Difference in brands?

[BadGolfer]

I'm looking to buy some golf clubs, but honestly I have gone to the store and tested drivers but I can't really tell any difference between them.

I tested three different $150 drivers, Taylormade Burner, Nike Something and Cleveland Monster. I hit more than 10 balls with each, and I could not really say that I prefer any of them.

Irons are all similar too, though I haven't tested them yet. Are there any tips on what brands I should look for as somewhat of a beginner? Like do Ping clubs always have a certain feature compared to Taylormade, or are they all pretty similar? I would like to get a well known brand like Callaway, Taylormade, Nike or Ping for $600 or less. Ping seem to be the most affordable, but does that mean they are worse clubs?

Obviously I will go test before I buy, but I have little hope that hitting a couple balls will magically reveal which clubs would be best for me, so it would be nice to figure out beforehand which clubs SHOULD be better for me.

One last thing, I was thinking about buying a used Burner 07 because it came in a draw version and I have a terrible slice. Does that sound like a good purchase?

[WUTiger]

...One last thing, I was thinking about buying a used Burner 07 because it came in a draw version and

Since you call yourself a

beginner of sorts , take a lesson and get the slice corrected. The slice will hold you back from real progress in your game, and a draw driver won't cure it.

[BadGolfer]

I would but I'm afraid to pay fifty freaking dollars for only half an hour and have it not work. If I knew I could take a couple lessons and my slice would go away, I would do it. There is no guarantee it would actually work though, and then I would be out a lot of money (for me). Lessons are soooo expensive.

[golfro]

I would but I'm afraid to pay fifty freaking dollars for only half an hour and have it not work. If I knew I could take a couple lessons and my slice would go away, I would do it. There is no guarantee it would actually work though, and then I would be out a lot of money (for me). Lessons are soooo expensive.

but spending 150$ on a draw biased driver and you expect THAT to work? You're slicing because of yoru swing, not because of your driver.

Lessons > Driver

[bwdial]

I would but I'm afraid to pay fifty freaking dollars for only half an hour and have it not work. If I knew I could take a couple lessons and my slice would go away, I would do it. There is no guarantee it would actually work though, and then I would be out a lot of money (for me). Lessons are soooo expensive.

So are clubs.

When I started playing, I had an old set of crappy blades and a poor weight transfer, but I managed to convince myself that it was the clubs. They were blades, so they were "hard to hit" (according to Golf Digest). I went out and spent several hundred dollars (in 1993) on new clubs, and guess what? I hit my new irons fat, too. You need to get the swing sorted out first. Once that's done, then you can be fitted based on a semi-reliable swing. You could drop a bunch of money on a "draw" driver to "cure" your slice and then take a lesson that cures your slice. Then you'll be hooking every tee shot, and trying to compensate with distance and accuracy sapping moves.

[BadGolfer]

But at the end, if it doesn't cure my slice I still have a new driver.... wheras if lessons don't work I'm left with nothing.

I'm just afraid of shelling out $50 and not getting anything out of it. Believe me, I want to cure my slice more than anything. My irons are really fine, it's just my drives that slice. I'm just REALLY skeptical of a half hour lesson actually working. It seems like they would be the kind of business to want to work slowly and keep you coming back for more. And suddenly you have dropped $300 on lessons.

EDIT: Ok, I'm pretty convinced I won't buy a draw version since if I do cure my slice I would not want to be held back by my driver design.

[Wheels309]

Look into a series of lessons. Two summers ago I was having a hard time getting ready for my High School season due to playing summer baseball. I took a series of 4 lessons and paid 100 dollars for the series. Granted the lessons were not from a top notch pro in the area but I picked up little things from him that helped me convert between to two swings much more efficiently.

[Zack]

Regardless of what you do, I would stay away from a draw driver. You may not take lessons, but if you keep slicing the ball, you can try to correct what you are doing. The draw driver will just mask a poor golf swing.

[clubchamp]

Thus why you research and ask around about teaching pro's I'm sure you would find a lot of feed back. Buying a draw driver won't do anything for your slice but $50 could get rid of your slice. There's always good deals on clubs but you won't be able to hit them unless you get your swing corrected. If you really think that if you spend the $150 at least you have a new driver but what good does that do if you can't hit it?

[WUTiger]

... Lessons are soooo

And so are the golf balls you slice into the deep forest and the lake. If you could save two balls a round by controlling your slice, that would quickly cover the cost of the lesson.

[3 wiggle]

But at the end, if it doesn't cure my slice I still have a new driver.... wheras if lessons don't work I'm left with nothing.

I dont want to be rude but your sporting a 30hdcp. It doesnt get much worse than where you are now. You have asked for an opinion and several great players have offered you solid advice. My i suggest you listen?

[Shanks A Million]

Draw biased drivers do nothing. They may cut a little off of a severe slice, but other than that, they do nothing. Golf clubs are golf clubs, and while some may be more forgiving, if you don't have any proper fundimentals, then you're going to suck no matter what club is in your hand. We all went through the phase of, "oh, it must be the clubs, I'll go get new ones." Well, we all also wasted hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars on clubs that might as well have been turds on sticks.

Whether it's lessons, or just filming your swing, you always want to fix the swing first, and then think about new clubs when they are what hold you back. I finally broke down and got new clubs when it was clear that I was being held back by not being properly fitted. Now I'm properly fitted, the only reason to change clubs is if one breaks, my fit changes, or if something comes along that's noticeably better.

[BadGolfer]

I have no clue what my handicap is, I just threw a number on there because it said I had to.

I understand they are offering me advice to take the lesson but that doesn't change the fact that it is my money and I am unsure of whether it would work. I'm not ruling anything out, I am just struggling to decide because it is a big decision.

