Looking to take up golf; need advice

[NormH3]

Leave your wife and/or girlfriend now. You can always find another later on.

[bwdial]

Buy used. Down here (around Atlanta) Golfsmith and Edwin Watts have very extensive selections of used clubs. They may be a little pricier than finding something on Craigslist, but you'll be able to see a lot of different options all at one time. Everything in my bag (save for the driver, which I got for free through premium points) was bought used. Also, if there are any Play It Again Sports around you, give them a try. Sometimes they'll have decent sets at low prices because the kids working there don't know what it is.

[MacFreak]

Buy used. Down here (around Atlanta) Golfsmith and Edwin Watts have very extensive selections of used clubs. They may be a little pricier than finding something on Craigslist, but you'll be able to see a lot of different options all at one time. Everything in my bag (save for the driver, which I got for free through premium points) was bought used. Also, if there are any Play It Again Sports around you, give them a try. Sometimes they'll have decent sets at low prices because the kids working there don't know what it is.

Thank you.

Actually, there's a Play It Again Sports about 15 miles from me. I never knew it was there.

[newtogolf]

Good Luck. I just started a few weeks ago and found an instructor I like that seemed reasonably priced ($45 per 1/2 hour lesson). After first lesson he had me hitting my 7i pretty consistently about 150 yards straight which was a great improvement over my 100 yard slice I had before the lesson. My cousin donated a set of graphite Callaway X-12's to my cause until I figure out what clubs I should invest in. My friend who's been trying to get me to play for years bought me a Nike Sumo SQ driver for my birthday and I've added a few Cleveland wedges and Nike fairway woods (used from Golfsmith) along with a new putter. It's easy to get hooked on weekly trips to the store for more gear, but I'm set for now, I think.

It seems like a very challenging sport, and is completely different from my other hobby (long distance running) which I like.

[nevets88]

The best way to maintain your "means and time" would be to keep driving past the golf course. This is easily the most time consuming and expensive hobby I've ever had.

I concur, especially with the time consuming part. Golf just eats time if you want to improve and are not coordinated (speaking from own experience.)

And you live in an area that's pretty good for playing golf. It's even more time consuming and a logistic headache when you live in a big city.

[MacFreak]

Leave your wife and/or girlfriend now. You can always find another later on.

LOL!

The adventure of my first lesson is chronicled here .

I concur, especially with the time consuming part. Golf just eats time if you want to improve and are not coordinated (speaking from own experience.)

Dude, if there's one thing that you can find plenty of here with little difficulty it's golf courses. I guess there are seven or eight within a 20-mile radius of my home.