Over the years, the name Callaway has become analogous to the term Golf. It’s hardly surprising, given the fact that Callaway Golf is the best known brand for golf equipment recognized worldwide. This American company manufactures primarily golf equipment: golf clubs and golf balls. Over time, their market ventures included sports apparel, footwear, timepieces and watches and various assortments of accessories. The Odyssey brand, Top Flite brand and the Ben Hogan brand are also owned by Callaway Golf.

No one could ever forget how Mr. Ely achieved iconic status, or rather his first masterpiece the “Big Bertha”. He was then a retired Burlington Industries Textile President with a big idea. The big idea was a cheap wooden driver inspiration which used to make his design which would later be realized as the Big Bertha. After having acquired the services of Richard C. Helmstetter who was also a brilliant billiard cue designer, the Big Bertha was made. A marvel club at that time that showcase a 190cc steel club head that can hit the furthest and can hit even with minimal skill. The Big Bertha completely revamped the existing golf clubs and set new standards for golf.

With a highly successful Product, Callaway Golf became public on the New York Stock Exchange.

Callaway Golf did brilliant publicity stunts too, to further its image line. For example when Bill Gates featured in the tongue-in-cheek commercial endorsement for the Callaway Golf Clubs, it was received with quite a reception. And Bill Gates isn’t that great in golf (with a notoriously high handicap). Other celebrities and distinguished personalities with remarkable golfing feats also contributed Callaway Golf in to becoming a household name, such as Alice Cooper and Celine Dion. Even Pro Golfers like Arnold Palmer and Gary Player are considered image line enhancements when Callaway Golf obtained the rights for their playing equipment.

While other emerging successes of the Callaway Golf product line like Fusion Fairway Woods, Wide Sole Irons, X-18 Irons, and several golf balls particularly the HX Series golf balls did garner some successes, the Big Bertha still remains the flagship for Callaway Golf. The Big Bertha Line already has several technology touches on the design feature. The latest is the Fusion FT-3 Driver which won several matches already; Phil in his 2006 Masters Victory and Annika Sorenstam who used endorsed Callaway FT-3 Driver to several recent championship victories.

The most notable feature of the Big Bertha is the shortened design of the traditional hosel length by several inches, allowing some weight to be shifted nearer the club head. This allows more weighty punch on the golf ball, multiplying power to an otherwise moderate swing. This highly marketable innovation was dubbed S2H2 (Short, Straight, Hollow, Hosel).

Ok. Here are the basics. A golf club has three parts - the head, the shaft and the grip. A standard set of golf clubs consists of three woods (the Driver, #3, and #5 fairway woods), eight irons (#3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, and PW), and a putter - that’s twelve clubs in all. According to the rules of golf, and we should all play by the rules, you can carry fourteen clubs in your bag, so many golfers add a specialty wood or another iron.

Now, let’s have a look at the different types of clubs.

Drivers & Fairway woods
These clubs are used to hit longer shots. That’s a basic yet apt way to look at it. If a golf hole is a par four or five from tee to green, most golfers would choose to use a wood.

The driver, or the 1 Wood, has the lowest loft of any golf club. Loft is the angle of the club face that controls trajectory and affects distance. A driver has a loft between 7 and 12 degrees. Better golfers have traditionally favored drivers with less than 10 degrees of loft, which require a lot more skill to hit.

Most golfers also carry a #3 and #5 fairway wood as part of their arsenal. A #3 wood has a loft of 15 degrees, and a #5 wood has a loft of 18 degrees. The higher the golf club number, the higher the loft. The #3 and #5 wood are commonly referred to as fairway woods, because they are most often used during the second shot of play, when you are supposed to be on the fairway.

Hybrids
Hybrids are a recent innovation to golf. A hybrid is a combination of an iron and a wood and is an easier to hit alternative to a long iron. Hybrids are versatile enough to be used in any situation. Hybrids come in a range of four lofts - 16 (#2), 19 (#3), 22 (#4) and 25 (#5) Degrees. Hybrids replace their equivalent number long iron, e.g. a #3 hybrid will replace a #3 iron and a #2 hybrid can be used to replace a #5 fairway wood.

