Club head

The design of the club head defines the type of club and it's general intended use. Driver, Fairway & Hybrids (sometimes referred to as rescue or utility), irons, wedges and putters.

Driver and Fairway

Usually made from a metal such as steel or titanium and sometimes with part composite carbon fibre used in the crown for example. Driver clubhead can be upto 460cc in volume. Use of light but very strong metals and composite materials enables the designers to move weight around the clubhead structure. This can result in being able to influence the shape and trajectory of the shot.

For example if weight is placed low down in the club head it can promote a higher shot. This can be used to help get the ball up and flying through the air. Weight can be moved toward the heel or hosel to promote a clubface that will close during impact (which will help those that slice).

Conversely weight can be positioned near the toe of the club to promote a more open face through impact (for those who want to reduce their tendency to hook or draw the ball).

Placing weight higher in the clubhead can produce a lower and more penetrating flight.

Many Drivers and some fairway clubs now have moveable weight technology - where the club can be adjusted easily by the golfer to change the characteristics of the club and consequently the ball flight path and trajectory.

A driver usually has less than 12 degrees of loft on the club face. The governing bodies of the game restrict the amount of "spring" that the manufacturers build into their clubs to limit the potential distance the ball will travel. Typically a Fairway club will have 13 to 24 degrees of loft.

Hybrid club

This is a club that is basically a mix of a fairway club and an iron. Ranging from around 15 to 30 degres of loft they can be used as replacements for long irons and are considered easier to get the ball in the air. The Hybrid golf club head is most likely to be made from steel.

Irons

Iron clubs are usually made from metal and some models have multi compound materials used within or attached to the club head to improve feel and reduce vibration.

There are two main forms of manufacturing of a club head - they are either cast or forged. Cast clubs tend to last longer and keep their finish better whereas forged clubs are usually softer - which means they have an advantage in that they are easier to adjust for loft and lie and some people prefer the softer feel of the ball on the club face with forged irons compared to cast irons.

There are generally three styles of clubhead design. Cavity back - where the weight is moved to the outside perimeter of the back of the club head resulting in a larger sweet spot which reduces the effect of mishitting the ball outside the sweet spot of the club face. There are also blades or bladed irons which tend to have smaller heads compared to cavity backed irons and the weight is more evenly distributed behind the clubface. These tend to be less forgiving than cavity back irons and are usually preferred by better players who practice and play very regularly. Lastly there are muscle backs. These are similar to the blade in performance but with a bulge of metal placed behind the sweet spot. Blades and muscle back club heads tend to hit the ball on a lower trajectory.

There are of course lots of variations of club head style and forged and cast manufacturing.