Golf Tips: Choosing A Driver

The irons weigh from 14½ ounces for the No.shafts they are D-4 to D-9.
2 to 16½ for the No. 9. Sand wedges will goWhich Clubs to Carry
up to 17½.Since the USGA permits the carrying of fourteen
Shafts of clubs are graded in three types, flexible,clubs, it would be difficult to persuade the average
medium, and stiff. Most of the bigger, stronger prosgolfer that he shouldn't take full advantage of the
use the stiff shaft. The medium shaft is for therule. He would not be happy, indeed he would feel
average player. The flexible is generally consideredhimself laboring under a handicap, carrying fewer than
best for players of more advanced age and forthe rule allows. So, which ones should they be?
women. It is best suited for a slow swing. TheFrom the conventional set of three woods, nine
limber-ness of a shaft is known to the manufacturersirons, a sand wedge, and a putter, the average
as shaft deflection.player should drop the No. 1 iron and the No. 2 wood.
We have heard a great deal, for years, about swingFor these he should substitute the No. 4 wood and a
weight. The term is tossed about so loosely, in fact,pitching wedge. The No. 2 wood and the No. 1 iron,
that few players have much of an idea what it is.with their relatively straight faces, are the hardest
Swing weight indicates the distribution of the weightclubs of all to use. Many pros dispense with the No. 2
of a club. It is the proportion of the weight in thewood, the old brassie, though most of them carry a
head compared to the shaft and the grip. SwingNo. 1 iron, mostly for use off a tee. If the pros
weights are listed from C-0 to D-9.cannot use them effectively, what chance does a
But a D-9, for instance, doesn't mean that 9 ounces16-handicapper have to make them behave?
of a club weighing 13% ounces are in the head. D-9 isIt is also a fact that most golfers find a lofted wood
merely one of the calibrations on what is known as aeasier to handle than a long iron. This seems to be
lorythmic swinging weight scale.specially true as the player grows older. If you are
A D-9 is no club for the average player to use, either.one of these, and do not want to or cannot take
It is what Arnold Palmer and many of the other prosthe time to master the longer irons, then drop out
use, and it is for a strong, fast swinger. For thethe No. 2 and pick up a No. 5 wood.
average player the ideal swing weight is from D-1 toGenerally speaking, we recommend the carrying of a
D-4. For women the range is from C-4 to C-6.driver, Nos. 3 and 4 woods, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
In a general sense, the more you "feel" the head ofand 9 irons, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, and a
the club when you waggle it or swing it, the higherputter.
the swing weight. You have often heard players say,There are some to whom the No. 1 wood, the
and no doubt you have said it yourself, when handlingdriver, seems to be a special type of poison. There is
a new club, "Feels like a lot of head in this." What youno logical reason for this. Anybody who can hit a 3
are feeling is the swing weight.wood, or any other wood, off the fairway has more
You could be fooled, of course, by the shaft. Athan enough ability to hit a teed-up ball with a driver.
medium swing weight, for instance, in a club with aIf you hook or slice so badly with the driver that you
flexible shaft, would feel like a very high swingare afraid to play it, something is radically wrong with
weight. You would "feel" an inordinate amount ofyour swing.
head when you swung it. In fact, with a club like this,The average driver can weighs 13¼ to
you would have a very difficult time developing a13½ ounces and is 43 inches long, measured
decent swing at all. But the manufacturers havefrom the base of the heel to the tip of the shaft.
taken care of this. They do not put out clubs withThe other woods are shorter by about a half inch
high swing weights on flexible shafts. In men's clubswith each number. The No. 2 iron is about 38% to
the swing weights for a flexible shaft are D-0 and38⅝ inches, and the others drop about 7
D-1. For medium shafts they are D-1 to D-4. For stiff16 of an inch each, down to the No. 9.