What You Need To Know About Golf Clubs
For somebody unfamiliar with the game of golf, golf clubs all look the same. Each club is made from a long shaft with a club head and grip. Club head shapes determine how far and at what angle the ball will be propelled. With practice, a golf player will intuitively select the right club for each shot.
A standard selection of golf clubs will have fourteen clubs. It generally has three to four woods, one putter and as many as nine irons. One to three clubs known as wedges, a subset of irons, are included in the choice of irons. In addition to being in four categories, clubs are marked with numbers that designate how far the ball can generally be hit. The number on the club refers to the loft, or angle to the ground, that the ball is sent upward. As the numbers get larger, the club will send the ball for a shorter distance and at a higher angle.
The majority of the varieties of golf clubs will propel golf balls into the air as well as forward. The most commonly used club is known as a putter. This club head propels the ball on the grass. Most putters are similar with shafts approximately three feet long, but there is some variation in size. However, the club heads can be shaped like flat bottomed mallets or flat blades.
A club known as a wood will send a golf ball farther than any other. With practice, a player should be able to send the ball over 200 feet. Once made from the wood that they were named for, modern woods are usually made from metal alloys such as steel. Other woods are made from hollow carbon fiber and titanium. The shape of the head is round with a planar surface along the bottom, giving it the ability to easily move parallel to the ground. Woods have the lowest loft of the varieties of clubs. These two features give woods the unmatched power to hit balls the farthest. A 1-wood has the lowest loft and is able to propel more than any other woods, giving it the name of “driver”. When golfing on a tee or in the fairway, a wood with a higher number is appropriate.
The clubs known as irons originally had club heads have from iron, but modern golf clubs use steel because of its additional strength. Irons have a medium loft. They are appropriate for shooting the ball under two hundred feet. 1-iron and 2-iron are harder for inexperienced players to use, so are not generally included in a standard selection of golf clubs. Most sets will have irons starting with 3 and go as high as 9, with higher lofts and less distance.
Wedges are generally used to lift the ball up, rather than moving them forward. They have an unusually high loft, making them the best club for moving the ball out of sand or grass. They generally do not move the ball more than one hundred and ten to one hundred and thirty feet forward, making them inefficient for moving very far. A standard golf set includes the pitching wedge, a club that has a 46 to 51 degree loft. The loft wedge has a marginally higher loft, generally topping out around 51 degrees. The gap wedge has the greatest lost and can reach as high as 64 degrees.
Centuries ago, there was no standardization to golf clubs, but the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) now have strictly regulated requirements for golf clubs. As styles and newer materials are introduced, rules may be adapted in order to keep competition fair. Guidelines for which clubs are allowed change as newer materials become available for golf club construction. In order to ensure that your clubs will be considered acceptable, never forget to check the most latest guidelines before purchasing golf clubs.