Golf clubs have two major features that directly influence how far and how high the ball will go when hit correctly with each club. What you are looking at in the illustration is a full set of golf clubs, including the woods and the irons. Beginning on the left are the wood clubs (larger heads) numbered from 1 wood, 3 wood, 5 wood and 7 wood. Progressing the irons (smaller heads), starting from the left, are the 3 iron, 4 iron, 5 iron, 6 iron, 7 iron, 8 iron, 9 iron, 10 iron, and 11 iron (also known as the sand wedge). Note that there is a difference in length of one-half inch between each club in the set.

Remember from your high school physiccs class that the longer lever, the greater the force? It's OK if you do not remember, because I am reminding you now. With a longer club, applying the same amount of power, you will be able to generate more club head speed. The result will be a longer shot. Going back to high school physics again, the loft of the club face will determine the angle at which the ball bounces off the club face. Picture the extension of the magnet on the club face as representing the initial flight of the ball.

To gain a graphic perspective of the loft, or slant, of club faces, set a tee on the face of the club, with the flat end of the tee on the face. For the purpose of illustration we have placed a magnet on the club faces of a 10 iron and 4 iron.

In most sets there will be a difference of four degrees of loft between clubs progressively through the set.

So, in other words, the higher the number of the club, the higher the ball will go, and since the energy is going up, the distance the ball travels will be less. As the number of the club gets lower, the flight of the ball progressively gets lower and the distance the ball travels increases. Also, as the number of the club gets lower, the club progressively gets longer.

The woods will generally travel farther than your irons if hit correctly, although you may have some overlap in distances between your longest irons ad your shortest woods, especially with higher-numbered woods, like 9 and 11, becoming more popular today.Higher-numbered woods are also recommended for less-skilled golfers who protest that they hit all iron clubs the same distance, which is due to the fact that they are not applying adequate club head speed to exploit the difference in lengths of clubs. The built-in loft of the high-numbered fairway woods can help the newer golfer get the golf ball into the air.

Eventually you will learn the distance and within plus or minus a few yards you will be able to hit each club in the set. On the course when you see that you have a specific distance remaining to the green, you can select a club from your set with which you can hit the ball that distance. The ability to match distance to a club in your set will only be achieved after months of practice and experience. A yardage chart can also help you keep track of your distances.