The best golf clubs you can buy

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The Insider Pick:

• The old saying in golf is: Drive for show, putt for dough. But there’s one more step in there: Iron play. Put a great set of irons in the hands of almost any golfer, and he or she can show improvement in shot making skills. The Mizuno Golf MP-5 Iron Set allows experienced players to make nearly any shot with success.

Golf can be the most exhilarating and maddening game. Your relaxing round of golf becomes anything but after you’ve shanked your third straight drive into the woods. But you can save the day by sticking that 6-iron within 3 feet on the 18th green. (Just don’t miss the putt.)

Once you begin playing golf, it’s inevitable that you’ll be hooked and want to play better. We can help you select the golf clubs that can help you improve your score.

Of course, new clubs aren't going to magically make you the best golfer ever, but once you have solidified your swing and learned how to make club selections and hit from different lies, your game will improve and having better equipment will be more important.

New clubs feature the latest technologies, delivering better accuracy and length than older clubs. If you’re confused about what each club can do, keep reading.

• Driver: The driver will carry the largest club head and the shallowest club face angle of any type of golf club (other than the putter), according to Golfweek. Drivers have long shafts and are designed to strike the ball off the tee, as the first shot of a hole, rather than off the ground. When struck properly, this club will drive the ball farther than any other club. Some holes are even too short to use a driver.
• Fairway Woods: Common fairway woods are the 3-wood and 5-wood. Woods with higher numbers have a deeper club face angle and generate more loft. (The driver also can be called a 1-wood.) A fairway wood will be used from a good lie in the fairway when you still are at least 175-200 yards from the green, according to Pinemeadow Golf.
• Hybrid Clubs: A hybrid is a newer style of club, designed to be a mixture between a wood and an iron, according to Golf-Information. Many people find hybrids easier to hit solidly than long irons, so they’ll often replace long irons in your bag. They have a greater loft than fairway woods and a smaller head, but they have a larger sweet spot than irons.
• Irons: An iron is a thin club face that delivers far more loft than woods. You’ll use an iron on an approach to the green, as the grooves in the flat club face help to generate backspin on the ball. That spin, coupled with the higher loft, give you a better chance of having the ball stop on the green, according to Global Golf. Irons run from 1- and 2-irons to 9-irons, with larger numbers representing a greater club face angle and a higher arcing shot with less distance. Because large irons are difficult to strike successfully, some sets don’t include anything larger than a 3- or 4-iron these days, substituting hybrids.
• Wedges: As Thought Co. discusses, wedges are a subset of irons and have the same shape. However, they have the shortest shafts and the most severe angle on the club face, giving you more loft and less distance. Sand wedges, pitching wedges, and lob wedges all exist, and the different types of wedges deliver different lofts and club face angles for tricky shots around the green.
• Putters: The putter is the only club you should use while on the green (hence, the term putting surface). Some people will use putters from the fringe area around the green too, but it’s not like other golf clubs, as the face is flat with no loft. Because there are so many different putter designs, we’ll discuss those another time and focus only on the other types of golf clubs here.

Read on in the slides below to learn why the Mizuno Golf MP-5 Iron Set is our top pick and why you should also consider the Callaway Men’s/Women’s Strata Set with Bag, the Ping G400 Driver, the Titleist Vokey SM6 Wedge, and the Ping G Series Hybrid.

The best golf clubs overall

Why you'll love it: Drivers receive a lot of attention, but a great set of irons, like the Mizuno Golf MP-5 Iron Set, can play a bigger role in improving your game.

Mizuno has long been one of the leading makers of blade-style irons that give experienced players the feel and control they need. The Mizuno Golf MP-5 Iron Set is the best one you can buy.

It's a complete set of irons, featuring a 3-iron through pitching wedge. The set is expensive, but it delivers the kind of performance that experienced players want.

Golf a Lot says it’s important to remember these Mizuno clubs are aimed at low handicap players, so you’ll need some experience and skill to take advantage of the features of these irons. They'll even allow you to work the ball on approach shots.

These Mizuno Golf MP-5 irons are not quite your traditional blade style of iron. They have a slightly wider back that helps to give golfers a great feel and the ability to lift the ball properly. The Hackers Paradise calls these irons a channel-back style, as they have a bit more mass than a blade style to help create stability for off-center strikes, which may help average golfers.

These irons also have a rounded edge that moves through the turf well without reducing club speed.

Those with a consistent swing will be able to take full advantage of the quality of these MP-5 irons, according to Independent Golf Reviews. However, high handicap shooters will want to look elsewhere.

