Golf clubs look identical to people who do not know how to play the game. Every golf club is made from three parts. A rod, called a shaft, has a club head attached to one end and a grip at the other. Subtle differences in the club head affect the distance and angle that the ball will move. Experience will teach which club is appropriate to each situation.
Most sets of golf clubs contain fourteen clubs, three or four of which are called woods, one putter, one to three wedges and as many as eight irons. Along with knowing the difference between the types of clubs, a player needs to understand the numbing system that is used to mark the club heads. The number is a measurement of the the loft, or how sharply upward that the ball is projected away from the ground. 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. The club heads on putters are either blades or mallets with flat bottoms.
Woods are the clubs with the greatest ability to propel the ball. An experienced player can hit the ball at least two hundred feet. While the clubs originally were made with hickory or persimmon wood heads, modern woods are made with steel or alloy metals. Newer woods may even be made from carbon fiber or hollow 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. The loft is also very low compared to other clubs. The low loft and flat bottom make it the best choice for shooting the ball a long distance. A 1-wood, called a “driver”, is best for long distances, due to its low loft. A club with a higher loft is more practical when golfing in the fairway or on a tee.
The clubs known as irons originally had club heads have from iron, but modern golf clubs use steel because of its additional strength. These clubs have a moderate amount of 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. These varieties usually contain clubs numbered from 3-iron to 9-iron with greater loft and shorter distance as the numbers increase.
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. Even a wedge with a low loft will only move the ball a maximum of a hundred or so feet forward. The most commonly used wedge is the pitching wedge with loft of under 50 feet. This club is found in most sets. 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.
The United States Golf Association (USGA) and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) are two international organizations that now are responsible for determining which clubs may be used in competitive golf. 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 andgolf accessories will be considered acceptable, never forget to check the most latest guidelines before purchasing golf clubs.