| 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 go | | | | Which 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 pros | | | | golfer that he shouldn't take full advantage of the |
| use the stiff shaft. The medium shaft is for the | | | | rule. He would not be happy, indeed he would feel |
| average player. The flexible is generally considered | | | | himself laboring under a handicap, carrying fewer than |
| best for players of more advanced age and for | | | | the rule allows. So, which ones should they be? |
| women. It is best suited for a slow swing. The | | | | From the conventional set of three woods, nine |
| limber-ness of a shaft is known to the manufacturers | | | | irons, 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 swing | | | | For 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 weight | | | | clubs of all to use. Many pros dispense with the No. 2 |
| of a club. It is the proportion of the weight in the | | | | wood, the old brassie, though most of them carry a |
| head compared to the shaft and the grip. Swing | | | | No. 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 ounces | | | | 16-handicapper have to make them behave? |
| of a club weighing 13% ounces are in the head. D-9 is | | | | It is also a fact that most golfers find a lofted wood |
| merely one of the calibrations on what is known as a | | | | easier 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 pros | | | | the time to master the longer irons, then drop out |
| use, and it is for a strong, fast swinger. For the | | | | the No. 2 and pick up a No. 5 wood. |
| average player the ideal swing weight is from D-1 to | | | | Generally 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 of | | | | and 9 irons, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, and a |
| the club when you waggle it or swing it, the higher | | | | putter. |
| 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 handling | | | | driver, seems to be a special type of poison. There is |
| a new club, "Feels like a lot of head in this." What you | | | | no 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. A | | | | than enough ability to hit a teed-up ball with a driver. |
| medium swing weight, for instance, in a club with a | | | | If you hook or slice so badly with the driver that you |
| flexible shaft, would feel like a very high swing | | | | are afraid to play it, something is radically wrong with |
| weight. You would "feel" an inordinate amount of | | | | your 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 a | | | | 13½ ounces and is 43 inches long, measured |
| decent swing at all. But the manufacturers have | | | | from the base of the heel to the tip of the shaft. |
| taken care of this. They do not put out clubs with | | | | The other woods are shorter by about a half inch |
| high swing weights on flexible shafts. In men's clubs | | | | with each number. The No. 2 iron is about 38% to |
| the swing weights for a flexible shaft are D-0 and | | | | 38⅝ inches, and the others drop about 7 |
| D-1. For medium shafts they are D-1 to D-4. For stiff | | | | 16 of an inch each, down to the No. 9. |