How to choose golf clubs?

Don’t forget that CityGolf is not just an online golf store—we also operate brick-and-mortar stores in Prague and Brno. Each store is staffed by golfers of various skill levels who can give you expert advice on choosing the golf clubs that are ideal for you. In both Prague and Brno, we have the best-equipped club testing centers, where you can try golf clubs from Callaway, Titleist, TaylorMade, Mizuno, Ping, and Honma. We pride ourselves on offering the widest selection and regularly stock the latest clubheads and shafts that you won’t find anywhere else. Experienced fitters will take care of you, with many years of experience selecting golf clubs for everyone from beginner recreational golfers to competitive and performance players.

Choose According to Your Experience

During our years of selling golf clubs at CityGolf, we have established four player categories. Try to assess your game and place yourself in one of them. (In the online store, you can select clubs from individual groups using the Player Type filter.)

• Recreational Player – Plays regularly and hardly ever practices. When they find time for golf, they want to spend it on the course, not on the practice mat. They prefer highly forgiving clubs for easy contact. They have no plans to shape shots, and their main goal is to get the ball into the air easily and, if possible, into the hole without major complications.
• Advanced Recreational Player – Plays regularly and practices occasionally. They prefer easy-to-hit clubs with greater forgiveness and a sporty appearance. They have no ambitions to play competitive golf, but when they are playing well, they achieve a higher percentage of fairways hit and greens in regulation.
• Sporting Player – Plays regularly and practices regularly. They prefer clubs with a sporty design and enhanced forgiveness. They often find the sweet spot and are highly likely to hit the fairway and reach positions on the green that make scoring easier.
• Performance Player – Plays regularly and practices frequently. They can shape shots and play from any position. Their score is around par, and they demand maximum feedback and precise feel from their equipment.

The boundaries between these categories are not rigid, and it is not unusual for players to combine golf clubs from different categories in their bag. For example, they may prefer high forgiveness in a driver and therefore choose a driver from the advanced recreational category, while demanding better feedback and control from their irons and therefore choosing irons for sporting players.

^{When choosing clubs, it is important to avoid the myth that you should immediately buy golf clubs for performance players and “grow into them.” It often happens that before you “grow into them,” you become so frustrated with the many unnecessary mishits that you gladly move on to another sport.}

Accurately assessing your abilities is important for your development in golf and for getting maximum enjoyment from the game. You may be surprised that players on the Senior PGA Tour often choose clubs from the advanced recreational category even though they are still excellent golfers. They choose more forgiving clubs to make the game easier and enjoy it more, even without the practice they can no longer devote themselves to as they once did.

Types of Golf Clubs

^{Your golf set can contain up to 14 clubs. One of them will certainly be a driver, which you will most often use to start a hole, and another will be a putter, which you will most often use to finish it. That leaves room for 12 more clubs, which should allow you to play any distance from the tee to the green. You do not need to fill every space in your bag, but the main purpose of a properly composed set of golf clubs is to give you an option for as many of the situations you encounter most often as possible, while maintaining ideal distance gaps between clubs.}

Drivers

They have the largest clubheads, and their main purpose is to start the hole as far down the fairway as possible and set up the best possible position for the next shot. Drivers mainly differ in forgiveness and weighting. For recreational players drivers are most often weighted to produce a slight draw, helping to eliminate a common mistake in which the ball starts left after impact and then sharply curves right (the opposite for left-handed players). Combined with maximum forgiveness and a higher launch angle, this will help you hit longer and straighter drives. For sporting players the preference shifts toward easier shot shaping and better feedback. For advanced golfers, forgiveness is not the top priority, and they often expect their driver to be adjustable for their ideal tee shot. That is why drivers with adjustable loft and weighting are available. This allows a sporting golfer to raise or lower the launch angle and ball spin for maximum carry distance and their preferred shot shape.

An extremely important part of a driver is the shaft, which critically affects how the driver performs for your swing. Shafts differ significantly in weight and flex, and choosing the right shaft requires knowledge of your swing speed and tempo. An older golfer swings more slowly, an athlete faster; some players have a slower tempo, while others have a fast, dynamic tempo. It often happens that the shaft a manufacturer offers with a clubhead in the standard configuration does not suit everyone, and we therefore recommend visiting our fitting center to choose the right shaft, where we will measure your swing on TrackMan and recommend the ideal shaft specifically for you.

Golf Drivers are available in our online store.

Fairway Woods

Woods can significantly improve your game, and if you give them a chance, they will become indispensable both for shots from the tee and for longer shots from the fairway. Woods are added to your set to fill the distance gaps between the driver and the hybrid or longest iron. Like drivers, woods differ primarily in forgiveness and weighting. Woods for recreational players are weighted for a higher launch angle and maximum forgiveness, and have a lower face profile to make it easier to get under the ball and make ideal contact. Woods for sporting players are most often weighted for a medium, more penetrating trajectory and often allow loft adjustment to fine-tune the preferred balance between carry distance and total distance.

