Golf Club

A golf club is a kind of golf bat used for striking the ball in a series of holes. The clubs are usually made of wood, iron or a hybrid of both the elements. The clubs have loft present at the end of the shaft that determines the trajectory of the ball and the velocity with which the club can strike it. All the clubs have a number marked on them. The higher golf club number indicates the shorter shafts and higher lofts and it also gives the ball a higher but shorter trajectory.

Manufacturing and Construction of the Golf Clubs

Each club has a basic construction including a long shaft, grip and a club head. Earlier, the shafts were made from different types of woods such as ash, orangewood, purpleheart, blue-mahoo and hickory. The heads of the golf clubs were usually made from the woods such as apple, pear, dogwood, beech and persimmon. But the modern shafts are manufactured from steel, titanium and other metals or strong carbon fibre to improve the accuracy of golfers. The grips of the golf clubs are made from rubber or leather.

Types of Golf Clubs

• Wood - These are primarily long-distance clubs required to drive the balls up to a long-distance towards the hole. Woods have a long shaft and a large head to get a faster club speed. The biggest wood is referred to as the driver or one wood manufactured from hollowed-out titanium with feather-light shafts. The shafts of woods are usually 45.5 inches long and are made from graphite. Woods, nowadays, are made from various metals but still called “woods” because of the shape and their use on the golf course.
• Iron - These golf clubs are made from iron or steel having a flat angled face and shorter shaft. Irons were used to be manufactured from forged iron (and so got their name) but now are made from investment-cast out of steel alloys. Irons have marking from 1 to 9 depending upon their intended distance and loft angle. The 2-4 ranked are long irons, 5 to 7 are medium ones and 8 to 9 have higher loft angles but the smallest shaft length.
• Wedge - Wedges are a subclass of the iron family of golf clubs with highest lofts, usually 47 to 48 degrees. Wedges are ideal to be used for short-distance as well as high altitude shots with the highest accuracy. There are five different types of wedges with 45 to 64 degrees of lofts - pitching wedge, gap wedge, sand wedge, lob wedge and ultra-lob wedge (flop wedge).
• Hybrid - Hybrids are manufactured by using both wood and iron to provide a higher launch, long-distance and a more consistent swing. These golf clubs feature a slightly convex face and usually are used in place of low-numbered irons in a standard golf clubs set.
• Putter - The putters are unique kind of clubs with a loft of up to 10 degrees (typically 5-6 degrees). These clubs are ideal for rolling the ball over the grass, mainly from putting green towards the hole. Putters have some unique features such as two striking faces, non-circular grips and bent shafts (hosels). These golf clubs have appendages which aid the players in better aiming.

Rules & Regulations regarding the use of Golf Clubs

The rules of golf set by the R&A (Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews) and the USGA (United States Golf Association) states that a golfer can have a maximum of 14 clubs in his/her bag. The most widely used set of golf clubs includes a driver, a fairway wood, a set of 7 numbered irons, a sand wedge and a putter. Other than these 12, two other clubs can be chosen by the golfers based on their preference. The rules also state that none of the clubs should have a concave face. There are many other regulations regarding the shape and physical features of the clubs which are permitted to be used during an official tournament.