How to Use Each Golf Club

Walking up to your golf bag and seeing 14 different clubs can be overwhelming, but each one has a specific job designed to make the game easier. Understanding the purpose of each club is the first step toward simplifying your decisions on the course and playing with more confidence. This guide will walk you through your entire golf bag, explaining the role of each club and providing practical advice on how to use it effectively.

The Foundations: A Consistent Setup for Every Club

Before we break down the clubs, it's important to remember that a good, repeatable setup is the foundation of every shot. While we'll adjust things like ball position and stance width for different clubs, the core principles remain the same.

• Athletic Posture: Stand with your feet about shoulder-width apart. Lean forward from your hips, not your waist, and stick your bottom out slightly. Let your arms hang down naturally from your shoulders. This creates a balanced, athletic position that allows your body to rotate freely.
• The Body is the Engine: The golf swing is a rotational motion. Your power and consistency come from turning your shoulders and hips, not just swinging your arms. Think of your body as the engine that moves the club around you in a circle. Your arms are just along for the ride.
• Relaxed Grip: Hold the club in your fingers, not your palm, with light to medium pressure. Too much tension in your hands and arms restricts your swing and kills your power. A relaxed grip is the steering wheel for the club face.

Keep these fundamentals in mind for every club you pull. Now, let's look at the specific tools in your bag.

The Long Game Clubs: Drivers & Fairway Woods

These are your power clubs, designed for maximum distance on tee shots and long approaches. They have the longest shafts and the biggest heads, allowing them to generate incredible clubhead speed.

The Driver (or 1-Wood)

Your driver is the king of distance. It has the lowest loft (typically between 8-12 degrees) and the largest head, making it purpose-built for hitting the ball as far as possible off the tee.

When to Use It:

Primarily used on Par 4s and Par 5s from the tee box. The goal is to set yourself up with a shorter, easier second shot into the green. On very tight, narrow holes, a more accurate club might be a better choice.

How to Use It:

• Tee it High: You want to strike the driver on the upswing to maximize launch and distance. Tee the ball up so that at least half of the ball is visible above the top of the clubface at address.
• Forward Ball Position: Place the ball in line with the heel or instep of your lead foot (your left foot for a right-handed golfer). This allows the club to reach the bottom of its arc and begin ascending before it makes contact.
• Wide Stance: Widen your stance slightly beyond shoulder-width. This provides a stable base to support the powerful rotation needed for a long drive.
• Swing Thought: Feel like you are sweeping the ball off the tee. Unlike an iron, you don't want to hit down on the ball. Focus on a smooth, powerful rotation of your body and let the club do the work.

Fairway Woods (e.g., 3-Wood, 5-Wood)

Fairway woods are more versatile than the driver. They have more loft and a shorter shaft, making them easier to control. A 3-wood is your next longest club, followed by a 5-wood, 7-wood, and so on.

When to Use Them:

• As a safe alternative to the driver on the tee, especially on narrow holes where accuracy is more important than raw distance.
• For long second shots on Par 5s, when you're trying to reach the green in two.
• From a clean lie in the fairway when you are too far out for an iron.

How to Use Them:

• Ball Position: slightly further back than your driver, about a clubhead or two inside your lead heel. If you're teeing it up, a very low tee is best.
• Swing Approach: Just like the driver, the goal is to sweep the ball with a shallow angle of attack. If the ball is on the turf, the club should brush the grass and hit the ball just before the bottom of the swing arc. Don't try to lift the ball in the air, the loft of the club will do that for you.

The Versatile Transition Clubs: Hybrids

Hybrids are the modern replacement for long irons (like a 3, 4, or even 5-iron). They combine the forgiving head shape of a fairway wood with the shorter shaft and swing motion of an iron, making them the best of both worlds.

When to Use Them:

Hybrids truly shine in situations where long irons struggle. They are perfect for:

• Long approach shots from the rough. The head design cuts through thick grass more easily than a fairway wood.
• Long par 3s where you need both height to hold the green and distance.
• Any situation where you lack confidence with a long iron. They are far more forgiving on off-center hits.

How to Use Them:

The biggest mistake golfers make is trying to swing a hybrid like a fairway wood. You should swing a hybrid like an iron.

