The Driver  (still occasionally called a 1 wood) is for getting the ball away from the tee. It hits the ball further than any other club, partly due to it being a bit longer, partly because the loft on a driver tends be lower than any other club.

To decide which one’s right, you ’ll need to find the correct combination of loft, shaft material and shaft flex. You’ll also need to make a choice between steel or titanium head, the decision for this generally being determined by budget.

  Loft

The angle of the face relative to the perpendicular. Driver lofts typically range between 7 and 12 degrees.

As a broad rule of thumb, low lofted clubs hit the ball further in the hands of players with strong swings – but impart more spin on the ball. So if you are already prone to slicing or hooking the ball with your current driver, a lower lofted wood is likely to exacerbate the problem. They go further in the hands of tour players or golfers with single figure handicaps, but not us mere mortals. Lofts of between 9 and 11 degrees are generally fine for 90% of handicap golfers. Players with slow swing speeds will probably hit the ball further with a high lofted driver.

Lofts on Fairway Woods

The same principles apply to lofts on fairway woods as with drivers. So – the higher the loft, the easier to hit the ball, but the less distance the ball goes. The following table may prove useful:

Which Flex?

Light flex is aimed at those with slower swing speeds. The extra whip can be a great help to those who don’t hit the ball a country mile – but will feel a little floppy and possibly prove inaccurate for stronger players. Light flex shafts tend to be favoured by senior players. Regular flex As the name suggests, for golfers with regular swing speeds. That’s virtually all of us. Stiff Flex  For those with strong or quick swings, regular shafts may prove a little less accurate. We won’t bore you with the physics, but for most higher handicap golfers, if the shaft is too stiff you’ll probably end up pushing the ball right.

Steel or Titanium Head?

Titanium is half the weight of steel – and generally twice the price. Titanium’s light weight allows the manufacturers to make bigger heads which have bigger sweet-spots. So they are much more forgiving – the tennis equivalent of oversize rackets. Even tour players benefit from using titanium headed drivers. But, of course, they are a lot more expensive than steel. If budget is an issue, fear not. In the right hands, steel headed drivers still hit the ball a very long way. The rationale for having titanium-headed fairway woods  is less clear. The heads tend to be a little bigger than the steel-headed equivalents – so bigger sweet spot - and more forgiving for off-centre hits. But while great off the tee, for shots from grass some find them a bit unwieldy. This one’s really down to personal choice.

Heads - Blade or cavity back?

 Blades.

 Have a thin top line and no cavity* in the back. Provide lots of feel but are difficult to hit. As this is a very basic guide, probably the easiest thing to say, is that if you want blades, you don’t need any advice. And if you need advice, you don’t want blades! They are for tour players and very low handicappers only. Even Monty struggled with them. *Muscle backs, like the Titleist 690 shown in the picture, are essentially blades but with a littler more weight towards the bottom of the head.

 Cavity Backs. 

As the name suggests, they have a cavity in the back. This hollow has the effect of creating mass around the perimeter of the club head – with the result that it is less prone to twisting when a ball is struck off-centre. In short, they are more forgiving. It used to be the case that low handicappers always used blades – while the rest of us used cavity backs. Not anymore. What’s easier to hit for a complete novice is also easier for a pro – and many of our heroes on tour now use cavity back irons.

  Some manufacturers do offer clubs with varying depths of cavity. Eg, the Titleist 690 CB shown here is a sort of halfway house between a traditional blade and a full blown cavity back. As a general rule, iron heads with deeper cavities are more forgiving – but it tends to be at the expense of feel…

FEEL

When players talk about ‘feel’ in irons, they tend to be talking about knowing when a ball has been hit off-centre. Golfers want to hit the ball out of the middle of the clubface to achieve the maximum distance and desired trajectory. But some of the bigger headed irons are so forgiving that they hit the ball pretty straight even when hit off the toe or the heel. And for most of us, that is just perfect. As long as the ball goes where we want, that will do nicely. Some better players, however, want to know immediately if they have hit the ball of the toe or the heel in order that they can attempt to make adjustments and not make the same ‘error’ next time. ‘Feel’ is mainly a function of the head design, although some would argue that it is also the material the head is made of…..

Forged or Cast heads?

Golf clubs are made by one of two processes, casting or forging.  Casting involves pouring molten metal into a mould to produce a golf club head.  Forging involves taking a piece of soft steel and stamping or beating it into shape. Because the steel used in forging is so much softer (mainly due to the higher carbon content), many players claim that forged clubs offer much better feel. The process of forging is more labour intensive which is why they generally cost more.

Because the steel used in forging is softer, many players claim that forged clubs offer much better feel.

Shafts in Irons.

For those with fast swing speeds, steel has traditionally been held to be more accurate than graphite – and virtually all golf professionals use steel shafts in their irons. However, graphite technology has improved dramatically – and it’s now really down to feel. Graphite-shafted irons typically cost between £100 and £200 more than the steel-shafted model when new. They weigh less – which is why most senior and lady golfers prefer graphite shafts. As regards questions of shaft flex, please see ‘Woods’.

Lie 

If you are tall or short, and/or have an unusually shallow or steep swing, you may want to think about visiting a pro or club-fitter who can check whether the lie of your irons is appropriate. At the point of impact, if the head of the iron is too flat (i.e. the toe points down) it can drag on the grass, acts for an instant as a pivot, and causes the clubhead to angle towards the right – which is where the ball will go. If the lie is too upright, the heel of the club will dig in and cause pulled shots to the left.

Most manufacturers do offer irons in a variety of different lies. As a rule, shorter golfers will generally benefit from slightly flatter lies, taller golfers may need them tweaked upright a little. However, while club-fitters may disagree, our view is that the vast majority of golfers are fine with regular lies. And, indeed, the vast majority of iron sets sold are with regular lies. Lies on most (but not all) clubs can be changed quickly and cheaply by your local pro.

If you still need help, feel free to call us on 020 8401 6918 – or e-mail help@golfbidder.co.uk