Before beginning the game, getting the right equipment to use is helpful for a lasting career play.
A golf bag is where you place all your golf clubs and the following essentials : at least six balls, a few wooden tees, a couple of gloves, a rain suit, a pitch mark repair tool, a few small coins to mark your ball on the green, two or three pencils, sunscreen, a small pouch for your wallet money clip, loose change, car keys, rings and cellphones and a spare towel. Since it is heavy and the course is huge to just walk it all throughout between shots players ride a golf cart, a small motorized vehicle for golfers and their equipment.
Gloves are worn on the non-dominant hand for a sound grip. They create more friction and add a little tackiness to the grip. Properly fitted gloves are designed to protect the golfer’s hand from blisters after repeatedly swinging the golf club.
A tee is a short peg used to support a stationary ball off the ground.
Golf balls are white dented spherical object with tough cover and a resilient core of rubber. Under the rules of golf, a golf ball has a mass no more than 45. 9 grams and a diameter not less than 42.7 grams and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits. The numbers in the golf balls may label for identification or compression rating, or how many dimples are on the ball.
Golf Club
Golf clubs are used to hit the balls. It has three parts – grip, shaft and the head. See the photo below. It is designed for specific types of shots but some have multiple uses. Maximum of 14 clubs are allowed to carry in the golf bag. Most golfers have their minimum arsenal a set of irons, one or two hybrids, multiple wedges, several drivers and a variety of putters. Loft is the angle of the club face that controls trajectory and affects distance.
Drivers
Also called as 1-wood, drivers are the longest type of club. They are exclusively use for tee shots because of their maximum height and distance production with minimum side spin for straighter shots. Drivers has a loft between 7 to 12 degrees. Their oversized head is now made of lightweight titanium or carbon fiber to maximize the size without being too heavy unlike before when they were made up of hardwood and steel.
Woods
These are use when you are 175 yards of more away from the green or for fairway shots that are beyond the range of the irons or on tee shots when you need more control of the ball. They are also known as fairway woods or fairway metals since they are now made of stainless steel. Their lofts are 12 to 20 degrees which let them produce higher, softer shots than the driver. Woods are numbered depending on their loft and shaft. The higher the golf club number, the higher the loft while the higher the golf club number also means the shorter the shaft. A 3 wood has a loft between 15 to 18 degrees. A 5 wood has a loft between 20 to 22 degrees. The two moods mentioned are usually what golfers use and are commonly called as fairway woods because they are most often used during the second shot of play (when you are playing in the fairway). Utility woods are higher lofted woods.
Irons
Irons are numbered from 1 to 9. They have higher degree of loft then woods. 1-, 2-, and 3- irons are called long irons with little loft that sends the ball the farthest. Middle irons (4-, 5-, and 6- irons) are used when the ball is about 150 to 170 yards from the hole. Short irons (7-, 8-, and 9- irons) fly higher in the air but for a short distance and stop more quickly, used for chipping.
Hybrids
The recently added type of golf club are a combination of a fairway wood’s rounded head design and an iron’s shaft length and club face. Hybrids are built with a center of gravity that is further back and lower than in an iron which make them more forgiving. They are one of the most versatile clubs with lofts between 16 to 26 degrees. The lowest number provide up to 10 to 15 yards shorter that the highest numbered fairway wood.
Wedges
Wedges are clubs that have a greater (more than 50 degrees) loft than short irons. They are designed as “blade clubs” because you are close enough to the green to improve shot control, shot shaping and right amount of bounce. Golfers often carry different types of wedges for various distances and lie conditions. They are basically specialty irons that comes in four types. Pitching wedge has a loft of 44 to 40 degrees and fly high into the sky and travel up to 110 to 140 yards. Gap wedge has 51 to 53 degrees loft angle with distance of 90 to 220 yards. Sand wedge are used to hit the ball out of the sand bunkers or rough with 54 to 58 degrees loft and travels 80 to 110 yards. Lastly, the lob wedge that has a loft of 58 to 60 degrees with a distance of 80 years and below.
Putters
Putters are used to hit ground balls on the green. They have lesser loft angle (about 4 degrees), shorter shaft (33 to 35 inches) and a line along the top of the blade to help line up the shot. They have flat faces to keep the ball from bouncing up when striking. Many of them have plastic or soft metal face inserts to give them better feel and for rolling the ball smoothly.
