Golf is a sport of aristocratic people and a game where the participants must learn the rules and regulations because they should strictly follow them while playing on the course. According to the golf rule, the number of clubs that the golfers carry in their bags has a limit. They can’t take more than the number fixed by the USGA. If anyone violates the regulations for the club’s number, they get a penalty and even go out of the tournament. So you should know the rules for the clubs and how many golf clubs are in a full set before starting to play golf. It will be helpful because the number varies for the category of golfer’s skill and experience. Besides, gender and age also consider how many clubs require to put in a professional golfer’s bag.
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Types of golf clubs in a club set
Before learning the appropriate club’s number rules, you have to know what clubs golfers carry in their bags. The list is below.
Driver
The driver is the vital club of a golf set. It is also one of the longest clubs in the bag. Besides, the driver clubhead has the lowest loft angle, making it tough to control the ball speed. Most golfers choose it for their first club because manufacturers produce specialized and lofted drivers with technology development. And these drivers aid them in creating controlled draw and tee shots.
Fairway Wood
The woods are another type of club that has the highest loft angle. Depending on the design and angle, woods numbers as 3, 5, 7, and 9. Among them. 3-wood and 5-wood are more familiar to most pro golfer bags. Besides, some golfers like to use 3-wood off the tees. A fairway wood is a club used for making shots on the fairway of a golf course. Due to the high loft angle of the clubface, these high-lofted woods allow making the golf shots more manageable than the driver.
Iron
In the traditional iron sets, you see seven individual iron numbering like 3-9-iron. These clubs help to get a significant driving range for the iron shots. However, it is difficult for novice golfers to choose a suitable loft angle to get improved results. Among mid-irons, three and four-game improvement irons are the toughest for beginner golfers or lady golfers. And, Thinking about these difficulties, producers introduced a change in the measurements and angles. The variation in the loft pattern provides an excellent opportunity to improve swing skills. As high-handicappers get difficulties for the 3-irons and 4-irons, they like to carry hybrids instead of them.
Hybrid
Hybrids are the advanced type of specialty irons having a feature of 16 to 26 degrees loft angle. The clubface of it looks like fairway woods, and the club shaft is like middle irons. Within a short production time, hybrid clubs become popular among amateur golfers because of their accessible handling features compared to iron design. The changed format for the clubface and shaft allows advanced golfers to get a longer distance with more precision and accuracy. Some senior golfers like to replace three and 4-irons with 4 to 6-hybrids. Besides, the colossal clubface and low Center Of Gravity at the backside and the club’s bottom offer an easy and quick launch of the ball. On the other hand, the tiniest hybrid golf club offers 10 yards shorter distance than the most oversized wood’s distance. But they are the most advantageous clubs for beginners and female golfers.
Wedge
Generally, you will get four kinds of wedges for playing golf, pitching, sand, gap, and lob wedge having different loft angles. Advanced players use these clubs for different types of greenside bunker shots. When the players want to make a shot around the green, they pick the pitching wedge. On the other hand, the sand wedge helps them tackle the sand trap around greens and fairway bunkers. The lob and gap wedge have a middle range of loft angle, and most golfers try to avoid putting them in the bags. However, some golfers take them replacing few irons due to create some differentiation on the carry distance.
Putter
The putter is the crucial club for making the complete set of it. Usually, golfers use this club for the short game or hit the golf ball to send near the golf hole. The putter club’s customized design helps the player play on the ground and control the swing speed. As the putter designs have various lengths, you can easily choose the perfect one that suits your height and skill level from different putters.
What are the USGA rules for how many golf clubs are in a full set?