Irons
Irons are generally used for shorter distances and more control than drivers and fairway woods. The closer you are to the green, the higher the iron you will use. A standard set of irons consists of #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8 and #9 and the PITCHING WEDGE (PW). A sandwedge is generally a good option to purchase for shots out of sand traps. The #3 and #4 irons are harder to hit than the higher numbered irons. Many golfers choose to replace the #3 and #4 iron with higher lofted woods or hybrids which are easier to hit than traditional long irons, resulting in comparable distances.

Wedges
Wedges are really just specialty irons. The first wedge is the Pitching Wedge (PW), which is usually between 52 and 56 degrees in loft. The PW is the highest lofted iron in a standard set and lowest loft of the wedges. Lob wedges range from 58 to 64 degrees and are used for close range short and high shots to overcome obstacles close to the green. Wedges are extremely useful for your short game and it is beneficial to keep a selection of them in your bag.

Sand Wedges are another type of wedge and are designed to get you out of the dreaded sand traps. They have a shorter shaft and a more angled face to get under the ball in order to exit a bunker.

Putters
As the adage goes “Drive for show, Putt for dough”. The putter usually gets you in the hole, so it can be assumed, that choosing the right putter is critical to your game. Putters come in various styles and types.: short, belly, long, bent, center-hosel, heel-toe, mallet, and so on. When choosing a putter the main things to consider are the: weighting, balance and feel. Better putters provide alignment aids to help you visualize the line from your ball to the target.

Amateurs and golfers wish to hone their skills by practicing on a driving range. The market today has specialized accessories for this kind of use that is, on a practice range or a tee. A driving range is a tee separate from the main golf course and is generally used for practice or a short game. These driving ranges may or may not be a part of a bigger golf course. Nowadays, many houses and offices have their own driving ranges where one can practice to one’s heart content and according to one’s free time. Also there are paid driving ranges that charge golfers on a per hour basis and/or require them to become members of the same.

When practicing at such driving ranges, special driving range golf balls need to be rented and used. These driving ranges have hard surface and therefore, the balls to be used here have to be in accordance with it. With the burgeoning number of driving ranges in the last two decades, specialized golf equipment, especially for the driving range has made its appearance. The most prominent among them are driving range golf balls. The other equipment essentially remains the same.

These golf balls are specifically manufactured for use on a driving range and differ on various counts from the usual golf ball used on a course. Golf balls made for driving ranges feature very hard covers so that they won’t be easily cut or damaged. Practice range balls also feature a distinctive coloring so as to distinguish them from the other normal balls to be used on a golf course. Range balls often have a black or red stripe going around them and are easily identified. Furthermore, driving range balls may also refer to used balls that are used for practice on a driving range.

Mark Twain once said, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” Perhaps he would have felt differently about the game if he had had his own powered golf cart to zip him along the golf course. In Twain’s day, golf courses were typically built on compact parcels of land, and they were often less than 6,000 yards long. Today’s golf courses are much different; with courses that sprawl over hundreds of acres (often weaving in and out of rows of homes), and course lengths that are approaching 8,000 yards in some cases. If Twain had been asked to describe the modern game he might have been more apt to say golf is “a really, really long walk.”

With golf courses becoming increasingly difficult to walk, and with many courses insisting that golfers rent a powered golf cart, it is no wonder that more and more golfers are purchasing their own golf carts. This is particularly true in golf course communities where members often live near their home course. Owning your own golf cart not only allows you to avoid the recurring charges of golf cart rental fees (although some clubs charge a trail access fee for those using their own golf carts), it also allows golfers to personalize their golf transportation to suit their tastes and needs. Various color schemes, heaters, air conditions, refrigerators, and even radio and television options are available to customize your golf cart. Luxury golf carts are very popular, and a quick search on the Internet can lead you to dealers who specialize in golf carts that have more features than many full size automobiles.

But just like full size cars, not everyone is interested in a golf cart that has all the bells, whistles, and the price tag of a full sized car. Many golf cart consumers are interested in basic golf course transportation at a reduced cost, and there are certainly many options available for them. While basic golf carts are sold by golf cart dealers, there are avenues that provide the consumer with the opportunity to purchase a used golf cart for a significant discount.

