So you have decided it's time to see what this game called golf is all about? Good decision. If you can keep your patience and commitment to practice through your first 6 months in the game to make it over that first hurdle, you will end up happy you made the decision to become a golfer. There are few activities more enjoyable than having a whack at that little white ball while walking about on nicely manicured grass with friends.

Speaking of having a whack at the ball, you know that once you decide you like the game well enough to become a golfer, you're going to need to acquire a bag filled with 'weapons of grass destruction' with which to play. Buying a set of well-made golf clubs is not exactly cheap either. Before you head out to buy clubs, you need to know a few things so you spend you money wisely and obtain a set that will help you play to the best of your ability. Poorly selected and poorly fitted golf clubs have caused many beginners to have more difficulties in learning to hit the ball well enough to enjoy the game. If you get the right set for your size, strength and athletic ability, your 'learning curve' in the game will be shorter and your time of enjoyment of this great game will come much sooner.

Believe me. I've spent the last 33 years of my life designing and fitting golf clubs and if there is one thing I have learned, golf clubs that are too long, too heavy, too stiff and a few other things I am going to tell you about, will make it a lot more difficult to learn to hit the ball well enough to have fun. So here we go, and I'll make you a promise; no scientific words, no complicated explanations shall come from my lips when I tell you what you need to look for when it comes time to buy that bag of clubs!

What's In Your Bag?

The people who make all those rules that have to be followed in a golf competition tell us golfers that we can only carry a total of 14 clubs in our bag. No more. Actually that's a good rule because you don't want your bag to be too heavy when you carry it on your shoulder or pull it on a trolley! But the rules also say that you can play with as few clubs as you wish. As a beginning golfer, you really do not need a full complement of 14 clubs until you reach your first level of ball hitting proficiency. See? I am saving you some money already in your search for your perfect beginner golf clubs.

If you've taken a look at another golfer's bag, you've seen that some of the clubs are covered with a big sock while some are allowed to 'go naked.' Under the socks, which are called headcovers, are the WOODS. The ones with the bare heads are the IRONS. Among the irons are some special clubs used when you get the ball close to the putting green which are called the WEDGES. And finally there is a single club with a straight face that looks quite different from the other clubs with which you will roll the ball into the hole on the green. That's the PUTTER. I'm not going to tell you what they are all used for. That's your instructor's job to do that. What I am going to tell you is what to look for when its time for you to purchase your set of woods, irons, wedges and putter so that your instructor's tutelage proceeds as smooth as possible.

The complement of how many woods, irons and wedges that you have in your bag is called your SET MAKEUP. If you walk into any golf store, you'll see that the most common set make-up goes like this:

Woods - Driver (#1), #3-wood, #5-wood.

• Irons - #3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
• Wedges - Pitching Wedge (P or PW will be engraved on the head) and Sand Wedge (S, SW or a number like 55 or 56 will be engraved on the head).

There are other numbers of woods and irons and wedges that exist, but what we call the '3 Woods x 7 Irons x 2 Wedges set' is the most typical set that golf shops sell to golfers.

Don't buy such a set. As a beginner, there are between 4 and 5 of these clubs that you will not be able to hit with any level of success until you master a few of the fundamentals your instructor will be teaching you. I'll make it easy for you. Below is my recommendation for the first set you should use to start the game. Once you get to the point where you can hit your #3w or #5w off the grass without a tee peg, you can think about adding a Driver (#1w). Do yourself a favor and resist the temptation to use a driver until you are ready, and ready means being able to hit the fairway woods off the grass with some consistency.

When you get to a point in your swing that you can hit the #6 and #7 irons well up in the air with more consistency than you have with the #3 and 5 woods, then you can think about adding on some other irons with a little lower number. When you do, I strongly recommend that you think about adding what are called HYBRID CLUBS and not the actual low numbered iron clubs. Irons with the numbers 3 and 4 are almost impossible for any golfer to hit consistently well except the golfers you see on television. If you are not that athletically inclined, put the #5 iron along with that group. There are hybrid clubs which look like a fairway wood but with a more narrow body which are much easier to hit and will hit the ball the same distance as the 3, 4 and 5 irons. And that's what you want.

