by Matthew Adams

Created on: May 27, 2010

If you have started playing golf, then you will need to consider the sort of equipment that will be required. Whether a beginner or not you will need some golf clubs and a ball! Although it should be noted that with up to 14 golf clubs you need not take all these onto the course. On top of this, a few additional bits and pieces may be needed.

Some may ask why not just take the fall set of 14 golf clubs out onto the golf course? After all, more clubs will give more options. While this is true, for a beginner golfer it is in fact better to take a smaller set out onto the golf course. A full-set can be heavy to carry, and without a caddie to assist will invariably slow down golfers. The longer clubs are best left out of the golf bag, as they are less accurate.

Therefore, when you begin playing a half-set is most recommended. Essentially, a half-set of golf clubs includes several golf clubs as opposed to the full 14. With this number of golf clubs, you should have a suitable selection of golf clubs for long play, short-play, and middle-distance clubs.

To begin with, there are at least two clubs that you really have to take out onto the golf course with you. These include the putter, which can be used on or off the green for putting towards and into the hole. The other essential golf club is that of a sand wedge. The sand wedge is used to play out of green-side bunkers, and can also assist with other short play such as pitching and chipping.

With these clubs, that leaves five further clubs for selection which should include a few irons. The putter and sand wedge already cover short play, but in addition to this, a 9-iron is also recommend. 9-irons can be used for shorter distance approach shots onto the green, usually between 100-150 yards but can be less. Another iron club which is recommended is that of the seven iron which is an ideal mid-distance club for iron play, that can also be used for chipping. A final iron club to include can be either a six or a five iron for longer distance iron play.

Then, for the long distance clubs you can take a couple of woods out onto the golf course. For beginner golfers, a 4 wood and seven wood can be suitable clubs for this. The seven wood can be used off the fairway or tee, while the 4 woods will give some good distance. Do not use the longest wood clubs, as these can compromise accuracy and leave the ball anywhere!

In many respects, the same can be said of long clubs generally either irons or woods. Try and stick to the shorter clubs, and leave the longer ones out of the golf bag.

Aside from the clubs, tees and golf balls will be needed. You can have either plastic or wooden tees. It cannot be said that either will make much difference, although plastic tees are more durable and will not snap some prefer wooden golf tees. There can be greater variation of golf balls, which really fall into one piece or two piece golf balls. Avoid one-piece golf balls and go for two-piece balls which have greater durability and distance.

So really, up to seven suitable golf clubs, bag, tees, and golf balls are required to start playing. With this, you will have a reasonably good selection of clubs to play with that will give a few options for short-play, iron-play, and longer distance golf.

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