Golf is played with golf clubs of various types. There are five major categories of clubs, known as woods, hybrids, irons, wedges and putters. A golfer is allowed to carry up to fourteen clubs during a round or game.

Different lengths and characteristics of ball flight are achived by using a different club for each shot. Clubs are numbered for identification with the smallest numbers indicating the lower lofts and usually longer distance (a 5 iron has less loft than a 6 iron).

Various clubs are designed with the Club_Face having differing loft (the angle between a vertical plane and the clubface when the club is at rest). It is loft that makes a golf ball leave the ground on an ascending trajectory, not an upward direction of swing: with the exception of the tee shot, the club actually hits the ball in a horizontal or slightly downward motion. The impact of the clubface compresses the ball. Grooves on the clubface impart a counterclockwise (from a parallel view of the swing) spin, known as backspin, on the ball, that when combined with the rebounding effect of the ball, give it lift. Typically, the greater the loft, the higher and shorter the resulting ball trajectory.

A typical set of clubs generally consisted of 2 Wood, 2 Wedge, a Putter, and 9 Iron, numbered 1-9. This has changed greatly in the last 25 years, as most players have opted to take 2, or even as many as 5, of the difficult-to-hit longer irons out of the bag in favor of higher lofted woods, known as fairway woods, and extra "utility" wedges. Additionally, Hybrid are become a more popular choice with players that have difficulty with some irons.