Woods: Originally with wooden heads and used to propel the ball for long distances from a tee or fairway. They have varying degrees of loft (angle of club face relative to vertical). Now used with titanium or composite heads.

Irons: Originally with metal heads also with varying degrees of loft.

Putter: Used to propel the ball short distances along the ground with optimum accuracy, usually on the putting green.

Various clubs are designed with the face of the club head, also called the "clubface", 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. With a few exceptions, golf clubs are labeled by a number; lower numbers denote progressively longer shaft lengths and lower clubface lofts.

While the variation of clubs can differ greatly between golfers, a set can have no more than 14 clubs and generally consists of three woods, two wedges, a putter, and eight irons (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 irons, plus a pitching wedge). Some players opt to avoid some of the more difficult-to-hit longer irons in favor of higher-lofted "fairway" woods and extra "utility" wedges. In part, this reflects a pattern of design of clubs in which club manufacturers have reduced the lofts of the irons so that they can be used from longer distances. In effect, today's 3-iron has a loft that is equivalent to a 2-iron of years ago