Golf courses frequently purchase new fleets of golf carts every few years. Consequently, there is always a steady supply of used golf carts on the market. While many of these golf carts are sold to dealers who specialize in used and refurbished golf carts, you may be able to make a purchase directly from the golf course as well. Internet auctions are also another great method of finding a golf cart at a bargain price. As always, a search on the World Wide Web is a great place to start your search for the golf cart that is right for you, your game, and your budget. Whether you opt for the reliability of an electric golf cart, or the power and range of a gasoline powered golf cart, purchasing a golf cart will add an entirely new dimension to your enjoyment of the game of golf.

There are so many different styles and makes of clubs nowadays that it can be hard to know where to begin. The most important factor is not if these are the best golf irons on the market, but if they are the best golf irons for you.

You see you need to choose the club to suit your skill level and your particular preferences, if you have elbow trouble you may want to get a club with a graphite shaft and a polymer or rubber insert in the head to reduce the transmission of the impact with the ball, but other people may be horrified by that selection.

There are three main factors you should take into account in your club selection, the club head design, the shaft type and the shaft flex. Combined together these will form the ‘personality’ of your club and directly affect the quality of your game. Let’s look at each in turn:

Club head design

The club head is the most important part of the club, after all that is what makes contact with the ball! There are three distinct styles of head, the oversized head, the midsize head and the traditional blade style head. You can think of these pretty much as beginner, intermediate and advanced heads.

When you are just starting off then you may want to try an oversized head, these are purposely built with deep cavity-back designs to give a bit of forgiveness if you don’t hit the ball right. They also have a lower centre of gravity which enables you to get the ball into the air easier.

Midsize heads are a compromise, they still have a slightly over accentuated cavity-back design which gives forgiveness and a wider sweetspot, but are not as deep or wide as the oversized head.

The blade head is the true golf club with a shallow cavity which enables you to work the ball more and get it to do what you want, but it is also the least forgiving if you hit the ball wrong.

Shaft type

The two main types of shaft are steel or graphite. Steel shafts make for a club with a heavier feel, and they don’t have as many options for shaft flex, but are the most durable. Graphite shafts are a lot easier to get the flex you want with, but are not as durable and don’t give that heavy feel some people like.

The best way to choose is to go and try out variations of both and see which you like so you can find the one with the best ‘feel’ to it for your playing style.

Shaft flex

The shaft flex affects the balls trajectory and is linked to how fast you swing your club. As you swing your club you will get a certain amount of bend, so choosing the right stiffness of shaft ensures that the club is at the optimal shape when it connects with the ball.

Typically if you swing at 105mph + you need extra stiff, 90 - 105 then you need a stiff, 80 - 95 would be regular, 70 - 85 would be senior rating and less than 70 would be ladies rating.

You can either go out with a golf instructor and get them to suggest what type of shaft flex you need, or borrow some different clubs from the golf shop at the course and see which one suits your swing style better.

The key to choosing the best golf irons is to test, seeing figures and result on paper is not enough to choose something so important to your game, get out there and try the different types and you will find your ideal clubs in no time.

In golf, apparel is always a big factor. And although you can wear any shirt while playing your game, it is advisable to wear a shirt specifically designed for playing golf. There are golf shirts available made of materials especially designed for playing golf.

Basically, a golf shirt is a T-shaped shirt with collar, with a slit below the collar, two to three buttons down the slit. Both sides of the shirt bottom also have slits. This golf shirt may also have an optional pocket. You’ll usually find these shirts made of cotton.

Golf shirts are available at any golf apparel dealer or any golf merchandise dealer; most of them offer golf shirts of different materials, colors, styles, and sizes. Golf shirts are also available by different brand names; various manufacturers and manufacturing areas like China, India, UK, U.S., Malaysia, and many others are investing in golf shirts for men and women.

If you want a personalized golf shirt, you can avail yourself of embroidered or woven shirts in novelty and apparel shops specializing in personalized golf shirts. You can have your shirt designed with an embroidered name, club logo, etc.

Tips to Find the Best Golf Shirt for You

If you’re new at golfing, you might just want to complement your golfing gear and equipment with the right golf apparel – and that includes a golf shirt. Finding the right golf shirt will require a little research, too, just like your equipment and gear.

