From Hippo to Honma, clubs come in all shapes and sizes. You have come to the right place to shop around for the right club (or set of clubs) for you or your loved one. If you need it, check out some basic information below on how to pick out clubs. If not, just scroll right to the bottom and start picking our your next set of sticks.
Categories
Once you figure out some of the basics, picking out clubs can be pretty easy. First, it is a good idea to understand that every golfer needs to have a few types of clubs in his or her bag.
Woods – No matter what, you’ll need a club to hit the ball a long way. That’s where a wood comes in. #1 is the Driver, and traditionally you’ll have one or two other woods in your bag — #3 and #5 are most common. The higher the number, the more loft — making it not go as far, but getting a higher and softer landing shot. The non-driver woods in your bag are sometimes called “fairway woods” as you usually hit them as your second shot (or over 200 yards still away from the green). Here’s an example of a driver, and here’s an example of a fairway wood.
Irons — Not necessarily the material that they are made out of, these clubs are usually numbered from #3 to #9 and are the clubs that are narrow at the clubhead — sort of like a blade. These clubs are for trying to get a shot closer to the green, even sticking it as close to the hole as you can. Again, the higher the number, the higher the loft — and the higher and shorter the shot. Here is a nice example of a beginner’s set of irons.
Putter — You only need one of these. This is the guy that many of us have used over the years at a mini golf course, but there are hundreds of different styles: mallets, blades, and putters with long handles and short handles. The key here is to try one that you can swing and putt with comfortably — and consistently straight. Putters are very personal. One such example is this putter.
Hybrids — These are clubs that are halfway in between irons and woods. They are usually easier to hit (like irons) but travel farther (like woods). Some people swear by them and have replaced all their woods with hybrids. Others stick with the more “traditional” set. Here is an example of a hybrid.
Shafts — To simplify, shafts are usually broken down into two major groups: steel or graphite. Steel shafts do not flex as much when you swing them — which is why younger golfers and those who swing faster often use steel shafts in their irons. Graphite shafts bend much more (and in different degrees) and are usually reserved for longer clubs like woods or for those who swing their irons more slowly. Senior golfers tend to favor shafts with greater flex to generate faster clubhead speed for their slower swings.
Brand Names
In the beginning, go with a set that fits in your budget and that you feel you can practice with a lot. Once you feel like you have become more familiar with the game of golf and have gotten used to swinging pretty consistently, you can try different club brands and see which one you tend to like. Every brand carries different specifics to try and give golfers the “edge” over other players and equipment. Try before you buy.
Have fun with your club selection. Eventually, as you play more, clubs even become sort of a sense of identity, and players are known to be faithful to brands of clubs like they are faithful to the maker of their cars.
Read all our golf club reviews below:
I have to come clean: I've never been a big fan of the MachSpeeds. They have improved them, though. Both the square and round ones have bigger faces with more aerodynamic shapes. Nike has dialed down the extreme shape and made it a bit sleeker.
The round ...
I will say that Nike has improved this driver over last year's model. The face is larger, and the shape is sleeker. Having said that, it's like saying Toyota improved the Corolla. It's still a Corolla.
And like a Corolla, this club will get you from ...
When it comes to hot faces, I rank Ping and Nike at the top. There is no science behind this opinion -- just my own experiences and those stud golfers that I play with. One of those said studs in my foursome showed up with this driver earlier ...
Oh, oh, oh, an ice cold milk and an Oreo cookie... They forever go together…
I apologize, but there is something about the color scheme of this driver that makes me sing that song.
I had an opportunity to hit this driver last month at the driving range after a nice ...
There's no doubt that this driver was the best new product of 2011. I see these Oreo cookie-looking things all over the place. They're on the Tours and all over the muni's that I play. Maybe it's just that I notice them more because they stand out ...
PGA Tour Pro Phil Mickelson plays this driver, and Alvaro Quiros won the 2011 Omega Dubai Desert Classic with this bad boy. 'Nuff said, right? Do I really have to write a review?
Okay, fine here you go… Callaway and Lamborghini joined forces to bring you this ...
The RAZR Hawk is designed for golfers who want a cannon in their hands. The 460cc head is more than 6 yards farther then Callaway's FT 9. It has all the pop and forgiveness that modern technology can provide. Although the driver is a little more ...
Nike drivers (going all the back to the Ignite) have really hot faces. The ball explodes off the face better than any other manufacturer I've seen.
This 2011 VR Pro is the second generation of this driver whose claim to fame is the compression channel at the bottom. ...
Attention Slicers: This is your driver.
The S3 Max has several devices built into it to help fix that banana ball and fire it straight down the fairway. The biggest thing they've done is offset the hosel so that the club face is already closed a little bit. ...