Golf Fairway Woods are available in our online store.

Hybrids

They are golf clubs that some people love and others (unnecessarily) hate. Hybrids are designed to replace long irons, which are difficult for recreational players to hit. Hybrids are most often used for shots into the green, but players also frequently use them for more accurate shots from the tee. It is a mistake to think that hybrids are only for recreational players, as demonstrated by their continuing rise in popularity among PGA Tour players. No one wants to struggle with a 2- or 3-iron when there is an opportunity to hit the same distance with a greater likelihood of a good result. Hybrids are added to a set to fill the distance gaps between the fairway wood and the longest iron you can hit effectively. The result should be that you have a club for every distance and no green is out of reach.

Golf Hybrids are available in our online store.

Irons

You should not make any compromises with this category of golf equipment. The technologies and materials currently used in manufacturing offer almost unlimited possibilities for choosing the best irons for you. So how do the various types of golf irons differ?

Irons for recreational players: Maximum forgiveness. Higher trajectory. Minimal distance loss between a well-struck and mishit shot.

Irons for advanced recreational players: Greater forgiveness. Sportier appearance. Progressive head design. Larger heads and greater forgiveness in the long irons. Smaller heads and a sportier appearance in the short, scoring irons.

Irons for sporting players: Sporty appearance. Good forgiveness. Excellent feedback and feel at impact. Easier shot shaping. Progressive design. Larger heads and greater forgiveness in the long irons. Smaller heads and a sportier appearance in the short, scoring irons.

Irons for performance players: Small heads. A very sporty, blade-like appearance. Minimal forgiveness. Maximum ability to shape shots. Precise feedback at impact. Unbeatable feel.

Golf Irons are available in our online store.

Wedge

They are an important part of your golf set. If you have a set of irons, it will probably end with a club marked PW (Pitching wedge). This is most often manufactured in a similar configuration to the other irons because you will swing it in a similar way. The other wedges are selected so that their lofts follow on from the pitching wedge, giving you a club for every distance and type of shot you may face around the green.

Distinguishing between golf wedges is easy: primarily use the loft as your guide. If your pitching wedge (PW) has 45° of loft, it should be followed by at least two wedges: an Approach wedge (AW) with 50° of loft and a Sand wedge (SW) with 54° or 56°. You can add a Lob wedge (LW) with 60° of loft after the sand wedge, but it is more difficult to play, and not every recreational player can handle it. Most golf manufacturers now sell golf wedges for both right- and left-handed players. Left-handed players can therefore choose from an approximately equally broad selection as right-handed players.

An important parameter for new wedges is the correct combination of bounce and grind. Simply put, bounce is how high the leading edge of the clubhead sits above the ground, while grind is the shaping of the sole. Bounce and grind are selected according to how you most often swing and the type of surface you play from. If you take deep divots and most often use wedges in sand or on softer surfaces, a higher bounce (10° or more) is recommended. Conversely, if you rarely take divots with your wedges and most often use them on tightly mown, firmer surfaces we recommend a bounce of 10° or less.

As Bob Vokey says, bounce is your friend!

Sole shaping is most often considered when you are trying to play different types of shots with a wedge. You can choose a universal (standard) grind that allows you to play every shot with some compromises, or you can choose a grind that allows you to open or close the clubface more easily, giving you unlimited options for the height and spin of your approach shots.

Golf Wedges are available in our online store.

Putters

In other words, a golf club for the putting green, the putter is the club you will most often use to finish a hole. The range of designs available today is truly broad, and choosing the right golf putter can take several dozen minutes. For the right choice, we definitely recommend visiting a brick-and-mortar store. There, you can try out how each design suits you at address. Every putter head has a different weight, and you can most often choose from three lengths: 33", 34", or 35".

You should certainly not overlook the sound and feel at impact when choosing a putter. Some players prefer the quiet sound of hardened polyurethane inserts, while others prefer the ping of a metal insert. Most manufacturers do not distinguish between women’s and men’s putters. Women’s putters are selected according to the same principles as men’s putters; women most often choose a mallet design and a length between 32" and 34". Men’s putters are most commonly sold in lengths of 34" or 35.

Golf Putters are available in our online store.

If you have read this article all the way to the end, congratulations! You now have a basic overview of how to choose golf clubs and can browse our online store in the Golf Clubs category. If you would like personal advice on choosing, visit our brick-and-mortar stores, where we will be happy to assist you and recommend the best golf clubs for your current game and your goals.

CityGolf Prague, Českobrodská 920, Prague 9 – Dolní Počernice

CityGolf Brno, Holandská 10, Brno