Beginner Buying New Clubs

[Miits]

Hi all,

I am relatively new to the game - starting playing in September 2018.

I have been playing with a borrowed set of Mizuno MX 200 irons and have now had to give them back. Given my relatively low standard I am sure I wasn't getting anywhere near the full benefit from the clubs - a lot of thin and fat shots going on. 

I now need to get a set of my own clubs but am on a bit of a budget - maybe about £250 (yes I am in the UK).  For this amount I can find new package sets of Macgregor CG2000, Fazer CTR20 or Wilson Ultra XLS (although the later is £50 more than I was hoping to spend).  Other than Wilson, I haven't heard of any of these brands so just wondering if I should be looking elsewhere like second hand - although I don't know much about clubs so not sure I am best placed to buy second hand.

I would plan to make use of these for maybe 3/5 years and then upgrade.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Vinsk]

2 hours ago, Miits said:

Hi all,

I am relatively new to the game - starting playing in September 2018.

I have been playing with a borrowed set of Mizuno MX 200 irons and have now had to give them back. Given my relatively low standard I am sure I wasn't getting anywhere near the full benefit from the clubs - a lot of thin and fat shots going on. 

I now need to get a set of my own clubs but am on a bit of a budget - maybe about £250 (yes I am in the UK).  For this amount I can find new package sets of Macgregor CG2000, Fazer CTR20 or Wilson Ultra XLS (although the later is £50 more than I was hoping to spend).  Other than Wilson, I haven't heard of any of these brands so just wondering if I should be looking elsewhere like second hand - although I don't know much about clubs so not sure I am best placed to buy second hand.

I would plan to make use of these for maybe 3/5 years and then upgrade.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated.

Thanks.

 

I would definitely recommend used quality irons over those ‘boxed sets.’ There are plenty of good deals out there. You’ll find a top brand set of irons for close to the brand new box type. It would be very beneficial to have a fitting to get an idea what will suit you best.

[boogielicious]

2 hours ago, Miits said:

Hi all,

I am relatively new to the game - starting playing in September 2018.

I have been playing with a borrowed set of Mizuno MX 200 irons and have now had to give them back. Given my relatively low standard I am sure I wasn't getting anywhere near the full benefit from the clubs - a lot of thin and fat shots going on. 

I now need to get a set of my own clubs but am on a bit of a budget - maybe about £250 (yes I am in the UK).  For this amount I can find new package sets of Macgregor CG2000, Fazer CTR20 or Wilson Ultra XLS (although the later is £50 more than I was hoping to spend).  Other than Wilson, I haven't heard of any of these brands so just wondering if I should be looking elsewhere like second hand - although I don't know much about clubs so not sure I am best placed to buy second hand.

I would plan to make use of these for maybe 3/5 years and then upgrade.

Any thoughts/advice appreciated.

Thanks.

 

I agree with @Vinsk. Beginner box sets are usually not that good and have no resale value. Many bigger golf shops will have a used iron section. I would check them out. Hit as many as you can too.

[SPJr]

I will be in the minority here, but I began with a box set and I would highly recommend that anyone beginning to play golf do the same.

I don't disagree with anything that they will tell you to the contrary, but I can tell you that I would do the exact same thing over again.

You may not like it because you have played with premium clubs already, but I wouldn't knock it until you try it.

I have said this on this site before, and I will say it again. Building a set of clubs is not a good idea for a beginner golfer. I bought many a club that didn't fit my game or bag (shaft flex, loft spacing, etc) before I figured things out. I wish I could have that money back.

I started with a Wilson Profile set. CLICK HERE to see it on amazon for only $185.99.

As far as the quality of the set: Yeah it's not Titleist or Callaway, but it gets the job done. I used it for a season, then upgraded. Then I passed the set on to my cousin who has used the set going on two seasons now. He is an avid golfer, who competes on his high school team. They are holding up to a lot of golf and he has been able to grow his game with them.

Best of luck.

I'm also going to leave these two videos here....

 

Edited March 4, 2019 by SPJr

[ChetlovesMer]

1 minute ago, SPJr said:

I will be in the minority here, but I began with a box set and I would highly recommend that anyone beginning to play golf do the same.

I don't disagree with anything that they will tell you to the contrary, but I can tell you that I would do the exact same thing over again.

You may not like it because you have played with premium clubs already, but I wouldn't knock it until you try it.

I started with a Wilson Profile set. CLICK HERE to see it on amazon for only $185.99.

As far as the quality of the set: Yeah it's not Titleist or Callaway, but it gets the job done. I used it for a season, then upgraded. Then I passed the set on to my cousin who has used the set going on two seasons now. He is an avid golfer, who competes on his high school team. They are holding up to a lot of golf and he has been able to grow his game with them.

Best of luck.

I'm also going to leave these two videos here....

