A modern set of golf clubs typically consists of three woods the 1-driver, 3, and 5 , at least 1 hybrid 3H seven irons 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and PW , and a putter. This gives you a total of twelve clubs.
The rules of golf allow you to carry fourteen clubs in your bag, so many golfers add another wedge or specialty hybrid. After all, the more tools we have in our toolbox, the more options you have to make doing your job easier! Woods are used to hit long shots.
If a golf hole is yards from tee to green, most golfers use a wood to hit off the tee. A wood is a hollow-bodied large headed golf club. It's customary to use your woods when you are yards or more away from the green. The driver also called the 1 wood has the lowest loft of any golf club.
Loft is the angle of the club face that controls trajectory and affects distance. A driver has a loft between 7 and 12 degrees. Experienced golfers have traditionally favored lower lofted drivers less than 10 degrees of loft , which require much more skill to hit than higher lofted drivers. A dramatic development has occurred over the past several years — professional golfers are throwing out their low lofted drivers and opting for large-headed, higher-lofted 10 and 11 degree drivers.
Their argument is that the longest drives are achieved by combining a high launch angle with lower spin. This change is a huge reversal from prior years. During the mid to late 's, the average loft on the PGA Tour was around 7 degrees.
However, those were difficult shots for the pros to make and the low loft resulted in lots of spin on the ball. The experts in ball flight analysis showed that the longest golf drives are achieved with a high launch angle combined with low spin.
The new solid core golf balls provide that low spin which was not available in the golf balls of yesterday. A higher lofted club gives the golfer the higher launch angle. Most PGA pros now carry drivers with lofts of 8.
Non-pros should probably play drivers with lifts 10 degrees or higher. So, our recommendation is: follow the advice of the PGA pros and increase the loft of your driver. Most golfers also carry 3 and 5 woods in their bag. A 3 wood has a loft between 15 and 18 degrees, and a 5 wood has a loft between 20 and 22 degrees. The higher the golf club number, the higher the loft. Also, the higher the golf club number, the shorter the club shaft length.
The 3 wood and 5 wood are commonly referred to as fairway woods , because they are most often used during the second shot of play, when you are supposed to be in the fairway of the golf hole as opposed to in the woods! All higher lofted woods 7, 9, 11, and so on are commonly referred to as utility woods.
However, we build all our woods higher than a 5 wood the same length as the 5 wood. This is because shortening a club decreases the arc of the swing.
The smaller the arc, the less speed the golf club will have when it strikes the ball — ergo the less distance the ball will travel. We believe that a 5 wood is short enough and while the 7 and 9 woods provide more forgiveness, we also want longer distance in our shots. Arghh, the physics of golf! Well, an explanation as to the best shots that can be played by the different wedges will certainly make life significantly easier for any player.
A pitching wedge comes with the highest loft out of all the wedges, and that does mean it has quite a specific role to play. When it comes to the loft angle, then you are typically looking at a PW having an angle of anywhere from 44 to 48 degrees. A player will tend to bring out their pitching wedge when they have a shot in the region of yards left. This is the longest wedge you will have in your bag, so it makes sense that it is often used for the longest shots.
However, if you are more adept at using this club and keeping control over the ball, then you can also bring it out of the bag for a shorter pitch and roll onto the green. In saying that, it does still provide you with the ability to get control over the spin when compared to the short irons, so that is certainly something to work on when you start to bring your pitching wedge into your game.
The approach wedge can also be referred to as the gap wedge, and this club falls perfectly in between the distances and loft angles, you will be able to get from both a pitching wedge and a sand wedge. What this means is your approach wedge is going to be coming in around a 50 degree loft angle. If you stress that you may overhit your pitching wedge shot, then an approach wedge is going to offer you a substantial amount of control over your shot without having that fear.
Also, the height you can get from this club is pretty impressive. It creates an ideal trajectory for shots some 50 yards to yards out from the green.
With the slightly higher loft angle, which does tend to sit around the 50 degree mark, you will generate enough backspin from the shot to naturally get it to stop pretty stone dead on the green.
Overall, this club works well for those individuals that have a tendency to hit beyond the mark where a pitching wedge would work, but too far out to get onto the green. Also, if you do not have the control over your shots that would be required for a loft wedge, then this club would sit nicely in your bag. The design of the club head has been created in such a way that the head has a wider sole to it. Also, it tends to be rounder in style, and this is all designed to help you get the club under the ball while it's sitting in sand, and to get it up off the surface.
But the design is even more intelligent than most are aware. Thanks to the round style, it does have the ability to move through the sand and pop up out the other side. What you need to remember with the sand wedge is that the club is all about getting a clean connection even when the ball is well set into the sand. That is why the design is different to the other wedges, as the rounder style gives more surface area to push through the sand without coming up short. This round style does then make it harder to hit the ball as cleanly if you are on the fairway, but then you would turn to another wedge to make that sort of shot.
However, when you are deep in a sand trap, then the sand wedge makes life so much easier. A sand wedge is designed to offer you as large a sweet spot as possible. The sweet spot is so important when you are in this sort of situation.
Click here to learn a bit more about golf club bounce. Where the pitching wedge is the club to get you onto the green from, say, yards, it is the job of the approach wedge to give you more accuracy and control.
Most average golfers can usually get to within yards of the hole. Consider how many of your golf shots are played from yards in and you will quickly realize that improving your wedge game and improving your accuracy could be a very important strategy for lowering your score. Accuracy from 80 yards or so, is the generally accepted benefit or purpose of the approach wedge.
And accuracy will hopefully you will avoid 3 putting and even achieve an approach shot followed by one putt. So, the bottom line is to try and hit your golf ball closer to the hole with your wedge. The closer you hit your approach wedge to the hole on average, the higher your chance of making the putt. These are quite technical points but take time to read them. The mistakes made in an ideal swing are:. It is a very versatile golf club to have in your bag. It can make the difference between just getting onto or near the green and getting close to the flag.
I'm Rob. I'm an avid golf enthusiast and golf tutor with over 40 years experience playing this beautiful but frustrating game. I'm here to offer advice if you want it and share my passion with golfers from around the world. More from this Author. Improve Your Golf.
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