Your mates all have #3, 4 and 5 irons in their bags, you say? Well, if they play off a handicap of 6 or lower, fine, they have the swing skill to hit these clubs. If they play off a handicap higher than 6 and still have the 3 and 4-iron in the bag, they are just plain mis-informed or they are gluttons for further punishment in the game! If they play off a handicap of 16 or higher and still have the 5-iron in the bag as well, put them in the same group I just mentioned! Even though you are a beginner, you now know a very important point about golf clubs that your mates don't!

How Long Should My Clubs Be?

There is an old saying that all experienced golfers know very well. The longer the club, the heavier the club, the stiffer the shaft in the club and the lower the loft on the face of the club, the more difficult the club will be to hit.

The woods are the longest of the clubs in all golfers' bags. They also have the lowest loft angle on the face. While they are the lightest and least flexible of all the clubs, the fact that they are longest and lowest in loft is a combination that is difficult for a beginner golfer to swing with the control required to hit the ball well in the air. That's why I am telling you not to add a driver to your set until you have a little experience in your ball hitting. The driver is the longest and the lowest loft of all the woods.

So, what length should your woods be? As a beginner, I can make this easy. Take a look at the illustration below:

Measure the distance from the major skin crease at the base of your palm to the floor in inches + any fraction while you stand comfortably erect, shoulders level and your arms hanging relaxed at your sides. Compare your measurement to the chart to find the most comfortable and proper length of the driver and 5-iron. For the length of your 3w, subtract 1 inch from the driver length recommendation. For the 5w, subtract 2 inches, and for the 7w, subtract 3 inches. For the irons, each number higher than the 5-iron is half" progressively shorter. For example, if the 5-iron is to be 38', the 6-iron will be 37.5', the 7-iron will be 37' and so on down in half-inch length increment decreases. For the hybrid clubs numbered lower than the 5-iron, the lengths are half" progressively longer. Hence, the #3-hybrid should be 39" and the #4-hybrid should be 38.5" if the 5-iron is to be 38".

If the clubs you consider buying are longer than your wrist to floor measurement says, don't buy them unless the golf shop will change the lengths to what you need. And if they do, be sure you tell them to add the right amount of weight back into the clubhead so what we call the swingweight of the clubs is the same as what it was before they reduced the lengths.

What Do You Mean by the Loft Angle?

The face of each one of your golf clubs will be tilted back at a different angle. That is what we call the LOFT ANGLE. We club designers make each of the clubs hit the ball a different distance by making each club with a different degree of loft angle on the face. The more the face is tilted back, the higher and shorter you hit the ball. The less the face is tilted back, the lower and farther you hit the ball, AND, the more difficult it will be to hit the ball well up in the air.

Keep this in mind - Loft is your best friend as a beginner golfer. The more loft angle on the clubface, the easier the club will be to hit. You will like your high numbered irons and wedges sooner than you will like the lower numbered clubs because they have more loft and they are shorter in length. Your #6-iron through your wedges will all have enough loft on the face to make them a little easier to hit high in the air to fly as far as they are designed to be hit.

Your woods are where you need to be careful to make sure you do not have too little loft. If you are starting with a 3-wood in your set, please be sure to make the golf store salesperson prove the loft is not lower than 16 degrees. If you are starting with a 5-wood as your longest wood club, you won't have to demand 'proof of loft' because the 5-wood will be between 18-19 degrees in loft, which is fine. Most of the 3-woods sold today have a loft of 13, 14 or 15 degrees. For a beginning golfer, that's too little loft.