The nice thing about Cobra Drivers is they are reasonably priced. This game-improving S3 has all the modern technology to hit the ball long and straight without the prevailing price tags of most of the market leaders.
Let's talk about some of that modern technology. The face ...
US Open Champion Geoff Ogilvy swings this driver. That's a pretty good endorsement. You might remember Geoff, the thin Australian that who has also won three World Golf championships.
Everything about this driver screams playability. It is designed for elite players who want to work the ball, not ...
Dear Santa,
Remember me? I’m the one that promised you that if I got the Sky Caddy last year, I’d quit throwing my clubs and fix all my divots and ball marks. And for the most part, I stuck to our deal. Surely you can understand me losing my temper last ...
This driver is so light, it comes with a leash for you to tie around your wrist. (Not really, but the driver is one of the lightest ones on the market.) It weighs in at a willowy 290 grams. Wait.. Where have I seen that number? ...
Best Lob Wedge for Your Game
The time will come when you need to make a wedge shot that calls for a high carry, over a water hazard or bunker, to a tight, tucked pin position. The question is -- do you have the right wedge? If you have the usual 56-degree ...
As golfers, we are all -- or most of us anyway – searching for that extra length in our shots, but none more so than the driver. If you have followed golf club technology with even the barest of glances over the past few years, you’ve seen some remarkable improvements in ...
Choosing the Best Putter -- For YOU
More than any other club in your bag, the putter is the most personal and -- for most of us -- the most intimate of player/club relationships. Many of us still have our very first putter, or the one we made our first birdie ...
You know you have something hot on your hands when the anticipated introduction date is nearly a month away and people are already lining up to buy it. Such is the story with the new -- and highly anticipated -- TaylorMade R11 irons. Given the ...
Though they were only around from 1992 to 1999, the Tear Drop Putter line was made up of a number of traditional models -- built with modern technology. The line was often rumored to have been milled by Bettinardi and, when you look at the inception of Bettinardi ...
If you consider the brief time in which the Tear Drop putter line was around, this is probably a pretty rare model (of even the whole line) to find. Built only from 1992 to late 1999, the Tear Drop line was often rumored to be milled by Bettinardi. ...
As the race for more distance in golf continues to rage on, Nike has entered another driver option into the market. The SQ Mach Speed Driver with its sleek black head is a take-off the original SQ design from a few years ago. The basic idea behind the SQ series ...
The name of the Nike Victory Red Forged VR Split Cavity irons is a mouthful to say, if nothing else. In all seriousness, though, these are serious golf clubs for serious players. Made from 1025 Forged Carbon Steel (read: soft), these irons are precision forged and then ...
When it comes to helping the masses of golfers that struggle to break 100, Callaway Golf is near the top of the list -- and the Callaway Hawkeye VFT irons are yet another example of what they can do to help that large group of golfers.
VFT is an acronym for ...
Generally speaking, when you think of Mizuno forged irons, you think of the user as a single-digit handicap player -- someone who knows his way around a set of forged irons and how to use them. Well, the JPX-800 set from Mizuno attempts to bring their famous forged ...
In theory, it should be easier and more compelling to review putters and drivers than irons -- we use the putter for about 30% (or more) of our total shots per round, and the driver for another 15% (though probably on at least 75% of the total holes) -- but there ...
The G10 5-wood from Ping has a low profile and a longer-than-average head from heel to toe. This design is reminiscent of the original Orlimar fairway woods from the late '80s.
While more effective in the hands of a skilled player, this is a club with good performance characteristics, ...
Take one look at the Ping iWedge, and it's not hard to see the inspiration for this club came from the original Ping Eye2 design --a wedge that was much beloved among Tour pros for its versatility, playability, and performance. This updated version features a deep multi-level cavity that helps ...
If you've never heard of F2 Wedges (or any of their clubs, for that matter) don't feel too badly -- neither had I. So, time to do some digging and find out what F2 -- for Face Forward -- is all about.
With innovations in golf club equipment happening nearly ...
When you think of notable fairway woods, Mizuno is not a name that often comes to mind -- at least not the same way it does about their player irons. However, they do make fairway woods, and the F60 is one of those entries.
Available in 3-wood (13.5 & 15 ...
Cleveland Golf first introduced the TA (Tour Action) moniker in their wedges, which had a nearly cult following on the PGA and other pro tours. The TA7 irons were rolled out in 2002 -- yet another in a series of TA inspired iron sets.
What sets ...
The (simplified) formula for distance potential of the golf club striking a golf ball is: M x S2. (For the formulaic challenged, M Mass and S Speed). Thus, the way to hit the ball farther is to increase either the Mass (weight of the club) while maintaining ...
