Choosing the right golf clubs - A beginner's guide

When one fine day you decide to step into the world of golf and begin your journey as a golfer, you need to choose your tools wisely. The first time purchasing golf essentials can be overwhelming especially when it comes to choosing the main tool of the game - Golf clubs.

 As a beginner, you need to understand which club is good for you amid a range of golf clubs so that you learn to hit well at each stage of learning the game.

As a beginner, it is also essential to know the different kinds of golf clubs available for hitting the ball till the target.

1. Woods
2. Irons
3. Wedges
4. Putters

Woods:

Woods are the golf clubs that have the largest heads. Woods include drivers and fairways. Interestingly, their clubheads are no longer made of wood as the name suggests. Woods come with the longest shafts. Hence golfers swing them the fastest to hit the longest shots. Check out the Callaway fairway woods.

Irons :

Irons come in numbered sets. They range from 3 iron through 9 iron or pitching wedges. These golf clubs have one feature that sets them apart from woods - Irons have smaller clubheads than woods, especially front to back where these golf clubs are comparatively thinner. This earns them the nickname of "blades". Irons have angled faces called "loft".

Irons are golf clubs with grooves that help to grip the golf ball and provide spin. Irons are used on shots from the fairway or for tee shots on short holes.

An important point to know : When Irons increase in number like 5 - iron, 6 - iron , their loft increases while the shaft decreases.

See this range of Iron metal pro by Mizuno.

Wedges:

These golf clubs have a category of their own like - Pitching wedge, Gap wedge, Sand wedge and Lob wedge.

But wedges are subsets of irons.

Wedges are highest lofted golf clubs.

They are used for shorter shots at the greens, to brave sand bunkers and for pitches on the course.

Putters :

A putter as the name suggests - is for putting. It rolls a ball smoothly to the hole. Putters are the most specialized golf clubs . These golf clubs also come in the widest varieties of shapes and sizes.

Now that you are familiar with the various golf clubs, it is time to know which of them is best for you as a beginner. No wonder there are terms and tricks to understand which are tough at first sight but certain “do's and don'ts” make the haul for the right golf clubs easier , to begin with. 

1.Test the golf clubs as per skill level

As a beginner, you would not pick the loftiest of golf clubs. Also, it is not a good idea to buy the same golf clubs as your golfer friend who has been on the greens for years. While they will help you identify golf clubs, you cannot buy the same golf clubs that they play with, especially if they have been on the course for a significant time. When you go to pick  golf clubs at a store, test them at indoor green areas available at the store itself. When you swing the golf clubs a little, only then you can assess. It depends on the height, stance and arm length of players which golf club will be suitable for them to play with. 

Golf clubs are not one size fits all.

2.Determine budget to not buy the entire bundle

There will be sellers who will lure you into buying the whole set of golf clubs i.e around 14 golf clubs in a golf bag. But as a beginner, you surely do not need the whole golf set until you level up step by step. There are golf clubs specially designed for beginners which are more forgiving. Invest in one or a few. Be calculative about your budget because golf clubs are not meagre purchases. As you get better with your technique, then you can keep adding golf clubs to your golf bag.

3. Start with a shorter driver 

Drivers are the main golf clubs that you will use as you begin the basics of golf. Drivers have the largest heads and take the golf balls as far as possible to the targeted hole. As a beginner, you should choose a shorter driver to get a grip and practice your shots. Check out this sleek Driver from Golfism.in 

4. Choose a putter that puts up with you

This point might sound like a saying you need. There are no right putters. The one that suits you is yours. But there is a litmus test for these golf clubs for a beginner  - if the putter is not parallel to the ground , it is not for you! A putter that has the right amount of loft, will keep the bounce of the ball in control, making you get close to the hole with each shot.

5. Hybrids over Irons

Irons are long standing integral tools among golf clubs. But Irons don't contain enough loft for a beginner player. But there is a solution - irons can be replaced with Hybrids.

Hybrids are those golf clubs which are a mixture of irons and woods.

These golf clubs have the shape of wood clubs, but length of irons.

Hybrids are the forgiving golf clubs even when a beginner hits the ball off center. Thus, hybrids are a boon for beginners amid a range of golf clubs.

6. Wedges that work 

For a beginner, it is essential to know that the choice of Wedges depends on the kind of golf course. If a golf course is a vast patch of elevated greens, then Wedges with greater loft are needed to stop the ball from bouncing around. If a golf course is covered with bunkers of soft sand, then lofty Wedges with more width can do the job well.

You can now go to buy your golf clubs with these guidelines in mind. Golfism has all golf clubs categorized to choose from, for your comfort as a beginner. 

All the best future golfer!