Now that you have given a basic understanding of golf club attributes it is essential to get an understanding of the various types of golf clubs.
Golf is played with a variety of clubs which fall into five distinct categories:
- Woods
- Hybrids
- Irons
- Putters
- Wedges
The following provides the basics of each club type, as well as their qualities and uses.
Woods:
Woods are utilized for long approach shots and can be played without a tee off the ground much easier that a driver. They have large heads which are spherical in shape, and a slightly bulging club face and flat bottom that slides over the ground during the stroke without digging in.
Originally wood heads were made of wood, but more modern club heads are usually made with hollow steel or titanium that are typically filled with foam. The shaft enters the wood head off-center in such a way that the face of the wood is roughly at a right angle to one side of the shaft.
A typical golfer’s bag will contain a driver and one or two fairway woods; most commonly a 3-wood and/or a 5-wood. Drivers and fairway woods are designed to strike the ball either on the upswing (the driver) or at the bottom of the swing (the fairway woods). For that reason, the ball is placed forward in the stance when using a wood.
Hybrids:
Hybrid clubs (also referred to as “utility clubs”) are a relatively recent addition to the golf club family and are becoming more popular because they are designed to be easier to hit for recreational golfers.
The terms “hybrid clubs” or “utility clubs” denote a category of clubs which combine the elements of both woods and irons into their design. This combination adds up to having technical features that aid in getting the ball airborne and dampen the effects of mishits.
Hybrid golf clubs are mainly designed for distance control and accuracy. The shafts are shorter and the club faces are stiffer like their iron counterparts. They also have no face bulge or roundness like fairway woods which keeps the shots simple. The bottoms often have runners or rails that help the club interact positively with the turf whether it is long rough, short fairway or sand. Club manufacturers have taken the center of gravity and moved it back and to the bottom of hybrid clubs. This is nearly impossible with a standard iron, and what this does is help to launch the ball into the air. They have also made the face flat and added a higher launch angle. This gives the ball a higher spin rate which allows it to stop faster with more accuracy.
Irons:
Irons are the scoring clubs and the most used clubs in the golf arsenal and come in sets of up to 13 clubs with all different loft angles for different distances and shots. Traditionally irons are known as the unrecognized heroes in a golfer’s bag. There are two main types of irons; cast and forged.
CAST IRONS:
Also known as “Cavity Backs”, cast irons are more geared toward beginners or mid to higher handicappers. Cast irons can be identified by their cavity back on the opposite side of the club face. Because their mass is distributed around the outer-edges of the club head, cast irons allow for a larger sweet spot and a more forgiving club on off-centered hits. They are usually cast from a mold of harder metals then bladed clubs, and are evenly matched for balance and weight.
FORGED IRONS:
Otherwise known as “Blades”, forged irons are made of softer steel with an exterior chrome plating. The sweet spot on these clubs is often smaller, so players with a well-groomed swing will find it easier to work the ball the way he or she wants. More experienced players prefer these type of clubs for greater spin and control of the ball.
Putters:
Essentially putters represent the most personal and creative pieces of equipment in any golfers bag. Because there is no exact science or correct way to putt the ball in the hole, manufacturers of golf clubs have designed three varieties of putters for players of all levels: Mallets, Blade, and Perimeter Weighted putters.
MALLETS:
Mallets are in the shape of a half moon with a large rounded head. This large rounded head allows the weight to be distributed evenly throughout the entire mass of the club and allows the golfer to have a more consistent stroke through the ball.
BLADE:
Blade style putters are among the first and oldest designs of the short sticks that are still used by many golfers today.
Blades tend to be very narrow and perfectly flat; having the best feel when putting because it gives the golfer a lot of feedback in terms of the way the ball has been struck. The shaft of this club enters the head right in the middle so you are looking right down at the ball, and for this reason it is a favorite of many low handicappers.
Wedges:
The makeup of the golf club wedge is just as essential as it’s versatility. The combination of the club loft and its grooves work together to produce the correct spin rate on the ball, thereby allowing players to control the trajectory and roll they want on their shots.
There is a lot of published information about the difference in the shape of the grooves in most wedges, but testing shows that the ball only makes contact with the front 4 or 5 thousandths of the top of the groove. The rest of the groove simply works as a channel to move other variables such as dirt, water, grass, etc., out of the way during the shot. Grooves in golf wedges have improved over the years because club manufactures have started to machine cut them instead of casting them. The four primary types of golf wedges are the Lob Wedge, Sand Wedge, Gap Wedge, and Pitching Wedge.
PITCHING WEDGE:
The pitching wedge usually comes as a standard part of most golf club sets. The loft on these clubs are found to be between 46 and 50 degrees. This club is used anywhere from 125 yards into the pin.
GAP WEDGE:
The gap wedge usually comes as a standard part of most golf club sets. The loft on these clubs is usually found to be between 51 and 54 degrees. This club is used to fill the gap between the pitching and sand wedge.
SAND WEDGE:
The sand wedge usually comes as a standard part of most golf club sets. The loft on these clubs is normally found between 55 and 59 degrees. This club is used from 95 yards into the pin, as well as getting out of sand traps or green side bunkers.
LOB WEDGE:
The lob wedge does not come as a standard part of most club sets and is usually purchased separately from any online retailer. Lob wedges come in many different varieties, and the loft on these clubs are normally found to be between 60 and 64 degrees. This club is used for shorter, and very high controlled shots that need to be stopped quickly.