Golf Club's
Golf clubs are the tools we use to strike the golf ball. A golf club has three components: the Head, the Shaft and the Grip. The RULES OF GOLF constrain golf club designs, but the goal of clubmakers is to create golf clubs, within those rules of golf that maximize the physics of the golfer's swing while allowing for a range of swing error to provide an accurate, long yet forgiving shot.
A standard set of golf clubs sets consists of three woods (the 1-driver, 3, and 5), eight irons (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and PW), and a putter - twelve clubs. The rules of golf allow you to carry fourteen clubs in your bag, so many golfers add another iron or a specialty wood. After all, the more tools we have in our toolbox, the easier it is to do our job!
Woods are used to hit long shots. If a golf hole is 450 yards from tee to green, most golfers use a wood to hit off the tee. A wood is a hollow-bodied large headed golf club. Use your woods when you are 175 yards or more away from the green.
The DRIVER (also called the 1 WOOD) has the lowest loft of any golf club. Loft is the angle of the club face that controls trajectory and affects distance. A driver has a loft between 7 and 12 degrees. A custom built drivers can be ordered depending on your requirement. Experienced golfers have traditionally favored lower lofted drivers (less than 10 degrees of loft), which require much more skill to hit than higher lofted drivers.
A dramatic development has occurred over the past several years - professional golfers are throwing out their low lofted drivers and opting for large-headed, higher-lofted 10 and 11 degree drivers. Their argument is that the longest drives are achieved by combining a high launch angle with lower spin. The newer, higher-lofted designs for large-headed drivers provide the higher launch angle; the new solid core golf balls provide less spin on the golf ball. This results in the longest drives. So the professionals are increasingly moving to larger headed higher lofted drivers. They get more carry with less shot error. Just like you should do!
Fujikura golf shafts will best compliment these golf clubs. This change is a huge reversal from prior years. During the mid to late 1990's, the average loft on the PGA Tour was around 7 degrees. However, those were difficult shots for the pros to make and the ball flight from such a low loft created lots of spin. The experts in ball flight analysis showed that the longest golf drives are achieved with a high launch angle combined with low spin. The new solid core golf balls provide that low spin which was not available in the golf balls of yesterday. A higher lofted club gives the golfer the higher launch angle.