The iron is about as old as the game of golf itself; a fact which is verified by the iron's nickname the 'mashie', first recorded in Scotland as far back as 1881 - but certainly in use before this date - from the Old French term 'massue' meaning, predictably, 'club'. But modern irons bear little or no resemblance to irons of old; as soon as steel was developed and made commercially viable - around the late1850's - golf irons were being made from it.

The technology of golf has come a long, long way since then. Irons are at the forefront of the golfing technological revolution, and women's irons are given very specific attention by the larger manufacturers. It's no longer good enough - in fact it was never good enough - to take a man's iron, make it shorter, paint it pink and call it a woman's iron, and the manufacturers quickly and happily realised it. Now there are several different styles, manufacturing techniques and performances of irons available to female golfers.

The longer irons, roughly between 1- and 4- or 5-irons, are rapidly being phased out and replaced by hybrid clubs, of which there are plenty for the female golfer. There really aren't many touring professionals at the moment that still carry a 1-iron, and most of the complete golf club sets for women available on the market now begin at around a 5-iron, with two or three hybrids or perhaps a couple of fairway woods depending on the golfer's technique and preference.

Which Irons are Available for Female Golfers?

Nevada Bob's is currently stocking several ranges of women's irons. However, there is a difference between men's irons and women's irons in this respect; the longest women's iron you can currently find here (which is the same as saying 'the longest women's iron being produced by any major manufacturer') is a 4-iron. Several men's iron sets begin at a 3-iron. This is because of the different nature of men's and women's swings; men generally have a faster swing so require a stiffer shaft whereas women generally benefit from a more flexible shaft, and we'll talk about why in a moment.

Before we do, let's talk about iron design. A set of irons can be expensive, so it's important that you're as happy with how they look as you are with how they feel and handle, and the modernity, high-technology and performance of today's ladies' golf irons are reflected in their design. Golf clubs are inherently beautiful things, with long, clean lines, precision-machined curves and shiny, expensive looking surfaces. But they're quite masculine. If you're after a touch of femininity, Cleveland produces a set of irons called the CG Pink Irons, which incorporate flashes and swathes of pink into their design. The effect is subtle and avoids clichés. They include a 'Gelback' insert which is coloured pink, and will let everyone around you know that you're a serious golfer.

Even subtler, yet undeniably feminine, are the ladies' VX Combo OS irons from Benross. These too integrate pink flashes, but not so numerous or so bold. These understated clubs perform well on the course, and look great.

Black is a common colour in golf club design, because it complements the brushed aluminium and steel construction of the clubs so naturally. Metallic blues are becoming increasingly widespread too, most effectively in the Cobra Ladies' Transition irons and Mizuno's MX-900 irons.

Characteristics of Ladies' Irons

Ladies' golf irons are usually characterised by comparing them to men's irons. Women's irons are generally an inch shorter than their male counterparts, and their shafts and grips tend to be a little slimmer to allow a tighter grip. Most manufacturers build a little more lift into heads of ladies' golf clubs to compensate for a slightly slower swing.

Additionally, as we mentioned a moment ago, the shafts of women's irons are more flexible than those of men's irons. The reason for this is simple: more flex, more forgiveness. The truth is that if your game is good enough for you to be worried about the flex of your clubs, then you're probably willing to pay for a professional to assess your abilities, measure your swing, observe your ball in flight and recommend how much flex you need in your shaft, after which you might get the clubs made bespoke for you. For the rest of us, the flex of our clubs isn't really going to have a huge impact on our game. It simply suffices to know what flex is, and how it benefits those that benefit from it.

At higher levels of the game, a shaft's flex can impact the accuracy, trajectory and distance of a shot. As the club is brought down towards the ball during a swing, the clubhead moves around depending on the forces acting on it. This can interfere with the contact the club makes with the ball, sometimes hitting it askew and sending it off to the right (known as a 'fade', this usually occurs when the shaft is too stiff) or to the left (referred to as 'draw', and usual if the shaft of your cleb is too soft for your swing.). The more flex there is in your shaft, the less likely these inaccuracies are. Another advantage of a flexible club shaft is its 'whippy' quality, the way the clubhead whips through the ball lofting it quickly and smoothly into the air for a truer, further shot.