After establishing The United States Golf Authority (USGA), the rules of golf allow carrying the maximum number of clubs in the golf bag. According to the regulations, experienced golfers can take a maximum of 14 clubs to participate in a golf tournament. However, if they want, they can bring fewer clubs than 14 for the competition. Likewise, if they carry 12 standard clubs, the putter is counted as one. The typical 12 clubs set includes –
- Three kinds of wood – Driver, 3-wood, and 5-wood
- Eight types of irons – 3 to 9 irons with a pitching wedge
- A putter
Adding the rest two clubs depend on the player’s choice. It may be a lob wedge and a sand wedge or hybrid driver for the fairway. The golfers who start the tournament with less than 14 clubs can also add more clubs if they do not delay the competition. But they can’t rent them from other participants. Furthermore, they must check the clubs before joining the tournament because there has a provision of giving a penalty for carrying more clubs allowed for the competition. Golf has since 1968 had a club limit penalty. And, the authority can disqualify the players for the tournament if they violate the club limit regulation.
If anyone exceeds the number of 14 clubs limit, they get a penalty of hole deduction in their score, and it can reach up to the two holes for a match-play. On the other hand, the tour authority deducts two strokes for each hole for a stroke-play and goes up to a four-stroke deduction. There are also some reasons for introducing the regulation for the club limit. It makes an effortless movement of the golf bags because some tournaments don’t support the caddie facility. Besides, it lowers the expanse of the golfers. They can also show their creativity to create more perfect shots while participating in a session. These issues also enhance their confidence to win the competition.
Do you require a complete set of golf clubs?
Generally, skilled players have carried clubs in their bags as their choice and ability level to handle them. The ideal number of clubs and their types differ for the golfer’s age and gender. Besides, it can vary for the skill and experience to handle them while golfing.
For junior golfer
The beginners or junior golfers don’t need to carry a bag full of clubs because every golfer has to walk more or less 8 miles in an 18-hole course. If they take the complete set of 14 clubs, it will be heavy for them to move around the golf course while playing for different holes. As a beginner, only three clubs, like a driver, wedge, and putter, are enough for starting the practice of golf. Besides, many manufacturers offer a package of 5-7 clubs or a short set for beginners at affordable price ranges. This short set has 3-wood, three and 5-hybrid, seven and 9-iron, and a putter. When they grow up and gather some experience learning the yardage and golf swings perfectly, they can add few iron clubs. It will help them improve quickly on making the perfect shot and employing the strength to get slower swing speed.
For women golfers
As a beginner or junior, the women golfers also need not carry a complete set of 14 clubs in their golf bags. Women do not have the same strength to hold or swing the clubs as mature golf buddies or adult male golfers. According to the general rule for the design of women’s clubs, the more degrees of loft angle employs to manufacture them. It helps them to get a comfortable height and backspin. Besides, they cannot control the clubhead’s speed in getting the targeted distance of the ball flight. Some producers make a 7-10 club package for women golfers, having a driver, a fairway wood, 7, 8, and 9 irons, hybrids, pitching and sand wedge, and a putter. Golf expert suggests adding more clubs to their bags, after getting some training on the club swinging techniques and improve their performance.
For male golfers
Generally, male golfers are stronger than junior and female golfers, considering the physical strength for handling the bag’s weight and swing capacity. That’s why most men golfers carry the complete set of 14 clubs, whereas some like to take fewer. Because some players want to improve the swing performance with the clubs on which they get advantages while striking the balls. The standard set of clubs for men contains a driver, three fairway planks of wood, three irons or hybrids, 4 to 9 irons, pitching wedge and sand wedges, and a putter. Sometimes, they replace one or two woods with a gap or lob wedge.
WHAT IS THE RIGHT NUMBER OF GOLF CLUBS TO PLAY GOOD GOLF?
Final Thoughts
The information you get in this article will help your game if you take it seriously because every golfer has a different capability to handle the club while aiming for a shot. Besides, clubs are also much expensive comparing other golf equipment. So without knowing the necessity and capacity to manage the club’s swing, unnecessary purchase clubs will waste money. It also makes your golf journey more complicated. Therefore, analyze your swing capacity first and then add new clubs to your golf bag.