Best Golf Club Buying Guide

Just like any other sport, golf is also widely played in almost every corner of the globe. To a layman, the sport may appear to be very simple. However, playing golf like a pro needs years of practice, rhythm, skills, and agility. If you take a closer look at the golf bag of a golfer, you will notice that there are several types of golf clubs in his kitty. Whether you are a professional or a first timer, choosing suitable clubs is certainly an uphill task. You will need time and experience to understand which ones to choose and which ones to avoid at all costs.

Different Club Components

As discussed above, a golfer carries various types of golf clubs in his bag. The different varieties include a Driver, Fairway Wood, Hybrid, Iron Set, Wedge, and a Putter. The Driver variation lies between 9.5 to 13 degrees, whereas the variation for Fairway Wood is between 15 to 17 degrees. Similarly there are different variations to other club types, as well. As far as the components of the golf clubs are concerned, there are several components common to the different types of clubs such as wedges, irons, putters, and woods.

• Grip: The last 8 inches of the shaft of a golf club is covered by a rubber cover. This is the grip of a golf club. Golfers hold onto their clubs with the help of the rubberized grips. These grips are usually identified as standard, mid-size, and jumbo or over-sized. Depending upon the size of the hands of a golfer, necessary grips can be chosen.
• Shaft: The next important component of any golf club is the shaft. The grip is located right at the top of this shaft. The shaft is usually made up of either metal or graphite and is cylindrical in shape. The length of this shaft is primarily dependent upon the club in which it is usually installed. The shaft of a golf club is also available in variable flexes. This means that the shaft can either be quite flexible or rather stiff depending on its flex. The speed of your club-head is the primary determinant of the flexibility of the shaft. Different letters are used to denote the flexibility of a golf shaft. For example, R stands for regular, S is used to denote stiff, X is for extra stiff, L is for ladies, and A or M is for amateurs or seniors.
• Hosel: Next up is the hosel of a golf club. This is basically the component which connects the club-head with the shaft. The hosel also controls the lie angle of the golf club. This angle is usually a measured angle between the shaft and the sole or the base of the club-head. Factors such as the swing style or arm length of a golfer and his height play major roles in determining the lie angle. Many modern golf clubs come with adjustable hosels, which make the changing process of the lie angle very simple. Adjustable hosels are usually found in fairway woods, hybrids, and drivers.
• Club-Head: This is the final important component of a golf club. This part of the club comes in contact with the golf ball. It controls the distance the ball travels and also the height. A golfer usually decides upon the best golf club based on the club-head. Once he is sure about the quality of the head, he moves on to the other components of the club. Different manufacturer uses different technologies to make club-heads. These are especially designed to boost a specific golfer’s ability. Nonetheless, different types of club-heads perform the same task of striking the ball and making it move forward.

Categories of Golf Clubs

As mentioned above, golf clubs are of different types. These golf clubs are designed differently to help a golfer strike the ball in different situations. Some are used to make a ball move forward from a sand patch, some are designed to make a ball move higher in the air, and some are designed to make the ball move with a curve. Different types of golf clubs found in a golfer’s bag are discussed below.

