Guides
Golf club guides, in plain words
How a forgiving head helps a mishit, which iron class suits your strike, when a softer shaft helps and what to bring to a fitting. Each guide ends with the clubs that do what it describes.
- Golf club prices
What a new forgiving driver, iron set, fairway wood, hybrid, putter, wedge and complete set costs, from our own price reads, with each figure's dated history.
- How to clean golf clubs
Irons, woods, grips and grooves cleaned the right way, the grip care Golf Pride advises, and how to store clubs over winter.
- Best golf grips
The right grip for sore hands, sweaty hands or an all-round feel, with every grip's sizes and weights from its maker.
- Putter grips
Pistol, parallel, flat-front and claw putter grips in their makers' words, their weights and prices, and the stock grip on each putter we cover.
- Golf balls for beginners, seniors and high handicappers
Which ball suits a slower or less steady swing, then every maker's soft and value balls with their layers, cover, compression and price a dozen.
- How to regrip golf clubs
Golf Pride's ten steps with a hook blade, tape and solvent, sizing a grip up with tape, and what a shop charges.
- How long do golf clubs last
When grips and wedge grooves wear out, by the makers' own advice, what a regrip costs, and when a new club is worth it.
- Cavity back vs blade irons
Why a cavity back forgives and a muscle back does not, with the makers' own offset figures, and how to blend the two.
- Wedge bounce
What bounce does, drawn to the angle, which bounce suits your swing and turf, and the bounce on every forgiving wedge we cover.
- How many golf clubs
The 14-club rule in plain words, what a first bag of eight to ten needs, and how many clubs each boxed set really holds.
- Golf club gapping
Even loft steps from your longest club to your wedges, each set's uneven steps, and how to check them with your own distances.
- Golf club loft chart
Loft ranges from the driver to the lob wedge, then every forgiving iron set's lofts, current and earlier, in one sortable chart.
- Hybrid vs fairway wood
Which wood matches which hybrid by loft, which to carry, and every maker's stock lofts side by side.
- 9-iron vs pitching wedge
The loft, length and bounce between the two in every forgiving set, and which one to hit.
- Hybrid vs iron
Which hybrid replaces which long iron in each set, by the makers' own lofts, and when a hybrid is the easier club.
- Blade vs mallet putters
Which forgives more, which suits your stroke, a six-foot test for your misses, and the mallets we cover.
- Putter length
What length putter you need, checked from your own setup rather than your height, and the stock lengths of every putter we cover.
- Zero-torque putters
What a zero-torque putter does, the balance test, who it suits, and how each maker builds one.
- 52, 56 and 60 degree wedges
What a gap, sand and lob wedge is for, and which lofts to add after your own set.
- Wedge lofts
Every iron set's pitching, gap, sand and lob wedge lofts in one chart, and the names makers give the gap wedge.
- Golf club lie angle
What a wrong lie does to your shots, how to check yours, and every forgiving iron set's lie angles club by club.
- Golf grip size chart
Your grip size from your hand length or glove size, on Golf Pride's and Winn's own charts, with the feel test and PING's grip colors.
- PING color code chart
What each PING dot color means, and every PING iron set's lie angles for the dot you have.
- Best driver shafts
Driver shafts for a slower swing, more height or a mid flight, with each one's weight, torque and flexes from its maker, and the stock shafts on every forgiving driver.
- Shaft flex chart
Each shaft maker's own swing speed for every flex, side by side, and the flex each chart gives at your speed.
- Steel vs graphite shafts
What a graphite or steel shaft changes, who each suits, and every forgiving iron set's stock shafts.
- One-length irons
Every iron built to one length: Cobra's ONE Length sets against its standard sets, club by club, and who still makes one.
- Standard driver length
Every forgiving driver's stock length from its maker, men's, women's and mini, why two makers' figures can differ, and when shorter helps.
- Golf club length chart
Every iron set's standard lengths as its maker prints them, and a calculator that adds the change a fitter gives you.
- Golf club fitting cost
What Club Champion, True Spec and PGA TOUR Superstore charge for each kind of fitting, the free ones, and what the fee buys, each price dated.
- Golf club fitting for beginners
Prepare your shortlist and check length, lie, shafts and set makeup at a fitting.
- What makes an iron forgiving
Offset, sole width, moment of inertia and loft explained with the numbers from this site's own table.
- Senior flex vs regular flex
What the A flex changes, who it suits, and which clubs we cover offer it as stock.
- Game improvement vs super game improvement irons
What separates the two classes in loft, offset, sole and price, with every set in each, and how to tell which one your strike needs.
Quick reference
- The 7-iron loft chart
Every set's 7-iron loft on one fan, by head class.
- Lofts and gaps into your wedges
Where an iron set ends and which wedge fits after it.
- Golf club terms, explained
Offset, bounce, lie, set makeup and the rest, in plain words.
- How we choose and score
What the forgiveness score reads, and how a pick is chosen.