Around 22 percent of the country's 26 million adult golfers are women. That's a lot of ladies playing a game they were once locked out of -- 5.7 million to be exact. And with the likes of young wonder golfer, Michelle Wei, making an impact, more women can be expected to be seen in the years to come swinging their special ladies golf clubs on the fairways and greens you play on.
There are some distinct differences between ladies golf clubs and those men use. There have to be, of course. A woman has wider hips and more mass and weight in the chest, so her swing is going to be different. Also, women are generally weaker, so their clubs need to be lighter with heads that allow for the difference. And so on.
Here's a list of the differences you will notice (or not see, because it's hidden in the design and materials) between the clubs of the two sexes.
Ladies golf clubs:
- are made of graphite and therefore have more flex, which helps them to get more power onto the ball at impact
- will have a larger sweet spot and a lower center of gravity, to help get the ball in the air
- may be shorter by one inch or even one and a half inches, although height (only) determines the length of the shaft, not the gender of the player, so really a lady's club does not have to be shorter
- are lighter
- have smaller heads
- have less club speed
- come in feminine colors like red, gold, pastel, pink, beige and so on
- have shorter grips because a woman's hands are almost always finer and smaller than a man's
It was not always like this. Golf can be said to date from the time of Julius Caesar, when wooden branches were shaped for the clubs and only men played. And there were no women's clubs when the first woman known to have played the game, the lively, Mary Queen of Scots, played in the 1550s.
(As a side note, it's from Mary we seem to have got the name 'caddie', and in her day the magnificent course at St Andrews was built. I'm not sure if she ever played there, but if not, then no woman did until the man-only course opened to lady golfers almost 400 years later.)
Women began playing in their own golf tournaments in the UK in 1893, and in the US and Australia the following year, and with this rise in women playing it is probable that shorter and more stylish clubs were being made for them.
It is no secret that today clubs for women are a major part of all the big brand companies' inventories and sales.
Len McGrane has written extensively on ladies golf clubs and you can read more, and also some golf club reviews at his web site http://www.clubsandgreens.com
Information on Ladies Golf Clubs
