The Most Beginner Guide to Golf Clubs

You've hit the time in your life when your friends or coworkers have started to ask you to play golf with them but you've never picked up a golf club in your life. So, you hit the internet to find out what you can about golf. How fortunate you are to find yourself reading this blog. This is the first of many guides that will dive into the deep world of golf. In this edition of Most Beginner, we are going to identify golf clubs and talk a little about their usage.

Identifying Golf Clubs

This is elementary for most but we gotta start at the lowest common denominator, and that's the person that was raised by wolves and only knows how to ambulate on all fours. How did they access the internet? When did they learn words? Why are they choosing to learn about golf? These are great questions. I don't have answers to these questions, but if the wolf person is here and willing to learn, they will be able to identify golf clubs by the end of the blog. Hopefully there will be some things that you can learn too.

Golf is a game of tools. Every golfer carries a bag and fills it with tools that they are going to use on the course. Some of these tools hit the ball a long way, some hit the ball not a long way, some hit the ball so that the ball just rolls. The first step is to identify the tools and start calling them by what they are.

Drivers:

These are the longest clubs in the bag, they have a big round head, and they make the ball travel the longest distance. They are used almost exclusively for the first shot (aka the tee shot) on long holes.

Fairway Woods:

Fairway woods are like drivers in look, but they are slightly shorter and generally have a smaller head. They hit the ball the next longest distance. As the name implies, they are used when you are hitting from the fairway. They can also be used from the tee box (the tee box is where you make a tee shot).

Hybrids:

Hybrids are a "betweener" club. They are a hybrid between fairway woods and irons. Sometimes they are called rescue clubs because they can be used when you're in deep rough and still want the ball to travel a long ways. They are similar in length to irons, sometimes slightly longer. Generally they will go further than an iron but not as far as a fairway wood. They can be used from almost any place on the golf course.

Irons:

Irons make up the majority of a golfers bag. Iron sets are typically made up of six or seven clubs. It's common to see sets from 4-W. That means it's a 4 iron, 5 iron, 6 iron, 7 iron, 8 iron, 9 iron, and pitching wedge. The 4 iron is the longest club and has least loft (loft is the angle the face of the club sits at). The shortest club in the set is the pitching wedge and it has the most loft. Going from the 4 iron to the pitching wedge, the length of the club gradually gets shorter and has more loft.

Wedges:

Wedges are the clubs that are used closest to the green, they are shortest clubs and they have the most loft. They have names like sand wedge, gap wedge, approach wedge, and lob wedge. Sometimes, they just have a number on them between 48 and 62. That number is the degrees of loft. A pitching wedge is 44-50 degrees, a gap/approach wedge is 50-53 degrees, a sand wedge is 54-57 degrees and a lob wedge is between 58-62 degrees. 

Putters:

A putter is the special club in the bag that is used on or near the green to roll the ball into the hole. 

Special Use Cases

This is the section where you find out how people use these clubs when they are special. You know. It's either the people who really know what they are doing so they pull out a club situationally because they have a specific objective they want to accomplish, or it's the person who is trying to imitate the good person.

Drivers:

Driver off the deck. A classic example of a shot that can be made but shouldn't even be attempted by most. This is when you find your ball on the fairway but it's got a long way to go to get to the green. Realistically you have two more shots to make it on the green, perhaps a 5 iron followed by a sand wedge. What a really good player might do is pull out a driver and hit right from where it lies and try to get it on the green with one swing of the club. Alternatively, a person trying to imitate a good player will tighten their belt, shout, "DRIVER OFF THE DECK" and proceed to hit a duck hook 100 yards closer to the green but also 45 degrees left of where they were aiming, directly into the pond or wooded area. Hitting a driver off the deck is a tough shot to make. Generally, when you hit a driver, the ball is on a tee and the connection with ball is on the upswing. When you hit a driver off the ground, you need to be making contact on the downswing. Difficulty = 8/10

Fairway Woods:

Bump and run near the green. Now this is a shot for all players. Sometimes you will find yourself near the green but there might be a sprinkler head in your line or some tall grass which takes putting out of play. Maybe you don't feel super comfortable with your wedges right near the green because the last hole you hit wedge from five yards off the green you got a little jumpy and ended up duffing the ground and the ball piddled just a yard closer. So, you walked up to your next shot angrily, swore under your breathe that your such an idiot, and without taking time to calm your nerves, ended up skulling your next shot right over the green. Back to your current situation, putting is out, wedges are out, it's time to pull out the fairway wood. You choke up on the club, short backswing, short follow-through, good contact, the ball jumps about a foot off the ground and rolls out to exactly where you were aiming. This can be a great shot to have in your bag and it's easy enough for all skill levels to pull off. Difficulty = 2/10

Hybrids:

There are no special use cases for hybrids. Hybrids, by design, are for all cases. I can't think of a single shot, where a person pulls out a hybrid, and I question why in the world they have that club in their hands. On the tee shot you want something a little more forgiving your long iron? Hybrid. Found yourself in the trees and you need a low punch to get under some branches? Hybrid. Sitting pretty in the middle of the fairway and you have 1 to 220 yards in? Hybrid. Want to do a bump and run near the green but you snapped your fairway wood on the last hole after hitting your ball into the water? Hybrid. Just hit a bump and run to 3 feet but you forgot your putter in the cart? Hybrid. What can a hybrid not do? They aren't called utility and rescue clubs for nothing. Difficulty = 1/10

Irons:

Again, there aren't a lot of special cases with irons either. They make up a majority of the bag and accomplish the majority of your shots. Difficulty = 6/10

Wedges:

Wedges are made for all the situations you might find yourself in to get on the green or the tricky situations to get back on track. Sliced your drive into the woods where the lost boys hang out with tinker bell? A wedge back to the fairway is never a bad play. Twenty yards to the green but there's a tree directly in your path? Pull out the lob wedge, open it way up, and show the world that you are the flop shot king. Difficulty = 7/10

Putters:

I alluded earlier to two types of people using their clubs in special situations, the good person, and the not good person. The good person never makes this shot, the not good person, well... It's not seen often, as a matter of fact, it's frowned upon at most places. But it happens, and it's usually accompanied with a surplus of bevvies. The putter off the tee. Typically, it's the person who stopped keeping score about four holes back. And the focus has shifted and shifted and shifted and shifted, what I'm trying to say is that they can no longer see straight. Then there's a moment of clarity and a light bulb dings on above their head. The super bright idea to tee it high and let it fly... with their putter. I don't condone this usage but let me tell you, it is fun. Difficulty = 10/10