Basic clubs

Question
John
I have decided THIS is the year I am going to get serious about improving my fitness AND my golf game.
Instead of hauling around my full set in a cart and drinking beer and eating hot dogs, I plan to use an over the shoulder bag with stand containg the basic clubs and WALKING the course.
Can you suggest which clubs to pack and what situations/yardage to use each club?
Thanks!
Today is my day off. The courses wont be ready up here for a couple months yet, so I plan to walk to the indoor range(about an hour round trip)hitting a couple buckets and putting practice.

Answer
Hey, Bud.

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I can totally relate to wanting to lighten your bag when you start walking. I recently began walking and carrying my own bag trying to get ready for tournament play this spring. When my caddy's not with me, I tote the bag myself. Addidas makes a couple of very light stand bags, but they're a little pricey.

If you are going to remove clubs, I'd take out every other club so you don't leave a huge gap in your yardages. Lets say you take out the odd numbered clubs. If you find yourself at a yardage you would normally hit a seven iron, you could either pound the daylights out of an 8 iron (NOT recommended) or back off on a six. I'd take the longer club and hit it, in this case, the 6 iron.  What you want to do, however, is still make a good firm swing with the 6 iron. Choke down on the grip to shorten the club, then maybe take a slightly shorter back swing. From there, accelerate through the ball firmly.

Many people make the mistake of swinging slower/easier when trying to take yardage off of a club. By far the most effective way to do it is what I reccomended...shorten the club by gripping down further, then shorten your backswing before firmly striking the ball with a good follow through.

This should help with the distance gap to make up for the clubs you took out of the bag, and taking out half of your irons will definitely lighten the load.

Have fun walking and good luck.

John