- The old saying in golf is: Drive for show, putt for dough.
- But there's one more step in there: Iron play. Put a great set of irons in the hands of almost any golfer, and he or she can show improvement in shot making skills.
- The Mizuno Golf MP-5 Iron Set allows experienced players to make nearly any shot with success.
- You can also check out our guide to the best drivers.
Golf can be the most exhilarating and maddening game. Your relaxing round of golf becomes anything but after you've shanked your third straight drive into the woods. But you can save the day by sticking that 6-iron within 3 feet on the 18th green. (Just don't miss the putt.)
Once you begin playing golf, it's inevitable that you'll be hooked and want to play better. We can help you select the golf clubs that can help you improve your score.
Of course, new clubs aren't going to magically make you the best golfer ever, but once you have solidified your swing and learned how to make club selections and hit from different lies, your game will improve and having better equipment will be more important.
New clubs feature the latest technologies, delivering better accuracy and length than older clubs. If you're confused about what each club can do, keep reading.
- Driver: The driver will carry the largest club head and the shallowest club face angle of any type of golf club (other than the putter), according to Golfweek. Drivers have long shafts and are designed to strike the ball off the tee, as the first shot of a hole, rather than off the ground. When struck properly, this club will drive the ball farther than any other club. Some holes are even too short to use a driver.
- Fairway Woods: Common fairway woods are the 3-wood and 5-wood. Woods with higher numbers have a deeper club face angle and generate more loft. (The driver also can be called a 1-wood.) A fairway wood will be used from a good lie in the fairway when you still are at least 175-200 yards from the green, according to Pinemeadow Golf.
- Hybrid Clubs: A hybrid is a newer style of club, designed to be a mixture between a wood and an iron, according to Golf-Information. Many people find hybrids easier to hit solidly than long irons, so they'll often replace long irons in your bag. They have a greater loft than fairway woods and a smaller head, but they have a larger sweet spot than irons.
- Irons: An iron is a thin club face that delivers far more loft than woods. You'll use an iron on an approach to the green, as the grooves in the flat club face help to generate backspin on the ball. That spin, coupled with the higher loft, give you a better chance of having the ball stop on the green, according to Global Golf. Irons run from 1- and 2-irons to 9-irons, with larger numbers representing a greater club face angle and a higher arcing shot with less distance. Because large irons are difficult to strike successfully, some sets don't include anything larger than a 3- or 4-iron these days, substituting hybrids.
- Wedges: As Thought Co. discusses, wedges are a subset of irons and have the same shape. However, they have the shortest shafts and the most severe angle on the club face, giving you more loft and less distance. Sand wedges, pitching wedges, and lob wedges all exist, and the different types of wedges deliver different lofts and club face angles for tricky shots around the green.
- Putters: The putter is the only club you should use while on the green (hence, the term putting surface). Some people will use putters from the fringe area around the green too, but it's not like other golf clubs, as the face is flat with no loft. Because there are so many different putter designs, we'll discuss those another time and focus only on the other types of golf clubs here.
Here are the best golf clubs you can buy:
- Best golf clubs overall: Mizuno Golf MP-20 Iron Set
- Best complete set for beginners: Callaway Men's/Women's Strata Set with Bag
- Best driver: Ping G400 Driver
- Best wedge: Titleist Vokey SM7 Wedge
- Best hybrid club: Ping G Series Hybrid
Updated on 10/23/2019 by Owen Burke: Replaced the out-of-production Mizuno Golf MP-5 Irons Set with the new MP-20 set. Updated prices, formatting, and copy.
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