A golf club is the tool used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club has three components: a shaft with a grip and a club head. There are several types of golf clubs: Woods that are used for long-distance tee shots or fairway; irons are used for a variety of shots; hybrids that combine design elements of woods and irons; putters are used on the green to roll the ball into the hole. A set of clubs is limited by the rules of golf to a maximum of 14 golf clubs, players are free to use any combination of legal clubs.
The most significant difference between clubs of the same type is loft, or the angle between the club’s face and the vertical plane. It is loft that is the primary determinant of the ascending trajectory of the golf ball. The impact of the club compresses the ball, while grooves on the club face give the ball backspin. Together, the compression and backspin create lift. The majority of woods and irons are labeled with a number; higher numbers usually indicate shorter shafts and higher lofts, which give the ball a higher and shorter trajectory.
Woods
Woods are now almost exclusively made of metal or composite materials, and are the longest clubs in the bag. They are designed to hit the ball the farthest and generally result in the ball rolling quite a way after it lands. The club head of a wood is large and hollow and has a curved face. The driver (also called the 1 wood) has the lowest loft of any golf club and is made to hit the ball the farthest, it is generally used to hit the ball from tee shots.
Irons
Irons are generally used when you are less than 200 yards away from the green. The closer you are to the green, the higher the iron you will use. Irons come in a variety of lengths, but all are generally made of solid metal and have flat faces with more loft than woods. They are intended for shots requiring more accuracy than woods; the flat faces and increased loft result in shots that do not travel as far but stop more quickly once they land. Irons traditionally are labeled from 1 to 9 (longest to shortest).
Wedges
Wedges are just specialty irons, specially designed irons with heavy bottoms and a lot of loft–as much as 64 degrees. When you want to hit a short shot that lands quickly or have missed a green and need to chip or pitch the ball only a few yards to the hole, you usually want a wedge. Wedges are extremely useful to your game and most golfers have a few of them.
Hybrids
The hybrid, the newest member of the golf family, Hybrids are a combination of a fairway wood head design and an iron length shaft, is a cross between a fairway wood and an iron. It combines the hollow head of a fairway wood with the extra loft and accuracy of an iron. The popularity of hybrids has been so strong in recent years that many golfers have decided to replace many of their 3 and 4 irons with the hybrid clubs. An important factor is the distance that many hybrids offer when compared to a typical 3 or 4 iron shot.
Putters
A putter is a golf club with a special purpose: getting the ball into the hole after it lands on the green. Putters are sometimes used from just off the green when the grass is not too tall. The putter has a very straight face, typically with no more than 5 degrees of loft (about half that of a driver).
