How To Choose The golf clubs

According to the golf game's rules a player cannot carry more than fourteen clubs during a game. Thus, most of today's players do not carry more than this maximum permitted number.
There four basic types of golf clubs: Woods, Irons, Wedges, and Putters.

Woods are usually used to hit long golf shots. Standard woods that are carried in a golf bag are 1, 3, and 5 Woods. A 1 Wood is typically referred to as a ‘driver’. As the number of your wood increases (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) you lose the amount of distance it can go, but you gain a higher trajectory. Recent golf club technology has made higher lofted woods for shorter distances. A standard golfer's bag will have a driver (1 wood) and a couple of fairway woods (3- and/or 5-wood). A driver is the longest club (typically 45 inches) making it the toughest to handle during a swing.

Iron clubs are mostly used for shots that are expected to go an average distance - typically from 125 to 200 yards. The lower the number iron, the less degree on the face of the club, hence, the farther the distance the ball will travel. On the other hand, the higher the number iron, the higher the degree on the face, and consequently, the loftier the shot will be.

An Iron features a thin clubhead with grooves on it. Experienced players opt for a blade style iron, while beginners get a cavity-back style. A blade-style has a clubhead with a full back, but a cavity back's clubhead is hollow. It is hollowed out to make a perimeter weighting effect helpful for less-experienced golfers.

Irons are categorized as long (1, 2, 3,4), mid- (5,6,7) and short (8,9). Short irons are the easiest to hit while the long ones are the hardest. The shorter the iron, the more loft there is and for beginners, the more loft, the better.

The most popular irons used are 3 Irons and 9 Irons, however, many companies also manufacture 1 Irons as well as 10 Irons.

Wedges are used for semi-short shots. They are also used for chipping, and sand shots. There are several types of Wedges, including sand wedges, pitching wedges, and lob wedges. These are iron clubs and are used for games played on difficult grounds, and approach shots to the green.

A putter is a golf club that has a low loft. This enables the ball to roll farther. A putter is typically shorter than all of your other golf clubs. Putters are the clubs most regularly used in the game and come in clubhead styles of blade, heel-toe and mallet. Lengths come in belly putters, standard and broomstick (long) putters. Which selection to choose will be based on an individual preference.

Another popular type of golf club nowadays is the Hybrid club. The Hybrid club is a cross between the Iron and the Wood, and is made for people who have difficulty using these other types of clubs.

The physical capability of every golfer is different - stance, posture, size, swing characteristics etc – yet golf manufacturers make golf clubs identical as an off-the-shelf product. However with a custom fit golf club in your hands you can be safe in the knowledge that your clubs are personalized for you and be sure that when you make a good swing the club will be square at impact and your shot should soar down the middle of the fairway.

The majority of golf clubs which you can purchase today can be customized to accommodate the individual differences between golfers. The lie angle/loft, type of shaft, length of shaft, grip type and grip size can be modified. All that is required to custom fit these clubs is some simple measurements and a basic analysis of your swing.

The following information is usually all that is required: gender, height, distance from the wrist to the floor, age, handicap/skill Level, and swing speed.

Gender is utilised as the golf industry in general utilises different definitions as to what the standard length is for both a male and a female.

Height and distance from wrist to floor is used jointly so that the fitter can determine the length of club which is best suited for you. For example a tall man with long arms could easily be fitted with a shorter shaft than an average height male with short arms. The majority of golfers however use standard length clubs.

The remainder of the measurements are used to determine what type of flex the shaft on your club should have.

The notion that the more costly the club the better it is purely doesn't hold water anymore. If you do enough research and read reviews you'll find a club that matches your degree of interest. Some play for a weekend activity and there are others who'd like to move up in the rankings. If the occasional pastime is your stride, a low- to mid-performance club can work for you. But those of you who intend to play more regularly should seriously consider custom, higher-performance clubs.

By Paul Buntrage
Published: 11/8/2006