Just in case you don’t know, the ‘driver’ is the large big headed club that you will probably use off the tee box when you ‘tee off’ i.e. play your opening shot on each hole.
You DON’T have to, but the driver is the club that potentially hits the ball further (or longer) than the other clubs and is usually the golfer’s first weapon of choice from the tee.
The tee-shot is a shot played from a tee – a disposable device, normally a wooden (or these days, plastic) peg, on which the ball is placed for driving.
The ‘tee’ also refers to the area from which the ball is hit on the first shot of the hole – and is also known as the ‘teeing ground’ or ‘tee box’. The ball must be teed off (hit) within the ‘tee’ markers – these are two small colored posts which inform you where you can place your tee and ball for your shot. They are usually spaced about 3-6 yards apart.
‘Woods/metals’ are smaller than drivers, but the same shape and design. Typically you will have a 3 and possibly a 5 wood/metal in your golf bag. They were known as ‘woods’ in the past because they were made of wood. Nowadays they are usually made of metal because they are cheaper to produce and perform better than wooden clubs.
Conventionally they are known as ‘woods’, but because they are now made of ‘metal’ they are sometimes called ‘woods’ or ‘metals’ or ‘metal woods’, and sometimes just ‘woods’. Confused? In the club hierarchy, the driver is first, the 3 wood 2nd and the 5 wood third.
The other clubs in the hierarchy are called ‘irons’. Irons are the clubs that are made of iron – what a surprise! Actually they are not ‘iron’, but a modern metal, but not the same as the 3 and 5 ’wood/metal’.
Irons range from a 1 iron (the longest) through to a pitching wedge and sand wedge (the shortest). So there is a 1 iron, 2, 3, 4, and so on up to a 9 iron. The sand wedge and the pitching wedge are the next two clubs in the sequence after the 9 iron.
These days it is very uncommon for a player to have a 1 and 2 iron in their bags, and even 3 irons are rare. Players are only allowed to put 14 clubs in their bags including the putter so some choices have to be made on what to include.
In summary, the shorter the club, the higher the ‘loft’ or angle of the club face, the higher the ball goes and the shorter the distance it travels.