1. Drivers: These types of golf clubs were called “woods” for most parts of the golfing history. This name was given since drivers were usually made of wood. However, you will still find drivers and fairway woods being referred to as woods, even though these are usually made up of titanium or steel. The driver is also sometimes referred to as “1 wood”. This golf club has the largest cub-head amongst all other golf clubs found in a golfer’s bag. Drivers are basically long distance golf clubs and are normally used off the tee box to play the first shot on either Par 4 or Par 5. Drivers are usually designed with the help of graphite shafts and are also the longest golf club in a golfer’s arsenal. If you compare the driver with other clubs, you will notice that it has the largest hitting area. Club-heads of different sizes can be selected in a driver. According to the rule book, the largest club-head suitable for a driver is a 460cc, which is also the most popular size as far as the club-head of a driver is concerned. However, skilled and professional golfers tend to use smaller sized club-head in their drivers such as 440cc. The higher the cc number of the club-head, the more forgiving will the driver be, especially on off-center golfing shots. More shot-making ability and workability is offered by a smaller sized club-head. Which is why such small sized driver club-heads appeal to professional and skilled golfers.
2. Fairway Woods: As discussed above, fairway woods were also referred to as “woods” in the past. However, these can also be named as Metal Woods or Fairway Metal. Normally, fairway woods include 3, 5, and 7 wood clubs. The higher will be the number, the greater will be the loft angle of the club-head. This will, naturally, make the ball travel higher in the air but shorter distance on the ground. Most of often than not you will find fairway woods made up with graphite shafts. However, there are still some made with steel shafts. You will also notice that the club-heads of fairway woods look almost similar to that of a driver. These types of golf clubs are mostly used to play longer fairway shots, long Par 3 tee shots, as well as, short Par 4 tee shots. Sometimes, you will notice that golfers, who find it very difficult to hit their drivers, use their fairway woods to tee off. This is mainly due to the fact that the added loft of the fairway woods help the players in getting a straighter shot.
3. Hybrids: Just as the name speaks about it, hybrids are basically a mix of irons and woods. The shape of a hybrid is quite similar to that of a wood and also have similar length and loft of an iron. Thus, it allows a golf ball to travel a great distance with ease. However, these are much easier to hit. In order to make it easier to play golf and boost forgiveness, you will find that many golfers replace their long irons such as 3 and 4 with a hybrid club. Apart from the 3 and 4 irons, there are several other irons, which can easily be replaced with a hybrid.
4. Irons: The best part about irons is that these can be used in every hole on a golf course. These golf clubs can easily cover all types of shots, short, mid-range, and long range. Normally, irons are available in a set comprising of 6 to 8 iron clubs. These include 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 irons. There will also be a pitching wedge and a gap wedge, which is also referred to as apple wedge. Iron sets may either come with graphite shafts or steel shafts. The club-heads of an iron club will have deeper grooves, which will extend across the face from heel to toe and also parallel from the top to the bottom. The primary motive of these grooves is to generate some spin on the ball, which is basically important to control your shots. The different numbered iron clubs indicate the distance and height a golf ball will travel. The higher the number the greater will be the loft angle. If the loft is higher, the golf ball will naturally fly high up in the air. However, it will not travel much in terms of ground distance. If you compare the club-heads on irons with those on hybrids or woods, you will notice that these are much thinner in depth than those on the hybrids and woods. This helps you hit your shots with greater accuracy. Usually it is seen that when a golfer reaches very close to a hole, he chooses to use thinner and smaller sized heads to be more accurate with his shots.
5. Wedges: Appearance wise, wedges seem to be much similar to irons. Both types of golf clubs have similar build and looks. However, the primary difference lies in the loft angles of the clubs. Wedges have greater loft angles and are so designed to provide more spin and accuracy as compared to irons. It is also seen that wedges provide bounce. This is basically the angle from the leading edge of the face of the club to the bottom of the sole. If this angle is higher, the club will easily bounce off the ground instead of digging into it. This makes wedges a great choice to play chip shots, especially around the green. There are various types of wedges used by a golfer. The highly popular ones are sand wedge, lob wedge, and gap wedge. A sand wedge is primarily used for most of the sand bunker shots and is also the highly common amongst all the different types of wedges. Although it is a very useful tool on a golf course, it is certainly not good to give any distance to your shots. A gap wedge is mainly used to bridge the distance gap between the sand wedge and the pitching wedge. This club allows you more distance than any other wedge with great accuracy. A lob wedge is mainly used to play short distance shots. It lets a ball travel high up in the air with great spin. Shots which let the golf ball fly high up and spin back to a hole are usually played with this club.
6. Putters: A putter is primarily fitted with a shaft made of steel and is also the most important club in any golfer’s bag. Sometimes it is also fitted with a squared or flat grip so that you can rest your thumb properly. The club face of a putter is nearly flat and happens to be much smaller in size than any other golf club in a player’s bag. This golf club is mainly used to roll a golf ball gently into the hole when it is on the green.

Tips To Take Good Care Of Your Clubs

Just like you take good care of your car or any other machine, you also need to take proper and timely care of your golf clubs. This will help them last long and also serve you better for as long as you use them.

• It is always a good idea to carry a dry towel with you every time you go out to play. Use this towel to clean the club face after every shot. Since the club face comes in contact with the ground, which may also be moist, it may easily damage the cub face. Wiping it off with a dry and clean towel will help it to last longer.
• It is also a good habit to clean the golf clubs once you are done hitting golf balls at a driving range.
• As discussed above, the grooves on a club-head are used to give some spin to the golf ball. These grooves are naturally very thin and it is not possible for a towel to clean them properly. The best alternative is to use a tee to clean off the grooves. If the grooves are clean, it will provide better spin than otherwise.
• Playing shots with your golf club will naturally mean holding onto the grip with both hands. Every time you hold onto the grip, it may result in the grip getting slick. Once this happens, the club may slip out of your hand when you try to play a hard shot. The best way to avoid such situation from happening is to clean the grips with a mild soap and warm water to get rid of slick from the grip.

Factors to Consider While Shopping For Golf Clubs

Most of you may make several mistakes in choosing the right set of golf clubs for your game. This is especially true for first timers. Here are some factors to consider while shopping for golf clubs. Keeping these factors in mind will help you choose the right one without getting confused in any way.

• Before you go out to shop for golf clubs, make sure that you know about your golf goals. Will you be playing the sport seriously or just during the weekends with your friends or family members? If it is the latter, then opting for a costly set makes no sense.
• Determine whether you are planning to play seriously and practice for long hours or not. If you are not too keen in learning the sport properly then opting for a cheaper set will help you.
• It is also a good idea to set a realistic budget when it comes to buying golf club sets.