First Time Buyer...The Experience (Pics Included)

[YnotMcFly]

Last night I went out and bought my very first driver.  I have noticed in the last couple weeks several posts have been made regarding first time buyers and the purchasing process, so I figured I would write a brief description of my experience.  My wife took me to golf galaxy last night to purchase my driver and I must say that the staff there was very helpful and patient as I am a beginner to the sport.  I told the gentleman that my budget was $200 or less and he went and got me every new club that fit that budget. In all I hit four clubs (Diablo Octane, Cobra S3, Nike SQ Machspeed Black, and an Older Model Burner all 10.5 Reg. Flex).  As I was hitting one club he would go and find me another.  He never pushed me to move any faster and probably would have let me hit all night long.  He even went as far as offering me tips on how to begin isolating which clubs I hit better and felt better.  I must say that I was a little nervous initially as I am very inconsistent with a driver and I now had this gentleman watching me.  But he was very positive throughout my time in the simulator and all in all it was a great experience and I was very satisfied.

The decision:

I hit the Cobra S3 the worst out of the bunch and it felt a little heavy in my hands which was a surprise because I had high hopes for this club.  In the end it just didn't feel right and I put it to the side.

The Older burner model just wasn't doing it for me at all.  I didn't hit it well and I really wasn't very confident when using the club therefore it went on the side as well

The Nike and Diablo Octane were my favorites.  I hit the Octane consistently longer than the nike, however I noticed that I was having some control issues as I was spraying the balls around a bit. The nike had a little less distance but I could put together a nice little grouping in the middle of the fairway and almost all the balls I hit were pretty straight.  In the end I liked the feel of the Nike better and I preformed more consistently with this club which in turn gave me a bit more confidence with it. This club is very forgiving and seemed to fit me the best, so my wife grabbed it from me and bought it as my first anniversary present.

The bonus was that I had just received golf galaxy coupons in the mail, which I wasn't even going to give the cashier because according to the website they should not have worked for this club. But to my surprise she scanned it and it went through. Needless to say I was really happy about how the price worked out.

Originally  $299.99

Sale price $199.99

Coupon    -$40.00

Gift Card  -$40.00

So W/Tax My wife only paid $137

I hope this can be of some help to potential buyers or people who may be intimidated by going out to a store and making their first club purchase.  Good luck to all of those who are going to be buying their first club(s) and my advice to you is take your time and hit everything you might be interested in.

And lastly because all this text is no fun without pics here it is: