One Club: How to Play the Golf Game

Which club will you use in One Club? Better choose wisely. It's the only club you'll hit all day.
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By
Brent Kelley
Brent Kelley
Brent Kelley is an award-winning sports journalist and golf expert with over 30 years in print and online journalism.
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Updated on 08/05/19

Back in my early days as a golfer, I ran into a fellow golfer who told me about the time he and a buddy played Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio (for many years the site of the PGA Tour Bridgestone Invitational), each using only their 5-irons. They both sounded crazy to me. But, in fact, they were playing the golf game known as One Club.

Key Takeaways

  • One Club is the name of a golf game that requires golfers to play the course using only a single club throughout the round.
  • The game can be played as a tournament format or by buddies out for a casual round. In either case, it is typically up to each golfer to decide which lone club to use.

One Club: A Game for a Group or a Tournament Format

"One Club" is a golf format that is occasionally used in tournaments but is probably more common as a game between golf buddies. 

How do you play One Club? Hint: It's exactly what it sounds like. That's right: One Club is a round of golf in which you play using only ... one golf club. And yes, you even have to putt with that single club. (In the similar game called Five of Clubs, the putter is sometimes exempted from counting against the limit of five golf clubs. Not so in One Club, where you don't get the putter as a freebie.)

If One Club is used as a tournament format, then the tournament organizers might specify which club all participants must use. More likely, the choice of club will be left up to the golfers.

As a game played between friends in a group, the choice of club is up to each member of the group.

Solo Practice Game

One Club can be a great practice game, too, for a golfer playing alone because it forces you to experiment with different ways of playing shots: opening up the blade, flighting balls up or down, hitting low stingers, and so on.

When choosing the one golf club that you'll play with, you'll want a club that can get you down the fairway at least a little bit off the tee, while also having enough loft for use out of bunkers and for chipping and pitching. Five-irons and 6-irons are popular One Club choices.