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Players that can control the backspin on their iron shots have a better chance of landing their balls on the green.

accommodate this need to hit a variety of shots throughout the course. A PGA-approved golf bag consists of 14 clubs, which usually breaks down as follows: • Three woods consisting of a driver, 3-wood, and 5-wood • Eight irons consisting of a 3-iron through 9-iron • One putter and two other clubs of the player’s choice (usually a sand wedge and an approach wedge) Any player understands that a driver will hit the ball much farther than a 9-iron. Let’s explore the science behind how that works. One look at a driver reveals a relatively straight clubface, which means that when the ball strikes this area, it will come off at a low launch angle, but with high impact velocity. This means the ball is likely to travel quite far down the fairway, but with minimal altitude. Meanwhile, the 9-iron is designed with a much higher loft angle on the clubface. The typical 9-iron features a loft angle of around 41 degrees, as opposed to the driver, which is usually around 10 degrees.

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