The modern budget golfer

[clamber]

I'm getting back into golf next month, and I've set my budget at $1500. But I'm going to aim a lot lower than that and see what I can come up with.

[sean_miller]

Get a lesson if your swing needs to be more efficient. Get a new stick if your typical driver distance is < 50 yards longer than your longest iron.

I did gain extra yards with a new driver. I hit a ceiling with the technology I was using, and an upgrade paid off in my case.  Would an even newer (adjustable?) driver be even longer? Who cares?!? I only get to use my current driver about 5 or 6 times as it is now.

[LeftyTrevor]

I say to each their own. I have no limit on what I spend. Does the "new" stuff make a difference? Maybe not much. Im a " Titleist holding, new golf gear wearing, country club" guy and not all my equipment is new. When I see something I want I just go buy it. Dont think anything is wrong with either way you do it.

[sean_miller]

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[Zwick]

I don't know how a lesson in course management should give me extra yards? A lesson with a pro about posture, stance, grip etc. will help alot of course.

But new (fitted) clubs will give you some yards, course management "only" will save you some strokes (but won't add length).

[nevets88]

Oh and I forget - another cost - the annual regrip expense. That's gotta save strokes throughout a season.

[NI4NI]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

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You nailed it.

[xxsoultonesxx]

Most people on this board are golf enthusiasts. They spend money on golf clubs. Sure many of us could use a few lessons (who doesn't?). As long as I'm not screwing myself financially and can still afford to play this game that I love, who gives a wrinkled rats ass what kind of money I have in to my bag? If it makes me happy, then I pull the trigger. Sorry if I didn't grow up in the WW2 era...

[Ernest Jones]

How exactly does course management make me hit the ball further?

[domc36]

They're cheaper alternatives then buying the 400-500 dollar drivers, 500-1000 dollar iron sets etc. I started golfing seriously just last summer. I started with a beginner set that cost me about 130 dollars for the entire shabang. Driver,woods,hyrbids,irons, and a putter. I used this set the entire season last year. About a month ago I decided it was time to upgrade. I did plenty of research and found a site that had what I was looking for, for a very reasonable price. I bought a Nike Dymo Driver for 79.99, and a set of Adams Tight Lie Irons (3H,4H,5-GW), and 36 practice balls for about 279 or so. So they're cheaper alternatives out there for name brand, quality clubs.

[RayG]

The "Budget Golfer" who holds on to their old tools (Drivers, anyway) can run into at least one major problem. The Balls... Balls today are constantly adapting to the latest club designs. They take advantage of the higher swing speeds/POI's, sweet spots, etc.... If you try and hit a Pro V1 with a 10 yr old driver, you will likely lose a LOT of distance. the old clubs were meant for balls with much higher compression cores. I noticed it when I took an old favorite Driver out with my Callaway Tour ix's and it just seemed like I was hitting a Cayman Ball. A dull thunk on contact, and a lazy fly ball to center. No pop at all. and on the other hand, if you happened to have a ball from 10 yrs ago (assuming it was still up to original spec) and try and hit it with a modern driver, the same thing would happen.

[BostonSully]

I just bought a new driver for 35$.

The Callaway Big Bertha 460cc with a brand new Graffaloy ProLaunch and Callaway grip put on it. Ive never bought any new golf equipment unless it was open box or something.

Ive got the record for the amount of money ive spent on golf gear (minus rounds played) and its less than 500$ total life time.

[stealthduffer]

I just bought a whole new set of clubs last year - started with a 3 wood that my daughter "bought" me for Father's day.  In actuality she forgot so I made her come with me while I picked a new one out.  Then got a nice bonus for the year so I decided to get some new irons.  Then got another bonus for some extra effort I put in so found a nice Nike driver on sale for $150 - with a $75 gift card.  Decided to go to golf school for a week - the wife had gone to Vegas with her friends so needed a vacation.  But I hadn't bought new clubs in a looooong time so I was due and the planets all aligned monetarily.

But, in response to the poll - if I wanted some extra yardage I'd knock 20 years off my age.  Being 50 kinda sucks distance wise.

[WUTiger]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jamo...

I don't think the correct answer is in the poll. If I wanted a few more yards on my drives I'd take lessons before I bought a new driver, and especially before I learned better course management.

How about getting the swing straightened out. For amateurs, course management is largely not doing stupid things. Not sure how much a lesson would help.

As for new clubs...

