The Basics of Buying Ladies Golf Clubs Part 1

Ladies are at a disadvantage when it comes tocase ask your club maker if he or she can offer
putting together a set of golf clubs that fits themoptions. As for club face loft, the slower your
well and from which they can get the most outswing, the higher the loft is needed. If you can
of their games. The reason is that there are feweasily get the ball in the air, a loft of 13-14
choices in normal off-the-shelf ladies golf clubs.degrees should work well for your driver. If you
With typically less than 10% of sales for a golfhave trouble getting the ball in the air, you may
club company coming from ladies golf clubs, thereneed to use a 16 degree 3 wood to get the most
are simply few choices in club styles, shaft flex,out of your swing. Other ways to help get the ball
swing weights, or lofts normally available in mosta bit higher in the air are to use an offset hosel or
golf shops. An exception to this is the excellenta more flexible shaft.
line offered by Nancy Lopez Golf Clubs. That isFairway Woods
the subject of another article, but you can easilyFairway woods are critical clubs for women or
find their web site with a simple search.men with slower golf swings. If your swing speed
In general women have slower swing speeds thanis in the 60MPH range, you should start your
men and need shorter clubs and higher loft. Therefairway woods with a 5 wood and leave out the
are of course women with better and stronger3 wood. Your other woods would then probably
swings than most men. Lorena Ochoa of theneed to be a 9 and 13 wood. The reason for
LPGA tour averages about 270 yards on her teeskipping an odd numbered wood is because you
shots. This is astonishing for a woman whowont be hitting the ball that much farther with a 5
weighs about 115 pounds! She is the top ratedwood than you will with a 7 wood, for example.
professional woman player in the world, however,In other words the gap in distance between the
and this article is meant for women with lesstwo clubs is not enough to justify carrying the
ability than the top LPGA pros possess.other club. Regarding club length, there should be
Driver Considerationsat least a one inch difference for each odd
You must know your swing speed with at least anumbered club. That is, the 7 wood should be one
driver and preferably with both driver and 5 iron.inch shorter than the 5 wood, and the 9 wood
Women who can swing the driver more than 70should be 2 inches shorter than the 5 wood, for
MPH can use titanium faced drivers effectivelyexample.
and take advantage of the spring effect off theFor women who swing 70 MPH or greater, a 3
face that such a club offers. If your driver swingwood could be a good choice, but it should have
speed is more like 60 MPH, you would have toat least a 16 degree loft in order to keep the ball
find a special titanium face, and these are notin the air longer. This group of golfers can justify
readily available. If you are that serious you willhaving every other odd number wood in their
probably be having custom ladies golf clubs madebags, such as 3, 5, 7 and 9 woods, for example.
by a certified fitter and club maker. So in that