Be sure to find out what among the many golf shirts available best suit you. Consider your body chemistry. Are you the person who perspires easily? What colors do you feel comfortable in? Ask your apparel shops about what type of material and styles will best suit a specific body type and body chemistry. Also, try on as many shirts as possible before deciding which styles suit you best. Make sure you are comfortable and that the shirt won’t affect your swings during the game.

Information on the Internet and golf apparel magazines will help you decide what kind of shirt you need. These sources mostly offer information about a shirt’s material, style, design, color, etc. Information on brands and their quality is also available.

When playing golf, you and your golf clubs become partners and together you play the game. Golf clubs are made for gender, height, skill level and aesthetic preferences. It’s not necessary to buy the best to begin but you should purchase a set of clubs for your skill level and your purpose. If you’re only going to play a couple of times a week you might not want or need a set of clubs that a daily player might want. Sets of golf clubs range from under a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. The resale value of women’s golf clubs is pretty good so you can start with a fairly inexpensive set and work your way up to the better ones.

I’m going to review three sets of ladies golf clubs that I have used and really like. All three of these companies make good golf clubs and I highly recommend any of them as a great set to last you until you are able to break 100 on your local golf course. After that, it would be my suggestion to check with a golf pro to get advice on what clubs would be best suited to your needs. At that point, you should demo the clubs either at your course or in a golf equipment store. Shop for the best price as the deals are unending.

The Affinity Crossfire set of Ladies clubs includes all graphite shafts, woods, mid and long iron hybrid, 7 thru sand wedge irons, putter, stand bag with plenty of storage options and matching head-covers. This set is Affinity’s entry level complete lady’s Combo. It also comes with a one-year from time of purchase warranty. This set sells for under $200. Here’s an overview:

Affordable way to get everything you need to start golfing

Forged 425cc driver, #3 and #5 low-profile stainless steel woods

Over-sized 6 to PW mid and short irons

Deluxe stand bag with matching head-covers.

The Wilson Hope LX Complete Set. Here’s my favorite and was my first set. I still play with them today and they have served me well. This set is built using premium components and the very best game improvement technology, the Hope LX set is distinguished by precise stainless-steel iron-head casting, which allows for an extremely deep cavity, wide sole, and top line. This makes for easier and more solid ball contact and you will enjoy better flight and more distance. Special Premium Wrap Grips utilize a layer of shock absorbing foam for great feel and improved control. This set is for women who take the game seriously and want to play well. This set of clubs will help you do exactly that. This set sells for under $400. Here’s an overview:

18 piece women’s club set with full range of woods, hybrids, and irons

Cold-forged, titanium matrix 400cc driver with huge sweet spot

3 and 5 woods; 21- and 25-degree hybrids with wide seep soles

Graphite-shafted 6, 7, 8, and 9 irons, pitching wedge, and sand wedge

Includes alignment putter, 3 head covers and lightweight cart bag

Lady Fairway HSL Golf Set for Women. The Lady Fairway HSL line offers a complete set of golf clubs designed specifically for women. Lady Fairway offers custom fit options for each type of player. Shaft lengths from petite to standard to tall. These clubs provide stability, forgiveness and distance. An over-sized mallet style putter features prominent sight lines for easy and accurate alignment with a non-glare finish. Woods, hybrids and irons have premium Apollo graphite shafts for dynamic launch performance for higher shots. This is an easy playing all hybrid set and will help your game whether breaking 100 or not. This set sells for under $700. Here’s an overview:

Easy to Play all Hybrid Set

15 degree 460cc Titanium Driver- 3 and 5 Fairway Woods

3 wood-like hybrids 4,5 and 6-5 iron-like hybrids 7,8,9,PW,SW

Graphite Shafts-Head-covers for Woods and Hybrids

These are just three of what I consider to be good complete sets of golf clubs and highly recommend them. Any of these three are a great place to start. Pick your tools for the game and get started and good luck.

Choosing a golf glove is like choosing a pair of shoes. If you choose a poor quality pair of shoes that don’t fit right, you are not at your best. This is also true of golf gloves. A glove doesn’t have to be expensive but does need to be of good quality and fit properly. Wearing a golf glove provides the proper grip on the golf club and allows you to complete a swing without your hand slipping and sending the ball off into a different direction and adding needless strokes to your game. I have tried gloves from a few different manufacturers but have found two of them who are consistent with their quality and fit. I’m sure there are many more but I would like to share these two with you.