Another entry into the game-improvement fairway wood category is TaylorMade's V Steel 3-wood. This fairway wood features a unique "V-shaped" sole, designed to minimize resistance and allowing the clubhead to glide through/along the turf -- in any number of conditions -- and remain square through impact. ...
Forgiveness: these days it’s a lot easier to get from my golf club than my girlfriend. Okay, so maybe I booked a tee time on our anniversary. It’s not like she can’t come along and drive the cart.
For a golfer, of course forgiveness means keeping the ball ...
If you saw Ben Crenshaw sink that final 3-foot putt in the 1995 Masters, then you've seen an iconic Wilson 88 Series putter in action. Based on some of the most classic putter designs in golf, the current 88 Series consists of five models. The 8882 model is a ...
When I think of Ping irons, the first things that come to mind are the Ping Eye 2 and Ping Zing -- both examples of the ground-breaking, investment cast, cavity-back designs Ping brought to the world of golf many years ago. While these clubs remain viable, and I'm sure are ...
As a successor to the popular G15 model from Ping Golf, the new Ping i15 3-wood is expected to be an improvement. For those looking for Tour-caliber performance, you won't be disappointed.
With a slightly smaller overall head than the G15 -- and considerably smaller than most others ...
Released in 1998, the Callaway X-12 Irons are part of the Big Bertha technology basis from which many Callaway designs have sprung. The X-12 has a thinner profile and topline (generally favored by better players) than many other Callaway iron designs, which gives these a more compact and ...
Unique in the putter world, Musty Putters are made exclusively from wood. But, not just any wood -- choose from options like: Tigerwood, Cocobolo, or Bloodwood. To say these putters are beautiful is, well, an understatement. The Musty putter is nearly a work of art. Being ...
"Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door" -- a famous quote from none other than Ralph Waldo Emerson, and one that most golf club designers must have hanging over their workbenches. Building the next best golf club, whatever the type, is standard ...
It's not been too many years since I was looking for a junior set for my second son who, as luck (or misfortune?) would have it, is left-handed. If you've ever tried to find a set of golf clubs for a lefty -- and a junior -- ...
If you find yourself somewhat "vertically challenged", then this Cadet-length full set of clubs from the new alliance of Affinity/Orlimar is worth a look. Cadet clubs are designed for golfers 5'2" to 5'7" tall (as compared to Regular length for 5'8" - 5'11" and Tall for 6' ...
When most of the us see the letters "IRS," we tend to get sweaty palms and start to see Form 1040s dancing across the movie screen of our minds. No need to worry with the Orlimar Hybrid IRS -- IRS in this case stands for Iron Replacement System. ...
I don't know. I usually like Ping stuff. I'm always a little bit weirded out by the extra large sole on these club heads, but for some reason on other clubs like the Ping i15 irons, I didn't mind.
On the G15s, it really threw me. When I honestly ...
If Batman played golf, these would be his clubs. They simply look bad to the bone. Gunmetal. Are you serious? Is that AC/DC playing as I rip my four iron out of the bag and spit as I address my shot?
Rock it, baby. Come on.
On a ...
It's embarrassing. It really is.
It's embarrassing to try a set of irons on a range and not like them. It's embarrassing to swing the clubs and duck hook a few. It's embarrassing to complain about how you can hit other irons better, even Titleist irons like ...
Hardly a household name, Solus wedges are, nonetheless, worthy of a closer look. Touting one of -- if not the most -- innovative wedge design in years, the Solus wedges have a following on the PGA and other pro tours.
At its core, the foundation of the difference in a ...
There must be some mysterious link between aerospace engineering and putter designs and/or the study of putting. With names like Dave Pelz and T.P. Mills having that background, its no wonder that when you delve into the history of Tad Moore, you find out he too, was involved ...
T.P. Mills: a name synonymous with expertly crafted putters for over 50 years. I had the good fortune to acquire my own T.P. Mills putter about eight years ago. Since that time, rarely has this not been the putter I reach for and have the greatest confidence ...
It's hard to believe the sand wedge was invented less than 80 years ago. Look at the plethora of wedges available now (regular, gap, sand, lob) and the materials they are made in (steel, copper, bronze, and titanium). Not to mention the lofts, lies, and bounce angles, ...
Based on the idea of swinging on only one "axis," the Dr. Feelgood Zero Latitude putter makes good sense from a purely mechanical standpoint. As we all know though, even poor mechanics can end up with good results (e.g. Jim Furyk) and simply making a putter -- ...
The acronyms are flying with golf club designations these days, and the Nike CPR fits right into the mix. CPR = "Clubs for Prevention and Recovery." Kind of catchy, really. On the one hand, they are designed to prevent you getting into trouble, but if you do, ...
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