Best Way to Choose a Golf Club

As a rule, stiff-shafted and heavy-headed clubs are best left to the strong and experienced playing professionals. You, as a high- or medium-handicapper, need clubs that will give you a better chance of making a high percentage of good golf shots, while giving you the best possible results from your bad shots.

According to the rules of golf, you may not play with more than fourteen clubs in your bag, and professionals always choose their fourteen to suit the prevailing weather conditions and the particular course to be played.

The beginner will probably improve faster if he or she uses only the Nos 3, 5 and 7 woods and the Nos 5, 7 and 9 irons, the pitching wedge, the sand iron and the putter. Using the full set before you are experienced enough will only be confusing and will lead to uncertainty and lack of confidence.

Which club to use?

The use of the clubs is fairly obvious. The longer-shafted clubs send the ball further. The woods are for shots from the tee or for the ‘transport’ shots that should leave you with a simple shot on to the green, close to the flag. The No. 3 wood is used from the tee, while the Nos 5 and 7 woods are for play on the fairway or for par 3 tee shots. Shots hit with these clubs allow you a greater margin of error – for instance, ball side-spin will be less than with the driver, so there will be a minimum loss of line (direction) and length.

The middle irons are for playing the ball on to the green with a reasonable amount of accuracy. The No. 5 iron is the longest iron the high-handicapper can use with any accuracy, so leave the longer irons until you can handle them properly.

Use the shorter clubs when accuracy is at a premium; in other words, when you want to send the ball higher and shorter to land on the green. The pitching wedge (or ‘wedge’, as it is also known) is for play near the green, while the sand iron is, as the name indicates, for playing from sand, but it is also a useful weapon when you need to get out of troublesome rough or when you need extra height to your shot. Finally, the putter is for playing the ball in the vicinity of the flag.