Newbie to Golf

Hello everybody. I'm new to the forum and the game of golf. I used to play a bit when I was a kid, but lost interest. Well I went out with some borrowed clubs last fall and played a few rounds and absolutely fell in love with it. Now that the snow is melting, I'd like to go play a lot more after a few lessons. I'd like to buy a set of clubs, but the buying process seems a bit overwhelming. So my question is, what should I look for in a set of beginner clubs? I'm wanting to spend between $150 and $250 for just a basic set preferably with a bag. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I would never recommend a beginner set because they are made pretty cheaply and if you are serious about you will quickly outgrow them. There are lots of great deals online. For example this set just recently sold on ebay for $155 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Complete-Titleist-Golf-Clubs-Set-804OS-Irons-905T-Driver-904F-975F-15-Clubs-/311298983109?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2047675.l2557&nma;=true&si;=dlf9KSGKJhsmruBbydNaYnggMW8%253D&orig;_cvip=true&rt;=nc all brand name clubs just a couple of years old and would good for another 5-10 years if cared for properly. You really need to look around for a while, don't just jump at the first thing that catches your eye. There are also great deals on new clubs that are slightly older models. It is kind of like buying a car, you pay a heck of a premium if you want something from the current model year and used low mileage is always the best value.

If I were you, I'd look for high end brands, at clearance discounts online ... best example I could find for a top quality brand of irons for bargain price (WIlson Staff is the pro brand, much better than the Wilson brand beginner sets you see online):

http://www.budgetgolf.com/golf-clubs/#!|page|1|sf|price|sd|0|opp|30|g|2|cat|23|248|249|product|43594

I just went through this about 2 months ago. I did tons and tons of research and here is my advice.

1. Go to a golf store or take a lesson and see what size you are. Also ask them about clubs good for beginners. More than likely you are regular but if you are really tall or really short you might not be.

2. Figure out a brand or two that you like. Then find out which clubs that brand makes for beginners like yourself. I chose taylormade and ping but there are tons of good brands out there - cleveland, nike, titleist, calloway, etc. Each of these companies makes beginner clubs.

3. Start pricing those brands new online and used on ebay. Figure out what a good price to pay for them.

What I did? I bought a new set of taylormade burner 2.0 irons at dicks for $299. Then I bought my putter, hybrid, driver, and 5w off ebay- all were ping G15. Total was around $450 for everything. I could have gotten those same irons used for $150-200 off ebay and saved $100 but I wanted new irons. You can see my clubs in my signature. So I spent $450 total for my set and bag. If you only want to spend $200 just get a driver, 3 hybrid, 7 iron, 9 iron, PW, and putter and then add from there. You can easily find those clubs on ebay for $25 a piece - name brand -2-3 seasons used.

Why didnt I just buy a $200 beginner set? I know myself and knew that I would have wanted to upgrade after playing them 1 time. Now Ive been out 10 times with my clubs and do not think I will need an upgrade for several seasons.

And one more thing the guy that gave me lessons told me - get a higher loft on your driver. Standard is 9 or 10.5. He said get higher and then once Im better determine if I need lower. I found a 12 degree loft driver and so far so good.

I bought a beginner set with bag and all when I started about four years ago. Here's my experience with them Irons: terrific, forgiving, durable and I used them till I regularly was playing bogey golf or better Driver/Woods/hybrids: not so much, used them for the first few months then bought used name brand driver/woods/hybrids which performed much much better. Putter: eh, not too shabby, used it for the first couple summers then bought a new one Bag: flimsy, wore it out after the first year Overall: wasn't a bad decision for me. It was an initial investment of 130 bucks at dicks and I more than got my money's worth out of them. Of course the big difference between you and me was I wasn't sure at the time if I would like the game so a small investment made sense then. You already love the game so it might make sense to forego the beginners set and go with a more customized approach .

Some of the really inexpensive woods are made of Aluminum, and though they look the part, cannot perform like the most basic Titanium head, and typically come with shafts that are more in line with a plastic shaft rather than high tensile carbon fiber. If you cannot find specifications for your proposed set online, consider another choice.

Sink the bulk of your money into the irons - they're the most important part of your set. If you can hit your irons, you can play golf and enjoy being on the course.

I'd avoid the bigger name brands. With a tight budget, your money will go much further by concentrating on quality, alone, rather than the brands that are the most high-profile.

For the irons, take a good look at Tour Edge. Great clubs, but because they choose to not pay PGA Tour players squillions of dollars to play them on tour, the company is not too well known outside of the golf world.

Irons like these: http://www.touredge.com/products/maxd45irons.asp

Don't worry about the prices you see at the Tour Edge website, though, because the street price is far lower. In fact, if you look up "golfvortex" on ebay, you'll have found Tour Edge's factory shop, where you can buy some of their clubs at very low prices. http://www.ebay.com/sch/golfvortex/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

Note: I'm in no way affiliated with Tour Edge or their golfvortex shop; I just happen to play Tour Edge clubs and have bought from their ebay store, and think you will struggle to find better value with the budget you have available.

Pick up a used, recent model driver with a higher loft, 10.5 or something like that. Don't spend much of your budget on a driver - people worry about drivers far too much and the used club market seems to be awash with them. I just saw a Cleveland Classic 10.5 in decent shape with an hour to go on the ebay auction, currently for only $25. It'll probably go up a bit in the final few minutes, but such things can even be had at the buy it now price for only $45. You'll be able to find a bargain on a used driver - something that cost a silly amount of money, new, two years ago, now "last year's model" and up for grabs, cheap.

Don't spend much on a putter, either. It' important to find one that gives you some confidence - but that needn't equate to spending money. Look for mallet putters on ebay or used in the pro shop or what-have-you. Again, "off brands" will serve your budget better. Oddly enough, a putter is something you might just find in the barrel at Goodwill for $5 and just needs a grip putting on it (I have one such putter, acquired under those very circumstances).

Similar advice goes for wedges. I've got a 56 degree Tour Edge in my bag right now I picked up for $20 or something like that (and that was the new price). Nice club. Look around for cheap, used wedges and get them regripped if needs be.

And get a bag for $40 from Wallymart or similar. No point spending much of your budget on a bag.

It takes a bit of time and work, but I reckon you could put a nice set together for the budget you have in mind. Either way, with the budget you have, it will serve you better and you'll have better clubs, as opposed to sinking your money into one of those "complete sets" that come in a cardboard box from Costco or similar.

www.3balls.com and www.globalgolf.com are both great places to find top notch clubs for dirt cheap. I have had experience from both sites and wasn't let down.

Thank you all for the responses. I really appreciate it. I wound up getting a used set of Wilson irons from a relative. They're in pretty good shape and fit my hands well. I bought a new Ping driver with a 460cc head on clearance for only $70 and an Odessy putter for about the same price. And I found a cheap golf bag online. So I've got myself a serviceable set of clubs that will do for now. Now I'm trying to find somewhere to take a few lessons.

Good deal. Sounds like you did well. Have fun.