My driver right now is almost unusable because it basically imploded over the past year from a dent in the top (due to an improper swing when I just started, fixed that now). I switched to my woods for driving but I have such cheap clubs that both of them actually broke on me. A new driver is not a frivolous purchase.

[Clambake]

But at the end, if it doesn't cure my slice I still have a new driver....

In a way, you do understand it....one half hour lesson won't cure anything. I pretty much guarantee you'll spend $50 and not get anything out of it. And lessons by themself do not "work" or "not work" - it is the student that determines if they'll work or not. If you're willing to put in some time and a little money on lessons and practice balls you'll find significant improvement from your current playing ability. You currently seem to have the attitude of seeking a quick fix, either a single lesson or a new club, but that's the wrong attitude in this game. How old are you? If you're at all young (which to me is under 30) you'll look forward to a long lifetime of golf. A small investment now to play the game better will pay off for literally decades. If you polled many of the "older" folks like me and asked what is the one thing in our golf experience that we would do differently, I will bet you significant $$$ that the answer would be "I wish I would have taken lessons when I was younger". Back to your original question about a difference in brands, you're actually lucky that you don't distinguish much difference between the different brands. That's great as it opens up your options a lot and makes it much more economical - you can get the cheapest clubs you feel OK with and not feel swept up in the feeling that you're compromising the feel for money. And I have a suggestion - once you decide on what you like, go find them used. Then take the money you saved and spend it on some lessons and practice. In a few years you'll be a much better golfer and will enjoy the game a lot more, and you won't have been fiscally hammered to get there.

[Vinny Cap]

BadGolfer, I will share with you what I went through as I am new to golf as well and was slicing them into the woods 9 of 10 times.

I only played on a course like 5 times all my life, played a lil pitch n putt here and there and went to the driving range with buddies to hit balls. That was about it. That was a 15 year span or so. Well I have gotten into golf this year and started with my dads old 1970 Wilson's. Real woods and blade irons from 2-PW. I was horrible with them. I decided to get some new gear as the equipment has changed very much in 40 years. I was looking at a set of Wilson anti slice clubs. A whole kit. I almost bought them 3 times but on the 4th I met a cool sales guy who spent some time with me. I let him know I was new, what I was hitting and how much I wanted to spend. I picked out 4 sets in my price range, I figured $500 on a set to try out golf is decent and I should be able to get something nice, not top of the line, but good for me to play with while I figure if I like it and learn to play.

He taped up the bottoms so we wouldn't scuff the clubs and I asked what he was doing and after he told me, I asked if we could mask the names so I wouldn't know when I was hitting the Wilson's. I was leaning towards them and almost bought 3 times. He said good idea and I hit driver, 3h, 5, 7 & PW. We stacked on the wall in order of what felt best and hit best and the Wilson's were dead last for every club. Glad I didn't buy them.

So now I got new clubs and I still had a slice, not as bad but it was still there. I practiced and practiced and it would get better and then it would get worse. Back and forth. What to do? I was looking around for an instructor to take a few lessons but I have a vertical swing, much different than most teach and use so I look carefully at the instructor while he is teaching someone else to check out his methods and then have spoken to some and I haven't found someone I am comfortable with so I am still looking. So as a quick fix I took the driver out of the bag for a while because I can hit my 3w straight 9 of 10 times. Problem on hold, not solved.

What I did do is go back through the basics. Grip, stance, alignment and swing elements and thoughts. Well guess what? I found out what I was doing wrong and have worked to correct it and my driver is back in my bag. No, I am not at 9 of 10 straight but 5 for 5 is progress. I still have my 3w if the driver becomes questionable. Video helps if you have the gear. I have multiple DV camcorders so I have gone through the clubs while taping behind and from the side. This helped me a lot. I found my shoulder rotation was not right for that club causing me to try to compensate with my forearms and I could never catch up and was hitting open and they were going in the woods. With the correct rotation I had the club in the right spot at the top of my back swing and that makes the club come down and hit the ball square. I do practice a lot and that is required if you want to get good at anything. I belong to a range with all grass tees, pitching area with greens and a bunker, and some huge multi hole putting greens. This is what you need to get better. It has helped me. I am there a lot. I have not hit a course yet this year. Plan to before the end of the summer to see how all my practice pays off.

Sorry for the long rant, I was in your shoes and wanted to share. Hope I was able to help you out a little or at east give you some things to think about and look at/into.

[dmnoland]

Lessons are worth it! They are the best investment in yourself and your enjoyment of the game you can make. I try to budget at least one a month. Just look at what has happened to Tiger since Hank left the scene. I , like you used to slice everything. Well my teacher simply had me drop my right foot way back after setting up and TADA! No slice!!!!! Now after many, many, many practice rounds I have brought that right foot back to normal and still hit with a nice little draw. Now you might be inclined to think that, great, one lesson and I'm cured but what you will find is that you are actually excited to get back to your teacher/coach and build upon last time. Remember, most touring pros have teachers. So will you if your serious about your game.

[chilly]

Buy a Callaway FT-5 or Taylormade 2007 Burner for $60 used, and spend the rest on lessons...then you can have a quality club, and a way to learn how to use it.

[jeffrey r]

Badgolfer, you can follow the advice in the previous post to get a quality driver like the 07 Burner for next to nothing these days. If you don't want to spend money on a lesson (which you should bit the bullet on imho), then seriously watch some tips online. Something like this is pretty good.



Look, lots of us high handicappers fight a slice. It all counts--stance, grip, etc. When I lose focus, I get sloppy and slice. Then it comes back to me to get my stance proper, get my butt out a bit, head up a bit so I can turn without hitting my shoulder, get my grip closed a bit so that I don't open the clubface up so much--and voila, my slice goes away or becomes a slight fade. I can vouch that a Draw-biased driver will flat-out not cure a slice.

Good luck.