Walking up to your golf bag and seeing 14 different clubs can feel just a little overwhelming, especially when you're starting out. Each one has a different shape, length, and purpose, and figuring out which one to use can seem like a puzzle. This guide will break down each type of club, explaining what it does and when to use it, so you can pull the right tool for the job with total confidence.
While U.S.G.A. rules allow you to carry a maximum of 14 clubs, you don't need that many to start. The key is understanding that all clubs fall into four main families, each with a specific role. Think of them as different sets of tools in your toolbox.
Let's look at each family and get to know the clubs inside. We'll start with the big ones.
The name "woods" is a bit of a throwback to when the heads of these clubs were actually made from persimmon wood. Today, they’re made of high-tech metals like titanium and steel, but the name has stuck. Their job is simple: to hit the ball as far as possible.
This is the headliner, the big dog, the club everyone loves to hit. The driver is your longest club and has the largest head in the bag. It's designed specifically for one job: hitting the golf ball a long, long way off the tee on par 4 and par 5 holes.
A Quick Coaching Tip: Many golfers, especially new ones, feel they must hit the driver on every long hole. That's a mistake. The goal of a tee shot is to put your ball in a good position for your next shot. If a fairway is tight or has hazards, a more accurate fairway wood or hybrid might be the smarter play. A good shot in the fairway with a 3-wood is always better than a great shot in the trees with a driver.
Fairway woods are your long-distance utility players. They have smaller clubheads and more loft than a driver, making them much more versatile. You can use them off the tee as a more accurate alternative to the driver, or for long-distance shots from the fairway.
A Quick Coaching Tip: A 5-wood or 7-wood is often a beginner's best friend. The extra loft makes it much easier to get the ball airborne from the turf compared to a 3-wood or a long iron. The proper swing thought with a fairway wood from the grass is to "sweep" the ball, catching it cleanly at the bottom of a shallow arc.
Hybrids are one of the best innovations in modern golf equipment. As the name suggests, they are a hybrid of a fairway wood and an iron. They were designed to replace long irons (like the 3, 4, and even 5-iron), which are notoriously difficult for most amateur golfers to hit consistently.
A Quick Coaching Tip: If you carry a 3-iron or 4-iron and struggle to hit it well, swapping it for a hybrid of the same number is one of the quickest ways to make the game easier and more fun. You’ll find you get the ball up in the air more easily and with more consistency.
Irons make up the bulk of your golf set and are all about precision. You’ll use these clubs for most of your shots from the fairway toward the green. They are numbered, typically from 3 or 4 all the way up to 9. The rule is simple: the higher the iron number, the higher the loft, and the shorter the ball will travel.
These have the least amount of loft in the iron family, meaning they’re designed for longer shots. Because of that low loft, they are the most challenging irons to hit well. As mentioned, these are the clubs most often replaced by hybrids.
This is the heart of your iron set. Your 7-iron is often considered the baseline - it’s the club most golfers learn their stock yardage with first. You'll use these for approach shots from common distances (for an average male golfer, this could be anywhere from 130 to 170 yards).
With the most loft in the iron family, these are your scoring clubs for closer approach shots. They produce high, soft-landing trajectory that helps the ball stop quickly on the green.
A Quick Coaching Tip: The secret to good iron play isn’t about trying to lift the ball into the air. The loft on the club will do that for you. Your job is to strike the ball with a slightly descending blow, hitting the ball first and then brushing the turf just after it. This "ball-first" contact is what creates backspin and control.
When you're within about 100 yards of the green, you entire focus shifts from distance to precision. This is wedge territory. These are your highest-lofted clubs, designed for short-range shots, including chipping, pitching, and getting out of those dreaded sand bunkers.
Almost always included with a set of irons, the PW has the least loft of the wedges (around 44-48 degrees). It's used for full shots into the green and for longer chip shots where you want the ball to roll out a bit.
As the name implies, this club (around 50-54 degrees) is designed to fill the yardage "gap" between your pitching wedge and your sand wedge. It’s perfect for those in-between distances where a full PW is too much and a full SW isn't enough.
