In the United States alone, there are over 23 million active golfers. In Florida alone, golf is a $7.5 billion industry.
To stand out among this enormous crowd, you’re going to need a quality set of golf clubs.
Individual skill is important, too. The clubs won’t do all the work for you. But golf clubs are constantly being tweaked and fine-tuned by their manufacturers, leading to incredible innovations in the market.
So if whether you’re a beginner just starting out, or a seasoned veteran that needs to update their bag, you need to be privy to the best golf clubs in 2018.
The Best Golf Clubs: A Guide
Below, we’ll break down the best golf clubs by category and provide a few top options.
Golf is a very jargon-heavy sport, so we’ll try to keep it beginner-friendly for you high-handicappers out there.
Best Drivers
For the novices out there, drivers are a part of the “Wood” family of golf clubs, along with Fairway Woods, though neither are made of wood these days. When buying a driver, especially as a beginner, you want to pick one that’s light, hollow and has a big club head so you can’t miss the ball. Here are your best options.
Callaway Sub Zero
This club is bad to the bone. It’s got the clubhead the size of a minivan, but with the lightness of a feather. Made from carbon, this is Callaway’s lightest and largest driver ever.
It also sports two titanium bars that run across the crown of the club to stabilize the head during mishits. This club is incredibly forgiving, making it perfect for beginners and experts alike.
TaylorMade M4
This Driver is much complex. TaylorMade wanted to simply make a club that prioritizes forgiveness, ball speed, and not much else. It has a light, small face to save weight and has contrasting curves on the faces to make mis-hits go straighter.
It’s one of the simplest and best golf clubs on the market.
Cobra King F8
A club like this could only be made by robots – literally. Cobra King utilized automated computer milling to create the titanium faces on their F8 Driver. Because of this, everything about this club was made with excruciating precision to make it lighter, faster, and more accurate.
Someone get Jon Conner on the phone because these artificially intelligent drivers are about to take over golf courses.
Fairway Woods
For the beginners out there, this class of golf clubs is used similarly to drivers but is smaller and has a shorter driving range. They can be used as drivers on shorter holes, but are more frequently used during the second shot of the hole when your ball is on – you guessed it – the fairway. Here are your best options in this category.
Callaway GBB Epic
There’s not much to be said about this club. It has exactly everything you need in fairway wood. It’s light and accurate and will take your ball where it needs to go.
It also has Callaway’s “cupface” design, a thin rim that extends out beyond the face to prevent flexing when the club makes contact with the ball.
Ping G400
If you want truly state-of-the-art technology look no further than the Ping G400. This face of this club was made with C300 maraging steel, which is the same steel used in landing gear for light aircraft.
Because of this, this club has a thinner face which gets the ball going higher and faster than you could have thought possible.
Titleist 917-F2
This is probably the best option for beginners as the F2 model is the largest of the group, making it more forgiving for golfers still finding their shot.
This club also comes in a variety of lofts, making it very customizable to your individual game.
Wedges
There are 4 types of wedges: the pitching wedge, the gap wedge, the sand wedge, and the lob wedge. All of them are designed to get the ball high in the air and to descend quickly. These clubs have the most loft and are essential for hitting good chip shots and getting yourself out of various pickles.
Here are the best wedges on the market.
Mizuno T7
This line of wedges is made with boron-infused carbon steel. This special metal allows Mizuno to design thinner faces on their wedges, allowing for increased ball distance.
Also giving the clubs a beautiful silver-white sheen, they can’t be beaten on the golf course.
Cobra King Black
While most golf club manufacturers are focused on creating the thinnest faces possible on their clubs, Cobra King actually added thickness with its Blackline of wedges because they believe it gives their clubs a better feel.
Ultimately though, this is something only you can decide for yourself, so try ’em out. You might be surprised.
Ping Glide 2.0
This line of wedges stands out among the rest because Ping claims that their faces’ have the sharpest groove edges on the market. For the rookies out there, this is important because it contributes to the ball’s spin, which is essential in certain situations.
This is one of the best golf clubs out there for the short game.
Putters
Putters should need no introduction. Someone with even the most cursory knowledge of the sport should be familiar. In most cases, this is the club that gets the ball in the hole. So it needs to be the best. Here are your options.
Bettinardi BB Series
This putter is made from soft carbon steel that features softer face milling than most putters on the market. When it comes to putters, softness is what you need, and this club has got it.
Odyssey O-Works Red
This club has a thin, stainless steel faceplate with a ton of angle “hinges” that work together to give the club a delicate, muted touch. Your ball will enter the hole with a whisper if you use this club.
Ping Sigma G
This is one of the best golf clubs in this category for beginners. The face has an overlapping groove pattern that makes your off-center shots feel dead-on accurate. You won’t find forgiveness like that anywhere else.
Ready To Golf?
With these clubs in your bag, you should be able to absolutely dominate the golf courses. It’s a lot of fun and a great way to stay physically active.
If you’re looking for other ways to stay active and healthy, check out more health & fitness articles on our website.
