Golfers carry up to 14 clubs in their bag, each of which is designed to hit the ball a different distance. All clubs have some degree of loft, which is the slant of the club face.
That loft helps the golfer get the ball airborne. Some clubs have less loft, allowing the player to hit the ball farther. Other clubs are more lofted for shorter, high shots. Clubs are also different lengths and have different design features–each with its own purpose.
Woods
Woods are designed primarily for distance. The woods are so-named because the heads were originally carved from a block of wood–beech, ash, maple and persimmon. Today, the club heads are made of titanium, steel and alloys; a golfer who wants a wooden wood must have it specially made by a club maker.
Professional golfers can hit the ball in excess of 300 yards with woods.The head of a wood is rounded or oblong, and the bottom, or sole, is broad. The wood designed to hit the ball the farthest is the driver, which also has the least amount of loft and the longest shaft. Fairway woods can include the 3 wood, 5 wood and 7 wood. The lower-numbered clubs have less loft and hit the ball farther.
Irons
The irons are intended for shots where accuracy is the main consideration. The club heads are made of forged iron, steel or titanium and are thinner than the woods. These clubs are numbered one through nine and also include the wedges, which are the most lofted of the irons.
The irons decrease in shaft length in half-inch increments and increase in loft as the number of the iron gets higher. Because of the lower loft, even experienced golfers have trouble hitting accurate shots with the 1 and 2 irons, and standard sets of clubs do not include them.
The skill of the golfer determines how far he can hit his irons. A beginner might hit a 9 iron 80 yards, while a professional would hit the same club 150 yards or more.
Wedges
The wedges have the most degrees of loft for short, high shots than land on the green and stop quickly. They include, in ascending order of loft: pitching, gap, sand and lob.
The pitching wedge is standard with a set of clubs. If the irons were to continue their numbering system, the pitching wedge would be a 10 iron and the gap wedge would be an 11 iron.
The sand wedge, invented by professional golfer Gene Sarazen in 1931, is specifically designed to hit out of sandy areas called bunkers, but can also be used for a shot off the fairway or out of the higher grass.
Sand wedges have shorter shafts and a design feature called “bounce”–a slant of the sole, or bottom, of the club–which allows the club to glide through the sand rather than dig into it. The lob wedge has the most loft, allowing the golfer it hit high shots over obstacles.
Putters
The putter is the club golfers use the most during a round of golf. It has a straight or nearly straight face for rolling the ball on the green. The blades come in a wide array of shapes and sizes, such as mallet-type putter heads and flat blades.
The shaft length of a standard putter varies between 30 and 36 inches, but of all the golf clubs, the length of the putter’s shaft is the most variable. Some players use a belly putter, with the handle long enough to nestle up under the players belly.
Others employ a broomstick putter, with a handle long enough for a player to hold it with his hands in front of his chest.
Hybrids
The hybrid club combines characteristics of fairway woods and irons. The head of the club is smaller than a wood but larger than an iron, and the shaft length is shorter than a wood, allowing better control. Hybrids replace the longer irons and have more loft than the irons they replace, making them easier to hit in the air.
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