Arguably the most important wedge for beginners. Its high loft (around 54-58 degrees) and a special feature called "bounce" on the sole of the club make it your number one tool for getting out of sand bunkers. The bounce helps the club skim through the sand instead of digging in. It's also great for short, high pitches around the green.
With the most loft in the bag (anywhere from 58-64 degrees), the lob wedge is a specialty club. It's used for shots that need to get up in the air very quickly and land with almost no roll, like when you have to hit a shot over a bunker to a pin that’s cut very close to you.
A Quick Coaching Tip: You don't need all these wedges starting out. A set with a Pitching Wedge and a Sand Wedge is a fantastic start. Learn to hit them with different swing lengths (a small chip swing, a half-swing, a three-quarter swing) and you’ll be able to cover nearly every distance inside 100 yards.
Finally, we have the most-used club in the bag: the putter. Its job is simple but critical: to roll the ball into the hole once you're on the putting green. No other skill will save you as many strokes as good putting. Putters come in a massive variety of shapes and sizes, but generally fall into two camps:
A Quick Coaching Tip: Choosing a putter is incredibly personal. Don’t just get one because a pro is using it. Go to a golf store and hold several different styles in your hands. Find the one that feels balanced and gives you confidence when you look down at it. Trusting your putter is half the battle on the greens.
Getting to know the job of each golf club is a huge step toward smarter course management and lower scores. As you play more, you'll develop a feel for which club works best in certain situations, moving from trying to remember the guide to instinctively knowing what to pull from the bag.
Of course, knowing what a club does is different from knowing exactly which one to hit on a tricky lie with the wind blowing. That’s why we designed a tool to act as your expert guide on the course. With Caddie AI, you can get instant, real-time advice on club choices for any shot. You can tell us the distance, describe your lie - or even snap a photo of it - and our AI caddie provides a smart recommendation, removing the guesswork so you can swing with conviction every time.
Thinking about hosting a golf tournament fundraiser is the first swing, executing it successfully is what gets the ball in the hole. This guide will walk you through the entire process, step-by-step, from laying the initial groundwork months in advance to watching your happy golfers tee off. We’ll cover everything from securing sponsors and setting your budget to planning the on-course fun that makes an event unforgettable.
A golf handicap does more than just give you bragging rights (or a reason to demand strokes from your friends) - it’s the game’s great equalizer and the single best way to track your improvement. This guide breaks down what a handicap is, how the supportive math behind a handicap index a is, and exactly how you can get one for yourself. We’ll look at everything from Course Rating to Adjusted Gross Score, helping you feel confident both on the course and in the clubhouse.
The compression of a Pinnacle Rush golf ball is one of its most defining features, engineered specifically to help a huge swath of golfers get more distance and enjoyment from their game. We'll break down exactly what its low compression means, who it's for, and how you can use that knowledge to shoot lower scores.
Figuring out which spikes go into your new (or old) pair of Puma golf shoes can feel like a puzzle, but it’s much simpler than you think. The key isn't the brand of the shoe, but the type of receptacle system they use. This guide will walk you through exactly how to identify your Puma's spike system, choose the perfect replacements for your game, and change them out like a pro.
The Golf Genius app is one of the best tools for managing and participating in competitive golf events, but figuring it out for the first time can feel like reading a new set of greens. This guide cuts through the confusion and shows you exactly how to use the app as a player. We’ll cover everything from logging into your tournament and entering scores to checking the live leaderboard so you can enjoy the competition without any tech headaches.
Walking onto the first tee with sweaty palms, worried you’ll be a good partner to paly wtih...or even asked back again ...We’ve all been there - trust me! The real trick of feeling confortable... is about how you handle you’re ready to plsy. THIS guide explains the simple rules of the rode to show you hnow t play golf while staying calm relaxed and focused... an having much morse fun while you,',re aat it? You'll also play with confidence a dn make fiendsa while you're at i
Just ask a question or share a photo and Caddie gives personalized guidance for every shot - anytime, anywhere.
