Noobie from Tx

Hello everyone, new guy from Tx here. I recently picked up a renewed interest in golf so I'm looking for some advice. 

I spent 12 years in the Marine Corps and we used to go play golf from time to time and although I enjoyed it, I never took it overly serious so I never bought my own gear. Due to a recent career change, I find myself with a ridiculous amount of time off (I only work 6 months a year now) and I want to take it a little more seriously, take some lessons, etc. A man can only spend so much time on the lake fishing for calm and solitude, sometimes he needs a new hobby. 

My question is, where should I start with clubs for a decent starter set. I'm not against spending money at all but I expect once I figure out I need/want, I'll upgrade so no sense in spending 1500 bucks on a starter set of clubs. With all that said, what would you recommend as a good set of clubs to get started with that will work for my first couple of years?

Thanks I appreciate the feedback. I'm going to hit a few shops in the morning and see if I can find some and take a few swings. 

OK, I ended up just buying a complete set of Wilson clubs from Academy. Honestly I have no expectations of greatness for years, these are going to get banged up, beat, swung too low etc etc and I see no need to train wreck an expensive set yet. Once I get the fundamentals down to where I can hit the ball in the general direction I'm aiming and not dig a 2ft hole doing it, then I'll start looking for a nice set. 

For starters, I don't know how you can go "wrong" considering the abuse they will probably see with my frequent and spectacular goof ups. We will see how it goes :). Thanks for all the tips etc. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnwayne 

How's it going with the new clubs? 

Well I only got to play to rounds and then had to go back to work for 2 weeks, I spent most of time looking for balls since I have an absolutely epic slice with the driver. I can driver straight with the fairway wood so I just stepped down. Not a bad set to start to learn on though I believe. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Voyles 

Not sure where you are at in TX, but if you're near Carrollton, stop by Lou's golf shop. He always has good deals on used items.  1405 w frankford suite 107 carrollton, tx 75007 972-446-1418.... hap;pen to have one of the cards at my desk 

I'm east of Dallas about 90 miles but I travel a lot working so I'm sure I'll make it by there. Last night on my way back home for my 2 weeks off I passed a hellacious golf store in Austin off of I35, I may leave 2 hours early when I go back to work next month and check it out on the way there. I think the most important thing for me right now is just playing time and working on a proper swing. I'll try to get at least 10 rounds in this 2 weeks off. 

JW, I did something I didn't plan to do but it has helped a lot. I was cruising through ebay and found an R9 driver for a ridiculous price with a graffalloy red and new grip. I had no intention of buying a good club at all until I had played for a year or two and knew what I preferred or needed. I bought this while I was down south working and it was waiting on my when I got home yesterday. 

Took it out to the driving range today just to see if I could hit it better and wow what a difference. I don't know if the sweet spot is bigger or what the deal is but my distance and loft were 100 times better. With the Wilson driver I couldn't give you an average because I'd top 3 balls before I connected properly and then it might go 110 yards or 200 yards. Today I topped 2 balls out of a large bucket and the majority of them just passed 200 yards. I know that's not far BUT it was consistent and I was spending more time trying to swing correctly than just whollop the ball into the next zip code. The slice was still there but not as violent and I can work on it. I am just happy with the consistency of the driver. The cheap Wilson irons I have no complaints with, I'm far too inexperienced to be able to differentiate between a good and bad iron so I'm sticking with them for a while but I'm very happy I bought that TM driver. 

Going to play a round in the morning and see what I can do.