• Ball Position: Play the ball slightly forward of the center of your stance, similar to where you'd place a 4 or 5-iron.
• Swing Motion: Your goal is to hit slightly down on the ball, making contact with the ball first, then the grass. You should take a small divot in front of the ball, just like you would with a mid-iron. Trust the club's loft to get the ball airborne.

The Workhorses of Your Bag: The Irons

Your irons are your precision tools for approach shots. They are numbered, typically from 4-iron through 9-iron. A lower number means less loft and a longer shaft, so the ball will go farther. A higher number means more loft and a shorter shaft, resulting in a higher, shorter shot.

Long Irons (4, 5, 6-Irons)

Used for longer approach shots, generally from 160-200+ yards for the average male golfer. They require a bit more swing speed to get airborne, which is why many amateurs replace them with easier-to-hit hybrids.

• Ball Position: Just forward of center.
• Key Thought: Make a smooth, tempo-driven swing. Trying to kill the ball with a long iron is a recipe for a bad shot. Let the club do the work.

Mid-Irons (7, 8, 9-Irons)

These are likely the clubs you'll use most for your approaches to the green. They offer a great combination of distance and control, and they are lofty enough to help the ball stop on the green.

• Ball Position: The 7-iron is generally considered the center of your stance. As you move to the 8 and 9-iron, the ball might move back just a tiny bit, but keeping it in the center is a great, simple rule.
• Key Thought: This is your "stock" iron swing. Focus on rotating your body and making contact with the back of the ball first before the club strikes the turf. A healthy divot that starts after the ball's position is the sign of a pure iron shot.

Your Scoring Clubs: The Wedges

Inside 120 yards is where you score. Wedges are your highest-lofted clubs, designed for precision, control, and hitting the ball high so it stops quickly on the green.

Pitching Wedge (PW)

Think of this as your "10-iron." It's primarily used for full swings on shorter approaches into the green but is also a great choice for longer chip and pitch shots around the green. The setup and swing are identical to that of a short iron.

Gap Wedge (AW or GW)

As the name suggests, this club fills the distance "gap" between your pitching wedge and your sand wedge. For many golfers, this can be a 15-20 yard difference. Having a gap wedge gives you a full-swing option for those awkward "in-between" distances so you don't have to take an awkward half-swing with another club.

Sand Wedge (SW)

The sand wedge is your specialist club. It's famous for getting you out of greenside bunkers, but it's also incredibly useful for soft-landing pitch shots from the fairway.

How to Use It from a Bunker:

The key here is to use the club's "bounce" - the rounded sole of the club. You want to hit the sand, not the ball.

1. Open your stance and the clubface slightly, aiming a little left of the target (for right-handed players).
2. Dig your feet into the sand for a stable base.
3. Aim to splash the sand about an inch or two behind the ball. The force of the sand displaces the ball and pops it up and out onto the green.

Lob Wedge (LW)

With the most loft in the bag (often 58-62 degrees), the lob wedge is for specialty shots that need to go very high and stop very fast. This is the club for hitting a "flop shot" over a bunker to a tight pin. It's a high-risk, high-reward club, for beginners, a simpler chip with a less-lofted club is usually a safer bet.

The Money-Maker: The Putter

You use your putter more than any other club in your bag. Its only job is to roll the ball into the hole. Great putting is all about two things: distance control and starting the ball on your intended line.

How to Use It:

• The Grip: There are many styles (reverse overlap, cross-hand, the claw), but the goal for all of them is to keep your wrists quiet.
• The Motion: The putting stroke should be a pendulum motion, rocked by your shoulders and arms, not your wrists. Imagine a triangle formed by your shoulders and arms, and just rock that triangle back and through.
• Distance Control is Everything: Most three-putts come from poor distance control on the first putt. Before your round, practice hitting putts to the fringe of the green, focusing only on getting the speed right. This will save you more shots than anything else.

Final Thoughts

Mastering your bag comes down to understanding that each golf club is a specialized tool for a specific job. From the raw power of the driver to the delicate touch of the putter, knowing which club to choose and why is the foundation of smart, confident golf.

While this guide provides the fundamentals, applying them in the heat of battle with a tricky lie or an odd distance can be stressful. When you're stuck between clubs or have no idea how to play a shot from deep rough, that's where we can help. With Caddie AI, you can get instant, on-demand advice for any shot - you can even snap a photo of your ball's lie for a smart recommendation. It simplifies those tough decisions and takes the guesswork out of club selection, allowing you to commit fully and confidently to every swing.