Many golfers do not know what all the different clubs in their golf bag are. This Golf clubs explained article will give you a good knowledge of the clubs in your bag, what their purpose is and most of all to give the ability to know what club to use an a given golf situation.
What types of clubs are there? Basically there are five club types: irons, woods (drivers), wedges, putters and hybrids.
These club types vary greatly in many ways, Those ways include the club head which will very in size and what is called loft (the degree the club face is angled), The shaft length varies for a variety of reasons we will explain. In the game of golf the golfer is free to use any club he so chooses.
1) Drivers. This club is easy to understand. You want the club that will hit the ball the farthest. Yes the joy of the solid thud of driver hitting the ball dead on and watch it sail down the fairway. Its my favorite club for that reason. The driver is also referred as the one wood. Because you put the golf ball on a tee what is made of wood also the club head is made of wood (but recently the most club heads are made of something other then wood (metal).
The driver club has the longest shaft of all the clubs. That is because the longer the shaft gives the golf the most leverage in his swing to hit the ball the farthest. Also there is the speed advantage of the longer shaft that gives the swing the fasted speed. The Driver can hit a ball 200 plus yards.
2) Irons. The irons in a golfer’s bag are more numerous then any other club. There used to be 9 iron clubs in most golfer’s bag. Why so many? I will explain the meanings. The higher the iron number the more the loft and the shorter the shaft. Note the loft is the angle of the golf head. The more the angle the higher in the air the ball will go.
The 9 iron will hit the ball the highest and the shortest distance of the irons. On the other side of the iron spectrum the 1 2 3 irons have the least loft and the longer shafts . Meaning your ball will go further and straighter (the least loft). As you go down the iron number system from 9 the loft gets less (the ball will not go as high).
As you go down the number system from 9 your ball will go a little bit longer and less high. The shaft length gets longer as you go down from 9 . The longer the shaft the more the swing speed and leverage you have to strike the ball and make it go further.
Here are some sample yards for irons 9 iron 110 yard . 8 iron 120-125 yard range. 7 iron 130-135 yard. 6 iron 140-145 yard, 5 iron 150-155 yard, 4 iron 165-170 yard, 3 iron 170-175 yard, 2 iron 180-185 yard. Here is an example you are 115 yards from the green. A number 9 iron would be a good choice. The shorter the distance you are to the hole the bigger number iron you want to use.
3) Woods
The woods club is like a drive club. The wood is used on the fairway without using a tee. When you want to really smack that ball a as far as possible then grab one of the woods club. On the golf course to me one of the most beautiful sounds is that wood smack that golf ball and seeing the ball sail down the fairway.
In most golfer’s golf bags you will find 2 woods , a number 5 wood and a number 3 wood. The woods clubs used to be made of wood but are no longer. Wood head clubs are no made of metal, which has significant advantages over wood. The head on a wood is big , a few inches wide and tall. The woods club has the least loft (or angle cut) of any golf club in the bag. The angle of the wood is between 6 and 13 degrees. The lesser the loft the straighter and further the ball will go. Also on this website there is a great article on golf swing basics.
4) Putter
The putter is a very specialized golf club. Most golfer’s carry one putter in their bag. The putter comes in many shapes and sizes. The putter’s purpose is for putting the ball on the green. The loft on the putter is 9 degrees or less. To learn more on how to use a putter.
Most putters have the shortest shaft in the bag. Recent development have made different types of putter’s. Some are now built with long shafts,some have offset or angled blades, and others.
5) Wedges
Wedges are a close range shot golf club even shorter then irons. The wedges have even more loft then a number 9 iron. There are 4 wedge types.
1) lob wedge. A lob wedge is used on a shot in the range of 65 yards or less yards .
2) pitching wedge. A pitching wedge is used when on shot in the range of 85-105 yards loft of 44-47 degrees
3) Sand wedge. A sand wedge is used when trying to get out of a sand bunker on shot in the range of 75-85 yards. loft of 53-57 degrees
6) Hybrid clubs.
The latest category of golf club. The hybrid club is called this because its is a cross between an iron and a wood club. Think of the hybrid club as a replacement of their iron clubs. Many golfers find the hybrid club easier to use then an iron. Especially weekend golfers. You replace your irons with a hybrid ,
You would not carry both in a golf bag. A 3 iron would be the same as a 3 hybrid. A golfer will not carry both. The iron needs a good swing speed to obtain the distance in the chart. Your average weekend golfer just does not have the swing speed to get height and distance using an iron.
Enter the hybrid which gives the golfer without great swing speed more distance because of the design of the head. The hybrids have the same loft or angle cut in the shaft as there iron equivalent.
Conclusion. With this Golf clubs explained article you should know what club to use for a given golf shot situation. Feel free to print and carry this in your golf bag.