For the irons, as long as you don't buy an iron with a number lower than I recommended for your strength and athletic ability, you'll be fine. By urging you to not buy a #3, 4 or 5-iron, I am automatically keeping you away from the irons that have too little loft for you to hit well as a beginner golfer.

Don't Forget to Lie!

You probably know that most golfers already lie about one or more things in the way they play the game, but that's not what I am talking about here. There is another angle in your irons that you have to be aware of, and that is called the LIE ANGLE of the irons. That's the angle between the shaft and the bottom of each iron. What you want is to have the bottom of the iron glide squarely across the grass when you hit the ball. As you well know, we golfers run the gamut in our height from under 150cm to taller than 210cm. But all irons are made to the same lie angle. That means you want to be sure the golf store can adjust the lie angles of all your irons to fit YOU. If you don't, there will be some good swings you make which will result in crooked shots.

Get a Grip on Things!

The 'handles' on your clubs are called the GRIP. To swing properly and to make the game easier to learn, your grips should definitely be fitted to the size of your hands. All of the clubs you will see in the golf store are made with one grip size for men and one grip size for women. So if you know your hands are larger than most other men or women, please do yourself a favor and ask to be fit with an oversize grip to match your hand size. You'll learn how to hit the ball better sooner if you do.

What About the Shaft?

That long, narrow rod that connects the grip to the clubhead is called the SHAFT. You'll need to choose between steel or graphite shafts in the clubs you buy. The shaft controls the weight of the clubs more than any other part of the club. Graphite shafts are much lighter than steel shafts and are much better for golfers of average to below average strength and athletic ability. Steel shafts are fine for golfers with above average strength. If you get clubs that are too heavy, it will take you longer to hit the ball well enough to have fun.

If you are average to above average in strength and athletic ability, do try to buy your set with graphite shafts in the woods and steel shafts in the irons. If you are below average in these two areas, graphite shafts in the woods and the irons will be better and more helpful to your swing training.

Shafts are made in different degrees of stiffness, which is called the FLEX. When selecting the flex of the shafts in your club, make the golf shop measure your swing speed and recommend your flex based on that swing speed, not just on your physical strength.

Making Sure You Get the Right Clubs for YOUR Swing

By now, you may be a little confused. That's OK, you're a beginner in this great game and no one learns everything they need to know to make the best buying decision for their clubs immediately. Let me offer one last point of advice to help you spend your money as wisely as possible for your golf clubs.

Find a custom clubmaker in your local area to be fit for your golf clubs. No, real custom fit golf clubs are not going to be more expensive than buying standard made clubs off the rack in a retail golf shop. And yes, even though you are a beginner golfer, being custom fit is important so you are able to learn and master the fundamentals of the swing as quickly as possible. If you buy golf clubs off the rack in a golf shop, the length of the woods will be too long for you to control while you learn the swing because all men's and all women's standard made clubs are too long for 90% of the golfers. But the length is not the only thing that you want to make sure your clubs are matched to your size, strength and athletic ability. That's why you will be in good hands if you ask your instructor to recommend a local custom clubmaker who is skilled in fitting golf clubs to each individual golfer. Thanks for your time and above all else, have fun in this greatest of all games!

Tom Wishon

Author's Note: Tom Wishon is a 33 year veteran of the golf equipment industry specializing in clubhead design, shaft analysis, and clubfitting research and development. He is the only designer from the component clubmaking side of the golf industry whose clubhead designs have been used to win on the PGA Tour and in the international Ryder Cup matches between the US and European professional golfers, having designed the clubs used by Scott Verplank, Bruce Lietzke, Ben Crenshaw and for Payne Stewart in 1999 before his tragic accident. He has written 5 books on clubmaking technology in his career, is a 10 year member of the Golf Digest Technical Panel, and serves as the Technical Advisor to the Professional Golfers' Association of America's web site, http://www.pga.com/. Tom currently heads his own company, Tom Wishon Golf Technology, which specializes in the design of original, high-end component golf equipment designs for independent custom clubmakers worldwide.