The sheer variety of golf clubs you need can be overwhelming. Once you have all the clubs you need and you hit the links, how do you know which club to use for each shot? Check out this video or the following table for a quick guide to the kinds of clubs in your bag and the shots you take with them. Club What It’s For Driver Teeing off — and very occasionally hitting from a good lie in the fairway Hybrid club Getting shots of 150+ yards airborne 2- to 9-iron Hitting toward the green, usually from 120–190 yards away — use low-numbered irons for longer shots, high-numbered irons for shorter shots Wedges Hitting short, high shots from near the green or from sand bunkers Putter Rolling the ball into the hole after it’s on the green (or occasionally from just off the green) To figure out which golf club to use for a specific shot, you need to know the average distance you hit a ball with each golf club in your set.

Many people think that the most effective way to develop a consistent golf swing is to stand on the range whacking balls until you get it right. But the best way to develop a consistent golf swing is to break the swing down into pieces. Only after you have the first piece mastered should you move on to the next one.

Even if you’re new to golf, you can still look and act like you know what you’re doing. Making sure you have the right equipment in your bag and making intelligent decisions about which club to use can get you off to a great start. Offer to keep score and propose a couple of fun bets, and you can really impress your fellow golfers, no matter how long they’ve been playing the game.

Golf courses include hints about how you should play them, providing pars for each hole and tee colors in certain areas. The tee colors tell you where you should start your play, based on your skill level. Par is the number of strokes a reasonably competent player should take to play a particular hole. Knowing your pars in a golf game Every hole you play on a typical golf course will be a par-3, par-4, or par-5.

Scoring in golf allows you to easily see how you’re doing. Every course you play has a score card that tells you each hole’s length, its par, and its rating relative to the other holes. You fill in your group's scores after each hole. The score card tells you which holes to subtract handicap strokes from. The holes are rated 1 through 18 in terms of handicap (abbreviated Hcp on the score card).

Penalty shots are an unfortunate part of every golfer’s life. You may find yourself in a variety of penalty situations during a game of golf. Here are the most common ones: Out-of-bounds: When you hit your ball to a spot outside the confines of the golf course — over a boundary fence, for example. Out-of-bounds areas are usually marked with white stakes that are about 30 yards apart.

In the UK, follow these essential golf rules on the green – they’re pretty simple once you’ve got into the swing of things (sorry, the opportunity was irresistible). Rule 1: You must play the same ball from the teeing ground into the hole. Change only when the rules allow. Rule 2: You must hole out on each hole.

Penalty shots (and their effects on the score) are an unfortunate part of golf for most golfers. Scoring golf penalty shots can be confusing, so the following table helps you adjust your score and shoot on. Penalty How to Score and Continue Play Out-of-bounds Two-stroke penalty (the stroke you hit plus one penalty stroke).