesterday with full kit and realised that: -

I missed my driver, 6,8,PW and SW (used them all)

I haven't missed my 4 iron - didn't use it

I didn't play the 3 wood, despite the fact I had become confident with it.

What just gets a free ride in your bag?

for some reason my 5 year old daughters 7 iron has taken up "lazy residence" in my bag....its a bit of an embarrassment to turn up on the first tee with 15 clubs and have to "declare" a childs club as something that i'm not going to use!!

My 3w also doesnt get used a lot, nor does my 5i. I have taken the 4, 3 and 2i out and replaced them with 2 rescue clubs so I now only carry 13 in the bag. I could possibly do without the PW but want to keep it just in case.

I played in the 3 club comp just before christmas, and carried 5 iron, 8 iron and putter (putter was compulsory).

My reasoning behind my club choice (yes, I did put some thought into it!), was that I can hit all of the par 3s with a 5 or 8. As it happened, I hit all of the par 4s with the same clubs as well.

I'd been a bit ropey in the weeks beforehand, yet with such a paucity of clubs to choose from, I had more pars that day than I had had for weeks.

I can honestly say that if I could have carried a driver and SW, I wouldn't have wanted for any more clubs. Of course, that might only apply to my home course.

So, there are more than half of my clubs that don't get an outing on most of my games - at this time of year, notice the ones that haven't got a speck of dirt on them.

3 clubs stay in my bag, but only get used occasionally at this time of year.

The 4 iron which only gets used on a particular par 3 when the wind is against (very unusual wind direction).

The 7 wood used for deep rough of which there is very little

The 56 SW which is used for soft fluffy sand bunkers and at this time of the year the bunkers are compacted enough to use a PW

When I carry on our 9 hole I drop all the woods, 4 iron and SW. Its funny but with a par five on the course and two longish par 4s I find that I can still score reasonably well with just a 3 iron off the tee.

I use all 14 of my clubs. Rarely play 18 holes without using each and every one of them. Why is it then, when I play 3 clubs and a putter competitions that I can still play in my buffer zone with a 3 wood, 7 iron, P wedge and a putter? Crazy game. ;o)

This was a topic at my old club last year, how many clubs are used and not used. So me and a friend decided to use 5i-pw and putter only, both scored 85 & 86 play off 15 & 17, didnt miss the rest really and the bag was so light. And my friend birdied one of the par 5s, main tees n greens too.