The Thrifty Golfer

Here in Central Ohio, there’s a faint scent of autumn in the air. Every time I mow the lawn there are a few more leaves to mulch in with the grass. The summer heat suddenly left last week and at night now the air has a definite chill to it.

Fall offers some of the best golf of the year in Columbus. You can enjoy golf in 75 degree temperatures with lower humidity than we get during the Summer. As long as you don’t lose a ball in a pile of leaves, there’s not much not to like about it. Plus you can play in the morning and watch football in the afternoon. It doesn’t get much better than that.But there’s one more good thing about autumn here in the northern states… it’s also the time of year when golf shops lower prices on merchandise to make room for new releases and to reduce inventory for the slow winter season. Depending on your location, you may find the best prices in early Summer when the real heat starts to hit, or at the beginning of winter. But here in Ohio, we are just entering bargain season.

Now I am not exactly known for my thrifty ways when it comes to buying golf equipment, but there are some ways that you can save a few bucks when you want some new sticks or other golf stuff.

You can always build your own clubs. When it comes right down to it, building clubs can mean little more than gluing on the club head and slapping on a grip. But to do it right, you need to get the swing weights consistent and if you get messy with the cement you could ruin an expensive club head. So if like me, you prefer to buy your clubs in one piece, here’s a few ways you can save some cash on clubs and more.

Number Five: Do You Really Need Spin?
How many of us play a “tour” caliber ball because we might get a little extra spin out of it around the green? Or because Tiger does? Or because it just makes us feel good to play the same ball as the pros? Do we really need to play a $4 golf ball to enjoy ourselves?

The Ball Snob in me says, “Yes! Absolutely!”

Tour balls are expensive! You can save a little money by playing, say, a Titleist NXT Tour or something.

But the realist in me knows that most of us would not give up much (and we might even improve our games) by going a little down scale.

All of the tour balls have a close relative that plays reasonably like the tour model, but without same performance characteristics that pros need (and most of us can only imagine taking advantage of). Most of us would do just fine with a $20-30/dozen ball. We might even find a little more forgiveness or distance. And what’s wrong with that?

I’m glad I got that off my chest. Now I’m going out to get some more ProV1s.

Number Four: Don’t Listen to Tina
I was listening to a podcast with Tina Mickelson the other day, and she was suggesting that you try a single lesson with two or three instructors to see who best resonates with you before you commit to taking a series of lessons with one instructor. That sounds like a great plan, but it’s going to cost you between $150 and $250 (based on the average fee around Central Ohio). Thanks Tina, but those three lessons would cost about the same as a series of five or six lessons. There are not a lot of us who can spend that much on trying out instructors (though, it’s not such a bad plan if you’ve got the jack to spare).

One way around this might be to take some group lessons from one or more of your candidate instructors. Many instructors advertise group lessons on the short game especially.

Another way to save some money on lessons is to get out of town. If you live in a city, you may save some money by going to a small town PGA pro (just make sure you go to one in a nearby farming community, rather than one in an upscale suburb).

Number Three: Do Your Homework
Buying used golf equipment can be a great way to save money. You can often find even the current year’s clubs on the used rack. Golfers are fickle folk. If something’s not working it may not be long for the bag and trading for something else that might work is a popular option for a lot of people. I’ve traded quite a few clubs myself. Sure the club may have some nicks or other blemishes, but that just saves you the pain of putting the first mark on yourself.

If you decide to trade some of your clubs, be sure that you get fair value out of them. Before you take your clubs in to trade, visit the PGA Value Guide to find out what they’re worth (you can even trade them online through the site if you choose). You can also look up the value of clubs that you are interested in, though you should expect to pay well over the trade-in value. Any time the asking price of a club is the same or lower than the trade in, it’s probably a pretty good buy.

Having an idea of what a club is worth will keep you from buying one that is overpriced. Often the same store will have some good buys and some bad buys, whether they do it intentionally to attract buyers or because they didn’t do their homework before putting a price on a club. There are bargains to be found, but you might not find them every time you’re in the store. Choose wisely when to buy.

Always be sure to check over a used club closely. Check the ferrule for any evidence of a poor reshafting. Make sure that the length of the shaft is standard or a length you can live with. And definitely check the club head for any damage that would affect play.

Finally, not all stores price their used clubs equally. The two big box superstores in my area both accept trades and have sizable used sections. One has consistently better buys than the other, but a little locally owned shop almost always makes better deals than either superstore, though their selection is limited. Depending on where you go, you may even be able to haggle to some degree.

Number Two: Bid Cautiously
Another good place to find a bargain is The Sand Trap‘s own Marketplace. To sell items in the Marketplace, forum members have to have made 25 posts, have a reputation of “5” or better, and have been a member of the forum for at least 30 days. These measures are designed to keep the shysters and scammers out. Even if you can’t find a major bargain there, you can probably find a fair price (and a better one than you might find at a golf store). I’ve purchased off the Marketplace with no issues to date.

If you can’t find what you’re after in the Marketplace, you can go to any number of golf-specific buy-sell-trade sites or to the big daddy site – eBay – where you’ll be able to find virtually anything you might want. On the golf-only sites, the people selling clubs generally know what they have and its worth. You stand a very good chance of getting a fair price, but maybe not a severe discount.

On eBay, you’re more likely to find a bargain, but you’re also more likely to get taken. Buyer beware. Use the PGA Value Guide in advance to see a club’s trade-in value. Use this as a barometer for your bidding. You don’t want to exceed this number by much. View the photos of the actual item. Be skeptical of items with no pictures or with stock photos. Check the seller’s feedback. If the seller has had buyers leave negative feedback recently or more than a few times, you may want to think twice before bidding.

I’ve only had one negative experience with eBay. A seller listed a Scotty Cameron putter as a Red X, when it was in fact a Red X2 when it arrived. I did not want the center-shafted model. Happily, the seller refunded the price and I returned the putter. No harm, no foul. But it could have easily have been a difficult situation.

There are unfortunately plenty of fake brand-name clubs out there being sold as the real thing, and some unscrupulous people who have no intention of sending the item they’ve posted. Just use your best judgment when shopping eBay or any Internet site.

Number One: Gotta Love Last Year’s Stuff!
The single best time to buy any club is when the manufacturer replaces it with a new model. Sometimes a model is only a year-old when it is supplanted by a new club. More times than not, the new model features only slight improvements (and a new paint scheme) compared to the old one.

Often, a one-model-back driver will go for about $150; compared to $300 when it came out. Irons typically drop from around $900 to about $500. Prices vary, of course, but there are some big savings out there. These clubs may have never hit a ball before, but you can still get a great deal on them.

If you’ll excuse me now, I’m going shopping.

Do you have any money-saving tips when it comes to golf and golf equipment? Post your idea in the forum.