Beginner Golf Clubs

So now you have bashed a few balls and realized that you enjoy making contact with the little white ball. For many beginners -- especially women golfers -- they run the risk of losing interest because the clubs they use are not suited for their skill level. Ideal golf clubs vary depending on your level of skill and your trained ability in different aspects of the game. In this section, we will recommend beginner clubs. We will also tell you why we have chosen the configuration we suggest.

Beginner golfers usually experience difficulties in the following key aspects of their golf game:

• Consistent contact with the ball
• Swing speed
• Shot shape
• Ball flight
• The sand trap nightmare

Consistent Contact with the Ball

As a beginner you usually have a hard time making consistent contact with the ball and simply find it difficult to hit the ball in the center of your clubface. This can result in hitting the ball with the toe and heel of the club along with hitting the top of the ball or slicing underneath it.

	To help you get more consistent contact with the ball your best option is to choose an oversized clubhead - a favorite of many women golfers. An oversized club has a larger hitting area giving you fewer chances of mishits. A beginner’s driver should have a larger head of over 430cc. When it comes to irons, perimeter weighting will help make the mishits take a straighter line, shots off the heel and toe of the club will be more solid. A wide sole will slide through the turf easier and get the ball up higher. Slightly shorter clubs will improve your chances of club to ball contact.
Callaway Golf FT-i Driver with revolutionary 460cc Complete Inertial Design Dick's Sporting Goods offering a free $100 gas card with purchase of this club

Swing Speed

Beginner women golfers usually have a slower swing speed; this is mainly due to inexperience with the proper swing mechanics and sometimes due to lack of strength. The swing speed of men and women golfers (along with junior golfers) will always tend to reach different levels – this is purely down to the golfers’ strength.

For lady golfers it takes the fitness of pros such as Annika Sorenstam to match the level of swing strength that male golfers can achieve. Lack of swing speed leads to difficulties in getting the ball up into the air, as well as, being the reason for lack of distance.

Clubs in themselves will not change your swing speed; this can only be improved by what is called muscle memory and the building up of your own strength. Muscle memory is your body’s ability to memorize and perform automatically, a well rehearsed motion such as your swing.

A useful tip before you buy your clubs is to have your swing speed measured. If you have this information, it is much easier to get good advice from your golf pro or shop on the most suitable club type for your ability. Certified club makers can measure your swing speed. Alternatively, ask one of the local pros at your driving range if they know where you can get this done.

Shot Shape

One of the problems that many beginners experience is the inability to get the clubhead back to the ball in a square position. Your clubhead generally approaches the ball outside of the target line (out-to-in) and at a steep angle. This usually results in your typical shot being a slice or a shot that curves right.

By using an offset clubhead, you can help that out-to-in swing path. The offset clubhead will get the clubface back to the ball a little later meaning that the clubface will be squarer to the target i.e. the ball.

From About.com

"What is Offset, and Why are Some Clubs Designed With It? Offset is a design condition in clubheads in which the neck or hosel of the head is positioned in front of the face of the clubhead, so that the clubface appears to be set back a little from the neck of the club. (Put another way, offset is the distance that the forward side of the neck/hosel of the clubhead is set in front of the bottom of the face of the clubhead.)

When a wood or ironhead is designed to have more offset, two game improvement factors automatically occur, each of which can help the golfer. First, the more offset, the farther the head's center of gravity is back from the shaft. And the farther the CG is back from the shaft, the higher the trajectory will be for any given loft on the face. In this case, more offset can help increase the height of the shot for golfers who have a difficult time getting the ball well up in the air to fly.

Second, the more offset in the clubhead, the more time the golfer has on the downswing to rotate the face of the clubhead back around in order to arrive at impact closer to being square to the target line. In other words, offset can help a golfer come closer to squaring the face at impact because the clubface arrives at impact a split-second later than with a club that has no offset. Thus the second benefit of offset is to help reduce the amount the golfer may slice or fade the ball.

Ball Flight and the Dreaded Sand Trap

Do you often feel that it is difficult to get the ball up into the air? The two factors that contribute to this problem are a slow swing and poor ball contact. Beginner golfers have a tendency to want to scoop the ball up, so you frequently hit what is called fat shots. This is a particular problem when you are playing with irons as a beginner. Another factor that can affect ball flight is your shot shape or swing path. Most of the cures to ball flight issues come with:

• Experience
• Improvements in your swing mechanics
• Muscle memory; and
• Having the right golf clubs for your skill level

The type of clubs that can help a beginner to get their long shots off the fairway and out of the rough, are woods and hybrid clubs with the most loft possible. These would also have a low center of gravity. Hybrid clubs are clubs that combine elements of both woods and irons in their design and are ideal for the recreational golfer. Even the pros now carry around hybrid clubs as they tend to suit all golfers.

More loft basically means that it will be easier for you to get the ball in the air and it should go further. The added bonus of clubs with extra loft is that they can help create straighter shots getting rid of some of the beginners curve. You need to look at clubs with a loft of between 12-14 degrees.

To Sum Up

To sum up, the best golf clubs for beginners would total no more than between 10-12 clubs (maximum a golfer is allowed on the course is 14). Here is our summarized recommendation that should give you as a beginning golfer plenty of fun and enjoyment:

• Your iron set should start with the 5 or 6 iron and go up to the sand wedge (SW). For longer shots use lofted woods (5, 7, 9) and hybrid clubs (3, 4, 5).
• If you have a swing speed between 65-80 mph (women, junior and some senior golfers) you will need more woods and hybrid clubs and generally more loft to help get the ball up in the air. Woods are always easier to hit for beginners. Slightly shortened versions of 3, 5, and 7 woods (-.5”) are highly recommended for all beginners regardless of swing speed.
• Your driver should have a 440-460 cc titanium head. The new large-headed drivers are easier to hit even though still the longest club in the bag.
• Make sure you have extra loft to increase accuracy and distance.
• For a putter, you want one of the new large-headed mallet putters. These new putters help the beginner through a greater ability in not twisting on mishits and their alignment aids make short putts much easier.