riverc0il

I haven't played anything over a 6I this past year. I came close to breaking 100 but still have not gotten there yet. Though that is because I always have a blow up hole or two. As noted above, you can still get 9 double bogey's and break 100! And it is important to remember that if you can hit at least one club 160ish yards, you always have the potential of making the green in regulation except on the long par 4s and 5s. Even if you only hit your longest club 125 yards, you could still get to a 500 yard green in four strokes and two putt for a bogey. Think about that for breaking 90, let alone 100!!! As I know too well though, inconsistency and missed shots hurt more than lack of distance. HOWEVER, that said, I have played irons only long enough to know that not having a 200+ yard tee shot does put me at a big disadvantage. My best shots on a par 4 or 5 might barely get me into position for a par at best though more likely a bogey. Whereas an additional 50 yards off the tee would likely put me into position for a bird at best and a par more often than not pending good putting. Lack of a long tee shot HURTS but good golf can still be played without using a driver if you are consistent. Which I am still not! :)

Rock Bottom Golf usually sells multi-sets of fairway woods or 1/3/5 combos. And you can also find some good deals on eBay. Will those heads and shafts meet your swing needs is a different story, but you can get fairway combos on the cheap brand new at those two locations for $100-150. Personally, if I had to do my first year over again, I never would have tried to hit my driver instead of making it the first club I tried to upgrade. So I would recommend going with a 3/5 fairway wood set and the bag and that is easily under $150 at RBG or eBay. You might even be able to swing a 3/5/7 set and a bag for $150 if you are patient and look around. Bottom line is it could easily be done in your price range new and definitely even more doable used.

If you are picking up the game and have no equipment, $100 for this set is a no brainer good. You'll be better off in the long run starting with something better. But if you are just picking golf up like I was a year ago, you will likely not know what is better and what is "best for you" until you start playing.

Good assessment of the XL set though I disagree that it is not a good set for beginners. It is a decent value for someone that needs everything to get started and has no clue about golf equipment (like myself a year ago) and does not have the time to invest in extensively researching which equipment to pick up on eBay on the cheap. Agree about the quality of the wood heads. My driver has a few dents (not just from bad swings, though the sky mark is definitely mine) and the 3W shaft broke at the hosel sending the head further than the ball at the range. The 4H head bent at the hosel at well, that may have been poor packing in the car though. I really like the irons and I see no reason why the set shouldn't be steel. Most beginners use steel and graphite would make it a cost prohibitive beginner set. More loft in the driver and 3W even would have been helpful... but I understand they have to market the set and beginners like myself quickly noticed that 10.5 is the highest loft of many drivers... so conclusions get drawn whether or not they are correct. I don't this set would sell well with a higher lofted driver. Finally, the bag works. Tough the stand contraption doesn't work well after less than one season. For what it is, it gets the job done and serves its purpose for two hundred. The irons are solid, the putter is good, and I have enjoyed the hybrids though am disappointed one is bent (could have been my error, maybe not, who knows). I wouldn't recommend this product for any one except the first time golfer who is unsure if they will want to keep playing and just wants to try it without doing extensive equipment research and trying to figure out the second hand market. Still need to buy a sand wedge with this set though. I think the 5000 includes a SW. Not recommended for anyone with any experience as I am quickly upgrading my set to better fit my swing and to sets with better quality components.

Bad for the game. Dress codes make golf look an exclusive snobby rich white man's sport. The dress code for most courses is decidedly "relaxed corporate America". It is a big reason why I always scoffed "Me play golf? Pssssh, not a chance in hell." Fact is, golf does not need to be expensive or exclusive (though it is at some courses and that is OKAY). But the impression that I (any many other non-golfers) get about the game is it is a snobs game for elitist and exclusive snobs that don't want Joe Average Golfer playing on their course. I see jeans on a course and I think "this is a course I want to play on!" even though I never wear jeans myself as they are uncomfortable. Golf is declining as an activity and needs new blood. I think relaxing dress code standards would go a long way to opening up the activity to new people who might other wise have had the same views I had before starting to play. I still look down on that snobby exclusive crap in the golf business. It is not what the game is about, IMO. Now more than ever, golf can decidely not be an exclusive rich person's game. I think dress codes try to keep it the way it used to be. All that said, I think private clubs can and should set the dress code for what the paying members want to see out on the course. Non-private clubs though, I don't like to see dress codes at public courses.

This happened to me last season. Dude kept on suggesting ways I could change me swing to improve. I did get one good tip on a sideways downhill lie that helped. Otherwise, I was very distracted and most of the tips made me swing worse. I wasn't out there to practice but rather to play, so it really messed with my head. When we were a full hole in front of the group behind us, I suggested my paired partner go one ahead solo. There was no one in front of us, a full hole behind us, the course was pretty empty late season, and we both played very fast (distancing a pair on a cart). He wouldn't have it. Perhaps he thought I was upset because I was playing with a better golfer. But his tips were ruining the fun of the round. I was keeping up fine but just wasn't having fun and was looking for a legit and valid reason to break up our pairing. On the other hand, I played with two other guys last season who were playing from the blues to my whites and two shots better than me on almost every hole. We had a great time together. They complimented good shots but laid off on the bad ones and offered no help. I can dig that.

