I”ve got a confession to make… I have been playing golf
for 13 years and really have not done any research on how
golf clubs actually work.
The problem we face is not truly understanding how golf
clubs actually work. The average golfer will take a visit
to his/her local golf store without doing any actual
research.
Why? Wouldn”t you rather know what happens when a club hits
a golf ball before purchasing? Another lingering
question is does it really make any difference at all how
the actual club is designed or are all these new club
technologies released every year a bunch of hype.
In this article we will take a look at how each golf club
sends the golf ball down the middle of the fairway (we can
only hope) and why each club is very unique.
Before you rush off to purchase your first set of irons or
that oversized driver you really must understand the
different types of clubs. Each club has a unique purpose on
the golf course.
For example, when using your woods (the clubs with giant
heads on them, made of titanium/steel wood in modern day
times) it will get the ball traveling hundreds of yards off
the tee.
Your irons, which have the largest selection to choose from
are not designed for real great distance but they are
designed for high trajectory and accuracy.
Then finally you have your putter. This club is designed for
very short distances (typically on the golf green) and
allows you lots of control and finesse.
Believe it or not the golf club has several parts that make
that round dimpled ball travel down the middle of the
fairway.
Here I will quickly describe each part of the golf club.
The hosel is where the head actually connects to the shaft of
the club. The face of the golf club is where the club tries
to make contact with the ball. The sole of the club is what
rests on the ground when your lining up a shot.
You ever wonder what the slope of a golf club meant and why
it is important? The slope of a club is very important to a
golfer when selecting a club when their are obstructions in
front of him/her on the golf course.
The higher the slope of the club the higher the trajectory
of the ball (if your like me your drives always fall in front
of a tree or in the trees!). Here I will list the average
slope of each club:
putter: 0 degrees
sandwedge: 56 degrees
pitching wedge: 47 degrees
9 iron: 43 degrees
8 iron: 39 degrees
7 iron: 35 degrees
6 iron: 31 degrees
5 iron: 27 degrees
4 iron: 24 degrees
3 iron: 21 degrees
3 wood: 20 degrees
5 wood: 15 degrees
Driver: 10 degrees
————————————————————
As you can see there are many parts and angles that make up
a golf club. One should consider getting his or her golf
clubs customized to their physical body build. This can be
done by any local golf club maker or teaching golf pro. The
standard golf clubs off the shelf may not be designed for a
person who is 5 foot 2 or for someone at the other extreme
of 6 feet and above.
In closing, the most important part of the golf club is the
actual golfer. My own personal experience and success
story was buying oversized forgiving golf clubs. This
included the driver and the irons. Choosing the right club
is really up to you the golfer! You still can hit a bad
shot by making a poor club selection and executing a poor
swing. That is a good thing though, that means you still
have to practice and the golfer does make up part of the
overall success of a straight shot! So do your homework and
buy the right clubs and then get on the driving range or
golf course and put those new golf clubs to the test.
Related Posts