Golf Assessor says you can create a variety of shots with these Mizuno irons, helping you work your way out of tough lies. But you also can create accurate approach shots with whatever trajectory you want. These clubs can do just about anything you need them to.

Pros: Full set of irons, clubs from a trusted manufacturer of irons, channel-back style of irons yields a bit more forgiveness than blade style, allows experienced players to work the ball well

Cons: Expensive set of irons, probably not a great investment for high handicap players

Buy the Mizuno Golf MP-5 Iron Set on Amazon for $999.99

The best complete set for beginners

Why you'll love it: If you’re an occasional golfer or if you’re just picking up the game, the Callaway Strata Set will give you a decent set of clubs for a great price.

There’s no question that golf can be a very expensive game. Not only do you have to pay greens fees (and for the first round at the 19th hole bar for missing your 3-foot putt for birdie on number 18), you also have to buy a lot of expensive equipment.

So if you’re just starting with golf, and you aren’t sure you’ll stick with it, you’ll love the Callaway Strata Set, which delivers all of the basics that you’ll need for a very reasonable price. This set is available in both men’s and women’s sizes, as well as in both left- and right-handed orientations.

Understand that this Callaway Strata Set has a limited number of clubs. The women’s Strata set ships with a driver, 5-wood, 5-hybrid, 7-iron, 9-iron, sand wedge, putter, and bag. The men’s Strata set includes a 3-wood instead of a 5-wood and adds a 6-iron and an 8-iron.

You easily could spend as much for one high-end putter or golf bag as you’ll spend on this entire set of clubs and bag. That alone tells you this set isn’t aimed at low handicap shooters. However, as the Golf Guide for Beginners review says, the value beginning players receive with this club set and bag is impressive.

Although the durability and quality of the clubs in the Strata set aren’t perfect, they will work nicely for the inexperienced player who doesn’t use them every day. You’ll be able to enjoy the game more with these clubs than with an old hand-me-down set, according to Laser Golf Range Finder.

The Fast Learners review likes the overall feel these clubs deliver for the novice player. You’ll receive a solid strike with these clubs, even if you can’t precisely control the ball as you can with more expensive sets of clubs.

Amazon reviewer Brett says these clubs are great for those just starting with golf. After all, why spend several hundred dollars on gear when you don’t know whether you’ll stick with the game?

Pros: Inexpensive option to receive all of the gear you’ll need to start playing, delivers a good level of quality for the price you’ll pay, clubs offer a solid ball strike, great starter set

Cons: Not the most durable clubs, includes only the basic clubs, not made for experienced players

Buy the Callaway Men’s Strata Set on Amazon for $184.97 (originally $275)

Buy the Callaway Women’s Strata Set on Amazon for $188.23

The best driver

Why you'll love it: Even if we can’t hit them consistently, we golfers love our drivers. The forgiving Ping G400 will help you get consistent while delivering excellent length.

Ping has been at the forefront of recent upgrades to drivers, leading the change from a forward center of gravity club to a rear center of gravity. The idea behind the change was to continue delivering the length that forward weighted drivers have while giving off-center swings a bit more forgiveness.

Ping’s new designs have been popular enough that many driver makers have followed its engineering change.

Ping’s latest driver, the G400, incorporates the new design with just enough engineering tweaks to make this driver a tremendous performer. The sharp-looking Ping G400 is offered in both men’s and women’s styles.

One owner, HDTV man, says the G400 delivers on its promises of tremendous length with a much more forgiving sweet spot.

The Golf WRX review likes the slightly smaller head size of the G400 versus other drivers and versus previous Ping drivers, as the smaller size allows for slightly faster clubhead speed and a more forgiving contact point.

Sometimes in a club design, the little things matter. The Ping G400 includes small raised areas on the top of the club near the face that help to reduce friction with the air and give you a little more club speed, according to Spargo Golf. Even a slight improvement in club speed can yield several more yards on your drive.

Golf a Lot says the G400 follows the recent pattern of high-quality drivers from Ping, giving you just enough improvement over its predecessors to make the G400 the new king of the hill.

The G400 isn’t cheap. So if you’re happy with your current driver, you may want to stick with it. But if you’re unhappy with your current driver – and honestly, who isn’t a lot of the time – the Ping G400 is an amazing piece of golf technology.

Pros: Delivers the length you want from the driver with a more forgiving face for mishits, includes all of the latest technological updates, comes from a well-respected driver manufacturer

Cons: Drivers are expensive and this is no exception, not hugely different from last Ping driver model

Buy the Men’s Ping G400 Max Driver on Worldwide Golf Shops for $399.99

Buy the Women’s Ping G400 Max Driver on Worldwide Golf Shops for $399.99