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Golf Clubs Guide
Golf Clubs Guide
Golf clubs are necessary equipment for playing golf. Each club consists of a long handle called a grip and a head. There are three different classifications of clubs – woods, irons and putters. Each of these are used for specific types of swings depending on where the ball in on the course. The clubs vary in the angle or loft, which is what helps the ball to either stay close to the ground or go higher into the air. It is not the swing or the force with which you hit the ball that causes this action. The head of the club also has grooves that give the ball a backspin and the impact of the club helps to compress the ball. The combination of the impact and the backspin is what creates the lift of the ball into the air.
There are 14 golf clubs in a set. There is a driver, two fairway woods, a set of irons numbered from 3 to 9, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, a putter and one other club that the player can choose.
Woods are clubs used for driving the golf ball a long distance. These are typically used at the beginning of the course when the player wants to reduce the number of strikes needed to reach the green. Each of these has a large head and a long shaft. At one time the heads were made of wood, which is where they got their name, but today these heads are made from steel, titanium, carbon fiber or scandium. In the class of woods, there are drivers and fairway woods. The lowest numbered club - #1 – is called the driver because it has the longest range of all the clubs and is the one used to tee off. The fairway woods are used for shots off the turf of the fairway.
Irons are gold clubs with a shorter shaft than the woods and a flat-angled head. They are best used for shots that will take ball off the fairway and onto the green or for shots a player must take to get the ball out of rough grass. Since there are usually trees on a golf course, these clubs are the chosen ones for taking the ball over the trees, especially if it lands at the base of these trees.
Wedges are irons that have a higher loft than the normal ones. They are used for shorter distances or for shots requiring a high altitude. There are four types of wedges in a set of golf clubs:
• Pitching wedge – a short iron with a loft of 45-50 degrees
• Sand wedge – has an underside designed to make the ball bounce and is used in sand bunkers and in the rough
• Gap wedge – designed for use in sand or rough like the sand wedge, but has a lower loft
• Lob wedge – has a very high altitude for high angle shots
Putters are specialized clubs with a very low loft. They are designed for putting the ball along the green into the hole. Although they are usually used when the ball is very close to the cup, they can be used from any part of the green.
Hybrid clubs are clubs that fit in between woods and irons. They can be used instead of fairway woods or the irons with low numbers.