Clubs for teenage beginner

[The Flush]

My 14 year old lefty son has out grown his US Kids Golf set and needs a new set.  He is really just starting to grow and is now about 5' 5" and 135 pounds.  I am 6' 1", but I think he may end up being shorter than me.  He swings hard enough to have snapped the heads off some of his old clubs.  He is relatively athletic and plays baseball, soccer and kicks on the football team.  If he was done growing or was on the HS golf team, I would consider spending more money and get him fitted for a higher quality set.  But since he really just plays a few times a year for the fun of it, I need to keep to a budget of around $200 for now.  I am looking for advice on what specific brands and models to consider given his circumstances.  I am willing to look at used clubs.  Are there good sites to look at for used clubs other than ebay?  There is a good local club fitter that I will check with to see if he has any trade-ins for sale.

Are the Callaway Strata 12 piece sets that are $189 on Amazon junk or will they last a few years without the heads coming off? There is a guy an hour away that has a brand new set of these offered on Facebook Marketplace for $125.  Are they worth it at that price?

Another FB Marketplace offer is a used set of Lynx Blackcat XC12 Left handed with a Warrior driver and 3 wood and a bag for $162. Are these significantly better than the Strata clubs?

What else should I be looking at given my budget?

[Vinny Cap]

Opinions may be different but in general Callaway makes good golf gear so that option looks good as your son will get everything he needs to play those 5 -6 rounds a year.  Nice bag, D, 3w, 5h and irons down to putter.If the guy near you has a decent set, the $125 looks good and you might even get him down a bit from there.... that will give you more $$$ in your pocket to pay for the green fees.

As for Lynx, they were a big name way back when Freddy Couples had a good back!  LOL!  Looks ok but you don't really need 2 drivers and 2 3woods... that's if the set is complete or did he break/lose the original D & 3w.

Another option is Craigslist for your local area.

I say show him the Callaways and see what he says.  If he likes, go for a drive and make your boy smile!  Love to make my boy smile!!  (He's 12 and has 2 nice setups)

[The Flush]

The Lynx set includes D, 3W, 5W, 3H, 4H, 5H, 6I, 7I, 8I, 9I, PW, SW, and Putter plus the Warrior D and 3W. Includes a bag and couple dozen golf balls. In pictures the the clubs to be in good condition.  I assume these were made when Lynx was owned by Golfsmith, but before Dicks/Golf Galaxy bought Golfsmith.  The seller is responsive to questions and appears eager to sell. If this is what my son wants, I might make an offer of $100.

The only concern with the Strata set is fews reviews that talk about heads breaking off.  Overall they get good reviews.  The seller of this set has not responded to my request for him to verify which clubs are included.  I would probably offer him $100 as well.

How does the quality of Strata clubs compare with Topflite clubs.  Doesn't Callaway make both of them?

Craigslist is hit or miss, but I do have a search saved for left handed clubs.  My biggest problem is that I live 1.5 hours from the bigger cities that will have the most postings.  I have to factor the drive into the cost of any CL purchase.

 

 

[Vinny Cap]

It looks like the Linx set might be the winner here.  Has your son looked at the sets?  Get some input from him.

It stinks the stores are so far away from you.  CL can be a crap shoot but you ask for tons of pics and talk before ever going to meet.

Good luck! 

[The Flush]

Without showing him the clubs I am looking at, I ask my son if he preferred a used, but more complete (and possibly better quality) set or a new less complete set.  He prefers a new set, which means he would prefer the Strata over the Lynx.  It just so happens that his cousin that he plays with just got a new 16 piece Strata set.  I think that I can't go wrong with getting him the Strata set, so I will make an offer on this one set.

 

I am still interested in other options in case this set is no longer available.

[The Flush]

The guy selling the new Strata clubs accepted my offer of $100 for the set.  I can't lose at that price. I hope to go pick them up this weekend.  This will be a Christmas present for my son, so he won't get to see them for a few weeks.  

[iacas]

Glad you were able to get something set up for him.

[Buckeyebowman]

I do find confusing all the references to heads snapping off! I've played golf for 50 years now and have never had that happen! Even back when I was young and strong. It makes me wonder how golf clubs are manufactured these days!

[Pretzel]

When I was younger I had a junior Callaway XJ set (the blue one, it looks like it's still sold today) with the bore-through shafts on the irons. I had them until I was about 12 or so, but in that time I had two clubheads separate on the irons that needed to be repaired. My cousin used the set after me and had the same problem with one of the irons again and the "3-wood" from the set as well. My cousin and I weren't some freaks of nature that hit the ball really hard and when it happened to me it happened on solid shots, not some shots I had really chunked badly. I also watched it happen when his 3-wood gave out, and it happened on a slightly thin shot for him, so something about the fitment between the hosel and the shaft on those clubs was definitely off.

That said, I have poor luck when it comes to clubheads/shafts coming unglued when I use them, so it could be that my swing has been hard on them in some unknown way for a while now. I've had the epoxy holding a driver shaft together (Bi-Matrix shaft) fail, had my driver come unglued twice, had those junior clubheads go flying, and most recently sent a 9-iron head about 100 yards down the fairway last spring when it came apart at impact. Take what I have to say with whatever dosage of salt you deem appropriate as a result of my history with epoxy.

I would definitely steer clear of that specific set - the Callaway XJ - but the Strata sets are pretty durable. We have several sets of them at my golf course that are used and VERY heavily abused as rental sets and the only time I saw them break was when a guy got angry on the first tee and tomahawked it into the ground, which was definitely not the club's fault. I've seen all manner of golfers do their worst to the Strata sets and haven't had them come back broken yet, so you shouldn't have to worry about them breaking.