Golf - An Introduction To Some Essential Items Of Golf Equipment


by Donald Saunders - Date: 2006-12-28 - Word Count: 716 Share This!

Just as the people who play golf today come in a range of different sizes and shades, so too does golf equipment. Gone are the days when a golf club was a golf club and nowadays the variety of golf clubs on offer from a wide range of different manufacturers is quite astounding. It is now commonly accepted that a young teenager is not going to do as well playing with a set of adult clubs. Similarly, the needs of both men and women are also quite different when it comes to choosing a suitable set of clubs.

Golf clubs today come in a variety of different lengths, weights and grip diameters. Controlling a club that is too heavy is not easy and playing with a club that is either too long or too short will throw off your stance and your swing. If the club is too long the toe will tend to point upwards, creating a tendency to hook the ball. Similarly, if the club is too short the toe will point towards the ground and you'll tend to slice the ball.

The easiest way to judge whether or not the length of a club is right for you is to try out clubs of several different lengths and check to see that you have a natural swing and that the club head contacts the ball on its sweet spot.

As well as the length of the club, its flex and torque are also important. The flex of a club is the degree to which it will pendulum back and forth in a plane. If the club shaft is too flexible you will have less control over it and will tend to hook the ball. If it is too stiff you will lose distance and also have a tendency to slice the ball. Once again, experimenting with different clubs is the only way to know which is right for you.

Torque is the degree to which the club shaft will rotate. As the club face impacts the ball its shaft will be rotated slightly by the impact and, as the ball leaves the club face, will then rotate back to its original position. As with the flex of the club, this is something you need to experiment with.

Contrary to popular opinion, golf club shafts do not tend to lose stiffness over the years and so you should buy the most expensive clubs that you can afford and plan to hang on to them. Grips will of course wear out, but these can be easily replaced. Technology will of course lead to improvements in golf club design, but these tend to be slow in coming and you're certainly not going to need to change your clubs regularly.

Modern clubs come in a variety of designs with such things as longer heads, heavier heads, titanium shafts, graphite shafts, head inserts and much more. At the end of the day, the clubs that are right for you will only be found by trying out a wide variety and seeing which suits you best.

Believe it or not, probably your next most important item of golfing equipment will be your shoes. Most recreational golfers will spend several hours once a week walking around the golf course and will spend a lot of time adjusting their position to get the best stance in a variety of different positions. It is essential therefore that you buy good quality footwear.

As with clubs, you should buy the best shoes that you can afford. They will of course wear out and need to be changed a little more frequently than your clubs, but buying a cheap pair of golf shoes can turn out to be a very bad investment.

If you decide to buy shoes with spikes (which incidentally are not allowed on all courses) ensure that there are no spikes directly beneath the ball of your foot. Wearing shoes with spikes under the ball of your foot for any length of time can create considerable pain.

Finally, remember that the leather tends, in time, to shape itself to the foot and that it also helps to keep moisture out.

These of course are just two of the many items that are golfer will need to buy but, get these two items right, and you'll be off to a very good start.


Related Tags: golf, golf clubs, golf instruction, golf game, golf swing, golf shoes, golf lesson, golf tip

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