Golf Clubs : Wood

In the sport of golf, a wood is a class of golf club designed for long-distance shots. Originally "woods" had a wooden clubhead, hence the name.

Woods generally fall into two classes, drivers and fairway woods. The longest and lowest-loft wood, the 1 wood, is called the driver. It has the longest range of any club in a golfer's bag, and with its large head and deep face is designed to hit off the tee for the first shot of long-yardage holes. The driver can also be hit from the turf, although modern deep-faced drivers require a high level of skill and a certain amount of luck regarding the "lie" of the ball to execute such a shot correctly. Some 2-woods also have a similar deep-face oversized design, used for tee shots requiring less distance than the player's average drive. Such 2-woods are also called drivers (sometimes called the "Mini Driver" to differentiate it from the 1-wood, often taken as a joking reference to Minnie Driver), but this variation is rare, as is the 2-wood itself. An older term for the 2-wood is a brassie.[1]

Higher-number woods are generally known as fairway woods and, as their name suggests, are designed for shots from off the turf of the fairway that still require long distance, such as the second shot of a par-5 or a long par-4 hole. They have two important features: a higher loft to lift the ball out of the turf and over low obstacles like hills, and a shallower face height which allows a player to hit a ball from the ground using the exact center of the club, providing greater distance for such shots. These two design features enable players to hit fairway woods off the ground with ease. Fairway woods are also useful off the tee depending on the hole; a player may for instance wish to play their tee shot short (known as "laying up") due to a dogleg or a hazard in range of their driver, and will opt instead for their 3-wood.

The most common set of clubs has three woods: a driver, 3 and 5 wood. However, there are many variations depending on the player and the course, and fairway woods of any number from 2 to 9 are produced and preferred by various players. The 7-wood in particular is common for tight lies, hilly or hazardous courses, and among ladies and seniors.