Women's Golf Clubs

In 1997, the national golf foundation reported that women represented the fastest-growing segment of the golfing population, and that a million new women were taking up the game every year. This surge of interest women golfers have shown in the sport is reflected in the increase in the number of different brands of women’s golf clubs available and the improvements in quality of the clubs. Women golfers now have many choices when it comes to club composition, design and price. Gone are the days of trying to play with ill-fitting men’s clubs.

What A Girl Needs
And just because you don’t score as well as Annika Sorenstam or Grace Parks doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from a good set of women’s clubs. Without the right clubs, you will not have a fair assessment of your skill and enjoyment of the game. As opposed to men’s clubs, a women’s set will have woods that are often lighter to help increase swing speed. Irons tend to be lighter as well, making them easier to control. Club lengths are likely to be shorter to better fit the average woman’s height, which ranges between 5’5” and 5’9”. Some brands also come in shorter lengths for petites.

Even with a good set of women’s golf clubs, studies found that many women dropped out of the sport after just a few years. This information coincided with the discovery that the typical woman golfer, from beginner to seasoned amateur, swings much different from male golfers and even from top women professionals. The research found that the average female golfer swings 20-30 miles per hour slower.

This was important news because club design, even for women’s golf clubs had always been based on the swings and playing style of male golfers. No wonder so many women were getting frustrated with golf after only a few years and giving up on the sport. The clubs they were using we not made to optimize their playing style, even though they were women’s golf clubs. So over the past few years, the top manufacturers have been creating new clubs for women based on the research that indicated women need a club that will get the ball up in the air quicker and make it go farther.

New & Improved Clubs
What this means for club design is basically that women’s golf clubs need to have a longer shaft and a larger club head. There are many manufacturers out there making women’s clubs. Wilson, Hippo, Titleist, Golden Bear, Dunlop, Callaway and Square Two are some of the more popular brand names. But if you really want to be sure you are getting the newest technology, you will have to ask. Ping has the G2L, Callaway has the Game Enhancement System (GES) clubs, and TaylorMade has the Miscela design. The cost for a complete set will run anywhere from around $500 to over $1000.

For those women golfers who are serious about their game, the money invested for the newest technology may be well worth it. Women who have tried the clubs say they shoot better and enjoy the game more. But even if you can’t afford the new clubs or don’t feel you play enough to get your money’s worth out of them, you will want to take the time to select a woman’s golf club that fits your swing, height, build, and style of play.