A golf club for effecting chip shots within sixty yards of play to the "green" is presented. The golf club includes two distinct shaft configurations and has a club head with a striking face or impact surface which gradually narrows downwardly to a rounded bottom edge to form a convex shaped structure. The club is fitted with a long shaft which forces the golfer into an upright position to create a chipping stroke similar to a normal putting stroke. The convex top surface of the golf club head has a series of seven colored parallel grooves incorporated thereon to form an optical pattern to help a golfer's eyes focus and to project a more broad-based target line-up. The angle between the line-up defined by the shaft when positioned normally as during play and a line perpendicular to the ground is six to seven degrees.

A mallet style golf club with a novel head design consists of solid materials laminated or inlaid horizontally to yield a single surface alignment aid on the surface that strikes the golf ball (the front face/face). Optional alignment markings on the top surface of the club, centered over the point on the face where there is minimal torque when the head strikes the golf ball ("sweet spot"), combine with the single surface alignment aid on the face to form a single surface two-dimensional alignment system. An inlaid or laminated line on the circumference of the mallet joins the inlaid or laminated horizontal line on the front face to form a visually perceived 360 degree, three dimensional alignment aid. The resilient nature of the solid materials used for the preferred embodiment (putter) imparts a softer "feel" to the golfer, reduces skid of the ball after the ball is struck, and produces a light-weight club, allowing the golfer to use a fuller complete stroke for each putt, thereby improving precision and accuracy from putt to putt. The sole of the club head is curved upward from the center of the head toward the heel and toe to decrease friction and resistance from contact with the grass or ground as the putter head swings away from and through the ball during the putting stroke. Lead or alloy weights may be added through a cavity to optimize the weight and balance. Milling the face improves the contact point between the face and the golf ball.

A putter head having a forward-facing striking surface, a heel, a toe, a top surface and a rearward-facing, elongated tail section. The elongated tail section has vertical side walls, into each of which is machined an elliptical track or groove along the inside surface. The elliptical tracks are spaced from each other at a width slightly less than the diameter of a golf ball, and are machined into the sidewalls at a predetermined angle of incidence such that, when viewed from directly overhead, the tracks will be perceived by the user as two parallel lines. If the user's eyes are not directly in line with the plane extending vertically from the centerline, then one of the tracks will increasingly disappear behind its respective sidewall, while the opposite track will appear to become increasingly curved, as the degree of misalignment increases. The putter thus provides a means of alignment that improves putting accuracy.

A golf club having a golf club head with an alignment line that makes the actual face angle of the golf club appear differently when the golf club is at address. The golf club head preferably has a white line at a face-crown junction which changes the appearance of the face angle while the golf club is at address. The golf club head is preferably a driver or fairway wood, and preferably has a volume of 250 cubic centimeters to 475 cubic centimeters.

A golf club with alignment indicia and method of use of the same. The golf club includes a shaft having a gripping end and a remote end. A club head is secured to the remote end of the shaft. The club head has a top and a striking face. The alignment indicia are in the form of a first straight line and a second straight line positioned in spaced apart relation on the top of the club head. The first straight line and the second straight line diverge as they approach the striking face. The first straight line is closer to the shaft than the second straight line. By selecting the first straight line or the second straight line for alignment, the striking face of the golf club is moved to an open or closed position to aid in intentional placement of the golf ball from the left or right toward a selected target.