sdandrea1 If my swing is on plane and tempo has all the parts in synch, the difference in all these clubs is INSIGNIFICANT in my scoring. Ball flight might be different, feel is different, but if I'm driving it well and my short game is on, the middle of the bag hardly matters. Play what you like.
I think the last sentence in your post is the most important. Yes, I believe that clubs, particularly irons, make relatively little difference in terms of score because there are a lot of ways to shoot the same score:
-- a push-faded tee shot into the rough, a thinned 5 iron shot up somewhere near the green, a reasonably decent pitch, and a 15 foot putt;
-- a solid, long tee shot, a 7-iron to 10 feet, a lipped putt, and a tap in.
Both score 4, but if I had to do the first one all day, I would be pretty disappointed and disinterested in the game. The second is just more fun.
So, the way the club fits and performs is important, even if the score is the same. But to take this one step further, it's also more than just performance in terms of shot quality. I believe you have to like the club, and that begins from before you even pull it from the bag. And then once it is in your hand, I think you have to like looking at it, standing over it, and swinging it. I have had some really great performing clubs that I hit really good quality shots with, but which I got rid of because I just didn't like swinging them. So, like you say, it is important to play what you like.