Irons are aptly named because of their metal heads. Of course, woods are now made with metal, but it was changed only recently. The features of the irons are the narrow club head and the grooved flat sides or faces. Experienced player might choose the blade style of iron or the muscle back. Where as a beginner and most recreational players will choose the cavity back style. The difference between the two is the back of the club. The cavity back looks hollow out where as the blade back will have a full back. The effect created by the two different styles is called the perimeter weighting, which is helpful to inexperienced players.

A typical set of irons start with a 3-iron and go up to the pitching wedge, which will total 8 clubs. The clubs are identified by the number (or PW) located on the sole of each club.

Each club has a greater loft and slightly shorter than the previous one. The difference in the number of yards in a shot is about 10-15 yards. The 3-iron will produce a longer shot by about 10-15 yards than the 4-iron. Also the greater the loft of the club the shots they produce will have a steeper trajectory.

The 1-iron and the 2-iron are obtained through a separate purchase. As a beginner you will not have a use for these irons. Because of the longer shaft and little loft, they can be difficult clubs for the recreational player to master. Some experts will even tell beginners and recreational players not to use the 3- or 4-iron. They recommend utility clubs or fairway woods as replacements.

Irons are categorized as long irons, midirons, and short irons. The long irons are numbered from 1 to 4-iron, the mid-iron from 5 to 7 and the short irons the 8 and the 9-irons and the pitching wedge.

For most amateurs the short irons are easier to hit than the midirons. The reason for this is the loft increases with the shorter shaft. The shorter shaft club is easier to control during the swing.

Learning your distances. You will want to know how many yards you can hit with each club. There is no right or wrong distance for a club, there is only your distance. Every person is different; so don’t expect to do the same exact number of yards with a club just because someone else does.

Irons are more appropriate most of the time to play off a tee. If you prefer you can use a tee with every iron shot so you will have better control over the shot. Most of your iron shots are from the fairway. Irons are designed with a leading edge because of the divots shots they make from the fairway. When you take a shot with an iron, you will dig up a chunk of turf; don’t worry about it; it is expected. This happens because the ball is to be struck on the downward swing.

Knowing which iron to use in the right situation will come with knowing the distance you can make with which club.