This glove was designed by a leading orthopedic hand surgeon. The Bionic Women’s Golf Glove improves comfort, control, grip and overall performance. Anatomical relief pads even out the surface of your hand. You don’t have to strangle the club to feel in control. The lighter-yet-snugger grip will prevent the clubface from twisting on contact. This glove is made of soft Cabretta leather and is machine washable, air dry.

Lady Fairway Tan-Thru Half Length Golf Glove comes in half length allowing for for a perfect fit no matter your finger nail length and also in a full finger length. The nice feature of this golf glove is they allow the sun to tan your hand naturally. The flex-fit of the nylon mesh construction gives a comfortable and adjustable fit.

Whatever glove you choose, make sure it’s comfortable on your hand, grips the club well and doesn’t slide when swinging.

For more articles like this, please visit my website at http://femalegolf.info

Glow in the Dark Night Golf is great for playing on the course or for practicing in one’s backyard. So, now you don’t need to interrupt your game solely because it’s getting dark. In fact, you can keep playing all night. Glow in the Dark Night Golf is also great for people who have a busy schedule and find it hard to fit their golfing time into the same. With Glow in the Dark Night Golf, you can choose to play whenever you have free time and the best thing of all about playing golf at night is that you get to avoid the crowds and heat.

Night Glow Golf is huge with mini golf players and regular golfers alike, because the glow in the dark golf balls are professional night golf balls which are designed for everything from gentle putting to long distance drives. These balls enable golf courses to accommodate more twilight golfers. Besides, if glow in the dark equipment, balls included, is made use of, night tournaments can be easily promoted and hosted. Albeit being a late entrant in the market, these balls have become quite popular, especially with those golfers who play their golf in the evenings and often have to usually suspend their last rounds due to lack of light.

Quite contrary to popular conception, these balls are not toys but are like any other professional golf ball, the only difference being that they glow in the dark. (These golf balls need to be used with glow sticks that make the ball glow.) With its rising popularity and demand many new technological advancements such as, center-core, 90- compression and two piece make have been witnessed in the sphere thereby, adding to the features of these balls. One of the major manufacturers of glow in the dark golf balls is GlowBall.

Walk into any golf shop and you will be greeted with the sight of dozens of different kinds of golf clubs. From drivers, to fairway woods, irons, wedges, and putters, there are literally thousands of potential combinations of golf clubs available, and all of them are expensive. Anyone considering new golf equipment, whether they are an experienced player or raw beginner, should give thought to used golf clubs.

Used golf clubs present many advantages to the golfer aside from the most obvious advantage of being less expensive. The biggest advantage presented by used golf clubs is the way they hold their initial value much better than their new counterparts. They say that a new car becomes much less valuable the moment you drive it off the lot, and golf clubs are no different. A new set of golf clubs loses a significant percentage of its value the moment you play your first round with them. Used golf clubs, on the other hand, do not suffer from that same symptom.

Like used cars and the Blue Book, there are Internet value guides that list the value of used golf clubs. After purchasing used golf clubs, the value of the clubs won’t depreciate much, if at all, after you go play a few rounds with them. As every golfer knows, the only way to know if you really like a set of clubs is to go play with them in an actual round. A golfer who has purchased a set of used golf clubs has the luxury of knowing that after a few rounds of play, if they do not like the used golf clubs they have purchased they can sell them and expect most, if not all, of their investment in return. This allows the golfer to try various combinations and styles of used golf clubs until they find the right combination for them, and all without spending much more than their initial investment.

Another advantage of used golf clubs is the various upgrades that can be found on many used golf clubs. Bins of used drivers and fairways woods are often full of clubs that have the latest and greatest aftermarket shaft upgrades, and the knowledgeable golfer can find a combination that not only suits his game, but might be better than any “off the rack” options on the market.

If you are considering a new set of clubs, or thinking about taking up the game, give some consideration to used golf clubs. Pro shops, internet auction sites, and retail golf shops are all great places to look for used golf clubs. With a little bit of knowledge anyone can take advantage of the opportunities that used golf clubs present.