Improve Your Golf Swing

Well, of course you should know something about golf clubs in order to play the game.  You can’t just show up on the course with some sticks and branches you cut off a nearby tree and expect to be allowed to play, and trying to hit a golf ball with a hockey stick is not going to help much either – regardless of what you might have seen in the movie “Happy Gilmore”!

But golf clubs are very unique in how they’re designed and in the materials used.  It’s very important to understand this as you need clubs that fit your body size, strength, and so on.

By now you probably know that woods are used for long distance fairway shots, irons for a variety of shots but in shorter distances, and of course putters are used on the greens only in order to have more control and to roll the ball into the cup.

Loft of the Clubs

A club’s loft is the angle between the club’s face and the vertical plane.  This loft is what makes a golf ball fly on an arc when struck rather than flying straight.  Many are under the mistaken impression that it’s the swing of the golfer that makes the ball fly in an arc but swings typically hit the ball in a straight horizontal motion; there just isn’t enough room between the ground and the ball even when it’s on a tee to get under the ball and hit it on much of an angle.

The impact of hitting the ball compresses it which leads to energy that makes the ball move forward.  The dimples on the ball give it a backspin, meaning that it’s actually spinning backwards toward the golfer while moving forward away from the swing.  These two components create lift, something that’s obviously needed to get the ball over the treetops.  However this arc also cuts down on the distance the ball moves since that energy is spent in the arc and not in distance.

The numbers you see on woods and irons indicate the shaft and loft; higher numbers mean higher loft.

Woods

These of course are the long distance clubs, used to hit the ball from the fairway toward the hole.  Their large heads and long shafts allow for maximum speed.  Materials used today include not just graphite, steel and titanium but also carbon fiber and scandium.  No doubt there will be even more materials used as time goes on and manufacturers have a better understanding of how to mix metals and manipulate them into lightweight materials.  While they are typically made from metal they are still called woods because of course they began as real wooden clubs.

Irons

The angled faces of irons are what make them better clubs for difficult lies such as the rough, through trees or over them, or when hitting from the base of hills.  Their shorter shafts and smaller faces give less distance to strokes, which is good when approaching the green.

Like woods, irons are numbered.  The higher the number, the lower the amount of angle of the face of the iron from 90 degrees.

A cavity back iron has an amount of the metal across the back of the head removed.  This allows the weight to be repositioned on the perimeter of the head, away from its center of gravity.  A muscle back iron does not have this cavity so the weight is evenly distributed across its face.

Wedges

A wedge is a type of iron that is used for very short distances, high accuracy shots, higher altitudes shots, or hitting the ball out of a rough or hazard and onto the green (chip shots).  A wedge has a higher loft than a 9 iron, which is usually lofted at 45 degrees.  The standard five types of wedges are:

• pitching wedges, 48 degrees
• gap wedges, 52 degrees
• sand wedges, 56 degrees
• lob wedges, 60 degrees
• ultra lob wedge, 64 degrees

Hybrid Clubs

A hybrid is a cross between a wood and an iron so that the club gives you the distance and accuracy of both clubs.  Typically these are used in place of the higher numbered woods.

Putters

For putters, the loft does not exceed ten degrees; many believe that they have no loft at all but this is not true.  Without a loft there would be virtually no distance achieved with a putter.

Putters are designed to roll the ball along the grass on the green.  Because of their smaller face they are not appropriate for hitting out of the rough or fairway.