The suggested method is for the higher-handicapped player to remove one club from his opponent's bag for every two strokes in their handicap differential. A variation is not to use 'stroke' handicaps at all but instead have a club handicap from the start.

On the other hand, if the player carries a lob wedge, taking his sand wedge won't matter much. Also, it's tough to recover from greenside bunkers using any club but a sand wedge. Many good players use it for nearly every shot inside 100 yards. In general, the sand wedge is the best club to take away. Obviously, a lot depends on your opponent's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the specific challenges of the holes immediately ahead.

You'd be doing most players a favor by making them tee off with a three-wood or a two-iron. In any event, assuming the putter gets immunity, what are the best clubs to take from your opponent? Though many golfers immediately pick the driver, it's probably the worst club to select. And Ben Crenshaw once finished a round by putting with his two-iron. Fuzzy Zoeller once broke his putter in a tantrum, and he was forced to finish his round using a wedge for a putter, since PGA rules prohibit club replacement. You can putt pretty well with a sand wedge or a one- or two-iron. Accomplished players can work around the absence of other clubs by choking up, hitting fades, and so forth, but it's almost comical not to have a putter. Most choose to give the putter immunity, because it's too much of a handicap not to have one. Players should decide before the match whether they can take away putters. The opponent may reclaim his clubs one at a time, in any order he wants, as he loses holes back. For each hole a player loses (play is match play), he may take one club in his opponent's bag out of play. Pick Up Sticks requires some strategy other than just playing good golf.

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