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Your Personal Primer Course on Golf Clubs

By: Kevin T. Fairbanks

The modern golfer has an arsenal of golf clubs in their golf bag. The typical set would contain a driver, fairway woods, irons, and a putter. Each golfer has their own unique style and would have different combinations of these golf clubs. Also included would be a replacement golf club for the longer irons and fairway woods known as the golf club hybrid.

The United States Golf Association (USGA) sets the rules of golf. In those rules, it limits the number of golf clubs in a golfer's golf bag to 14 golf clubs. A classic golfer would have a driver, 2 fairway woods, 7 golf irons, 3 golf wedges and a putter. You will find a different set combination in each golfers bag. Hybrid golf clubs, of late, may replace some of the longer golf irons and fairway woods.

The driver is the club that is most golfers favorite golf club, even though it is usually not used on every hole. The driver golf club is the longest golf club with the biggest head at the end of the shaft. This allows the golfer to hit the golf ball with the greatest distance, but not always the most accuracy. Rules regulate the size of the club head. The golf club driver will be the most expensive single golf club in the golfers bag. Name brand golf club drivers will cost between $200 and $400. Discount golf club drivers can be purchased for around $100 or even less.

Typical fairway woods normally consist of a 3, 5 and 7 wood. The club heads used to be made of wood, but modern fairway woods are now made of metal. They have more loft than the driver and are normally used from the fairway or for more accurate tee shots. Retail prices for a set of fairway metal woods would range from $150 to $300. Discount woods, or sometimes referred to as clone golf clubs, would run significantly less.

Most amateur golfers have a hard time hitting the longer golf club irons and fairway woods. Hybrid golf clubs were designed to combine the best features of the longer golf clubs irons and fairway woods. Even professional golfers are now adding hybrid golf clubs to the golf clubs in their golf bag. Hybrid golf clubs can run as much as the price of a driver. The budget conscious buyer should be able to find discount prices on clone hybrid golf clubs, or sometime known as knockoff hybrid golf clubs.

The busiest group of golf clubs is the golf club irons. Most of the shots will use an iron in a typical round of golf. Golf club irons are used to hit the golf ball from a normal range of 125 yards to 225 yards out from the putting surface. The golf club iron sets have clubs numbered from 2 through 9. The higher the club number, the higher the loft, the shorter the shaft and the shorter the distance of the shot. A 9 iron would result in a high, arcing shot close to the putting green, around 125 yards or so. A 2 iron would result in a low, long shot of around 225 yards.

Wedges are normally included in the purchase of a set of irons. The most common wedges are the pitching wedge, the sand wedge and the lob wedge. These golf clubs are used for short, controlled shots, normally very close to the putting green. Some golfers may choose to remove one of the wedges in lieu of a 2-iron or hybrid club.

The golfer has the choice of 2 primary types of golf club irons. For the more experienced golfer, forged irons are mad for precision and enable easier shaping of shots for draws and fades. Cavity-backed golf irons have a larger sweet spot and are more forgiving on off-center shots, providing straighter shots. A set of golf irons consisting of 2 through 9, a sand wedge and a pitching wedge, would range in price from $250 to over $1,500. Discount golf irons can provide great savings and are sometimes referred to as knockoff golf irons or clone golf irons.

The last and probably most utilized golf club is the putter. The golf club irons are used for the money shots. The putter is the money club. The old saying "Drive for show, putt for dough" is a very true statement. The putter is used on every golf hole at least once. The putter will be the golf club that ultimately puts the golf ball in the hole. This club provides the golfer the best opportunity to cut strokes from their golf round.

There are many varieties of putters in all shapes and sizes. Some of the putter shafts are so short that the golfer grips it near his knees, and some are so long that they are gripped at the golfer's chest. Many golfers spend their entire lives changing putters to find the one that feels right for them. Simple putters can cost as little as $20 but some of the more exotic putters can cost as much as $300.