 

I'm with you. Back in the early 90's I started out with a "Knight Centari" boxed set. Like 100 bucks for everything including the bag. Knight still makes boxed sets under $150. 

[Don2]

Regardless of the brand or style of clubs that you eventually select I would really encourage you to get a club fitting. There is such variance in player height, arm length, posture, stance, etc. that no one club can fit any player equally well. When I had my first set of PING's and they were fitted to me by a PGA pro it made a big difference in my game with the new set!  Don2

[Adam C]

Going to go against some people on here, but unless you are under 5ft8 or over 6ft2, I say do the boxed set. You are wasting everyones time especially your own by trying to fit an inconsistent swing. You would need at least a consistent miss before you look at fitting. 

While I agree that a good used set is better quality than what comes in the boxed set, you are going to have a difficult time putting together a full decent set with bag for close to the price of the box.

Get the boxed set, work with it for a while and then you can start switching out pieces as your swing comes together and you figure out what works for your swing.

Good luck.

[Miits]

Thank you all for your comments - all of which are really useful.

I will drop by my local golf shop (American Golf) and check out both the used section and the above mentioned boxed sets  -and try to hit with as many clubs as possible before deciding.

Just out of interest, of the three box sets I mentioned (Macgregor CG2000, Fazer CTR20 or Wilson Ultra XLS), has anyone heard of these (even just the brands) and have a recommendation?

[SPJr]

5 hours ago, Miits said:

Thank you all for your comments - all of which are really useful.

I will drop by my local golf shop (American Golf) and check out both the used section and the above mentioned boxed sets  -and try to hit with as many clubs as possible before deciding.

Just out of interest, of the three box sets I mentioned (Macgregor CG2000, Fazer CTR20 or Wilson Ultra XLS), has anyone heard of these (even just the brands) and have a recommendation?

Like I said above, I was more than happy with my WILSON box set. 

[chilepepper]

Buy inexpensive, used or boxed. Put some money into lessons. Get a repeatable swing, then get fitted.

[Adam C]

MacGregor has been in the golf business for decades, although I don't know who owns the brand at this point. Would be surprised if it was not a subsidiary of some other sporting company. Wilson of course is a well know brand. Not sure who Fazer is. 

That being said, probably not a big difference between any of them. Would just look at the price and set make up (what clubs are in the set up) and pick from those two criteria.

[klineka]

3 minutes ago, chilepepper said:

Put some money into lessons. Get a repeatable swing, then get fitted.

Good chances are @Miits already has a repeatable swing even if he's never had a lesson.

 

[tinker]

7 hours ago, Miits said:

Thank you all for your comments - all of which are really useful.

I will drop by my local golf shop (American Golf) and check out both the used section and the above mentioned boxed sets  -and try to hit with as many clubs as possible before deciding.

Just out of interest, of the three box sets I mentioned (Macgregor CG2000, Fazer CTR20 or Wilson Ultra XLS), has anyone heard of these (even just the brands) and have a recommendation?

 

Macgregor and Wilson are two of the most iconic names in golf

[RayG]

On 3/4/2019 at 1:45 PM, SPJr said:

I will be in the minority here, but I began with a box set and I would highly recommend that anyone beginning to play golf do the same.

I don't disagree with anything that they will tell you to the contrary, but I can tell you that I would do the exact same thing over again.

You may not like it because you have played with premium clubs already, but I wouldn't knock it until you try it.

I have said this on this site before, and I will say it again. Building a set of clubs is not a good idea for a beginner golfer. I bought many a club that didn't fit my game or bag (shaft flex, loft spacing, etc) before I figured things out. I wish I could have that money back.

I started with a Wilson Profile set. CLICK HERE to see it on amazon for only $185.99.

As far as the quality of the set: Yeah it's not Titleist or Callaway, but it gets the job done. I used it for a season, then upgraded. Then I passed the set on to my cousin who has used the set going on two seasons now. He is an avid golfer, who competes on his high school team. They are holding up to a lot of golf and he has been able to grow his game with them.

Best of luck.

I'm also going to leave these two videos here....

 

I thought the same thing I was going to post up if I didn't see it in the thread.

Oh, and if your budget is 200-250 Euros or pounds (whatever it is with this brexit thing), You can get a pretty decent Starter Box set- The 70 pound mark was a point he was trying to make about having fun at any price. 

Edited March 6, 2019 by RayG

[Miits]

Thanks all - after all the comments I went for the boxed Macgregor set.

I figure this will work for me for a few years and I can go from there - had a hit with them in the shop before buying them and they felt good.

[SPJr]

On 3/12/2019 at 8:49 AM, Miits said:

Thanks all - after all the comments I went for the boxed Macgregor set.

I figure this will work for me for a few years and I can go from there - had a hit with them in the shop before buying them and they felt good.

Best of luck. I think you made the right choice.

For future on-lookers with similar questions, here is another interesting video on the topic discussed above.