I have been known to hang onto a set of irons for 8 to 20 years. Broke the mold this year: Got X20 irons in Spring 2009, and swapped them out for X20 Tours on Callaway Preowned at Christmas.

When I buy something "new," the club has undergone at least its first price break.

If something just flat doesn't work - even after lessons - I'll consider a change. Also, if last year's technology would give me a definite boost I might change. Otherwise, I learn to swing what I've got.

[Chadman]

OK maybe "course managment" was a bad example for a pole answer, i'll give you that much. But the pole still answer the Question that I was asking. That buying new clubs should be a last resort for gaining extra yardage.

Put money aside for a second, and say that you've alread purchased a brand new club because the guys at the proshop tell you that this new club will help you work the ball better and will get you 10 more yards and that it can help with this and that. Lets just say that you got it out the course and with the excitment building up you swing your new club on the first tee box and you heart sinks. Because at that very second you realize that the cub won't do all of those thing you were told because the training isn't there. Because you don't have the skill set to bring those aspects of the club out.

Now lets facter the price of the club back into the equation. OUCH!!!! You've just made a big mistake. Because if you'd spend less money on instruction and gotten the lessons and spent the time perfecting the swing, you would have found the exact results you'd been looking for to begin with. And you may have had to spend more time to accomplish this than just buying the magic club that imprves you game right outa the box. But it would have been more worth it in the long run!

Point is that just that there are better ways to spend our money these days and golf should be an exception. I'm always looking for ways to play with out paying alot of money. These are some of the lessons that i'm learning! I hope that other can learn from this too!!!

I started thinking about this when my golf buddy lost his job during the recetion and couldn't aford to get out and play the game that he loves. He could no longer be apart of the sunday foresome that went to the local course in the morning and stayed till late in the evening sharing stories and having drinks. So i set out to help him by finding ways to cut costs in what is"when you boil it down" just a game!!!!

If anyone else has any tips or tricks to squeeze in every round of golf that they can, write in. I'm sure that my buddy was not the only one thats going through this!

[King Cobra II]

I'm what one might call a "club whore" as I'm always fasinated by trying out new things and re configuring the bag with different set ups...i.e 3 vs 4 wedges, stuff like that. What I've learned is that used clubs are a solution to this. The only draw back to someone who loves the latest and greatest is the best deals usually come on clubs that are a model or so behind. Last year I wanted to add a gap wedge...I picked up a callaway X (50 degree) on ebay for $11.99, after regripping it myself it was a $20 dollar purchase. I decided a new driver was in order this spring and am a bit of a titliest guy when it comes to woods. I opted to get a used 909d2 over a 910d2 and was able to get it shipped for $120.

Now I realize $120 is almost triple $50, but its also less then a third of those new $400 drivers, maybe its the happy medium that gets us what we want at a decent price

[slabm7]

I buy used when it makes sense. I can't justify 450 for a new driver when the last year models in the Demo bin work just as well. I hit an R11 and my old L5V (Bought out of a demo bin 2 yrs ago) on a sim at Golf town a while back and I averaged 3 yrds further with the R11. Thats 150 bucks a yard! Not worth it in my opinion. But I have friends who by new irons and driver every year and the latest GPS. And they still shoot no better than they did the year before. My wife bought me a brand set of GI irons a couple years ago for our wedding and I plan on playing them until they hold back my game by not being able to work the ball or the grooves wear down. I bought my Taylormade burner 5 wood for 30 bucks out of a bin because it has come sky marks. The only clubs I will buy brand new are wedges because I use them alot and like to keep the grooves in good shape. The latest putter I am using cost me 15 bucks off Kijiji. I would rather spend 150 bucks on green fees to play a beautiful course that I normally wouldn't play then go buy a new club.

[nevets88]

I think when you first start out, you're curious about different types of clubs and manufacturers. You can buy quite a number of used sets between $100-$200 and try forged, blades, different game improvement, PING, Titleist, Mizuno, etc... Once I got a feel for what's out there, I stopped buying clubs, although I'll replace the sand wedge when the grooves wear out and if I try something that's really exceptional, I'll buy it. I have sets from Ping, Hogan, Mizuno, Titleist and Tommy Armour and their combined cost is around $700, one new set of irons retail.

With balls, grips, shoes, green fees, instruction, that's enough I want to spend on and want to leave money to be spent on other interests. A couple of test swings at the store is good enough for me. You're free to spend on whatever you want, which propels the golf industry and jobs, but you're also free to not spend.