As a beginner, I got the Top-Flite XL set (not the 5000) earlier this year. Same set but without a 5W and SW it seems like. Decent set but once I determined I liked the game and wanted to play seriously, I quickly outgrew some clubs in the set, needed to expand some areas that were short where I wanted more clubs, and wanted clubs that better fit me and my style of play. This set having a 5W and SW really helps but still leaves you without a LW or an AW (if you want them). The non-5000 is $200 cheaper. I always thought about getting a 5W but never really needed one. I did get a SW and LW for $40 so going with the less expensive set worked out better. I have since gotten a new driver, a new 3W (shaft broke on the one with the set), and a 3H (not in the bag). The irons and hybrids in this set are to my liking. I was disappointed the 3W broke after only a few months (cheap shaft I am guessing is the cause?). The putter works. The problem with buying a beginnger set is if you stick with the game, you'll out grow it and want better equipment pretty soon after starting out. Specifically, I wanted to get equipment that "fit" me and my swing better. So the up front investment is low but the long term investment is high because you'll eventually trade up. The benefit is that as a newbie, you have no idea what you need and want in your clubs. So you might as well by a cheap set so you can figure out how you will want to build your bag. Then again, more expensive clubs have good resale value whereas I doubt I will get $50 for the remainder of my set when I sell and upgrade. In sumation, I think the Top Flite beginner club sets offer a solid product at a good price for first time golfers looking for a first set. Particularly, I think the irons and hybrids are decent clubs that I will not need to upgrade any time soon. Though I think every golfer, even a beginner, needs a SW in their bag, I think going with the cheaper $200 version and getting a SW separate and skipping the 5W for now has its merits. You'll want to start off at the range followed by par 3 courses when you first start, and you don't even need your woods at par 3 courses. That will be less investment money up front. Though it might be a lot less hassle and a lot easier just getting the 5000 with the 3W and the SW. These beginner sets are all about convenience when you have no idea what the heck to get, so might as well just sink a one time $300 into the beginner set and not need to worry about possibly needing any additional clubs. All depends how you want to approach it.

I always thought that until I took up the game. $10 for my local par 3 course and $18 for twilights at a respectable full course and $7 for a large bucket that is more than enough to satisfy for a range session. One local 18 hole course has a season pass for $300 though most others are well under $1000 for one season. These are very respectable rates when compared to an activity like skiing in which even the middle of the road lesser known places are charging $50 per day and the top hills have mid-week rates higher than $60-70. Golf can be done cheaply. More cheaply than I would have guessed. But it still is a lot of money.

I started off with a set of beginner clubs (Top Flite XL) and have upgraded my bag to include clones, partially due to the custom fit and partially due to the price (for the record, I got a pair of wedges from Pine Meadow with TT Lite shafts for under $50 shipped versus a single used CG11 for $60 shipped without the extra 1/2 inch. The wedge heads are better quality than my beginner irons). If I had to buy my first set all over again, I would probably custom build it but would include some clones. I wish my iron set had been +1/2 inches per my size specs. But I was unsure if I wanted to play the game for sure and wanted the cheapest option. Important thing with clone clubs is upgrading the stock shaft and grip. For some clubs, it is almost as cheap to get the real McCoy rather than clone. But for some clubs, especially with the custom legnth, shaft choice, and grip choice, it can be a sensational deal. I think it is difficult to get a full set of clones with custom shafts and grips on the cheap. When you add up the prices, it might be better to go used on name brand or a really cheap beginner set knowing you will pay more down the road for upgrades. If I knew then what I know now, I would have custom built a clone bag from the get go. But I didn't have the information needed to do so even after a lot of research.

I spent a lot of days on the range before trying my first par 3 course. I kept score from the get go which was a mixed bag. The high score my first day wasn't a concern. My cool mostly birdie day after that really pumped me up. But doubling par on every hole on my third day really bummed me out. I was having a really bad day on the course last weekend. We are talking starting out with an 8 and a 7 on a par 3. I decided I was not going to keep score for the rest of the game. I would focus on improving my swing and having fun. Sure enough, birdies and pars for the next three holes and respectable beginner level golf from there on out. Had I been keeping score, I probably would have continued to get frustrated. Ideally, you keep score and don't let it phase you when you have a few bad holes. That is hard to do for a beginner. Probably hard to do for any golfer actually. But putting down the score card was really liberating. I think keeping statistics for a beginner is a good thing once you have down an alright swing and can somewhat manage a course. It helps you track your improvement and will eventually build up a handicapp once playing full courses. But it is not essential and depends upon what type of personality you have whether it will help or hurt when you are starting out. I think if you are having a bad day, just forgetting about the score card is perfectly fine for a beginner not working on developing their handicap yet.

Jack was before my time. But it seems like Tiger is on pace to potentially be much more succesful through his career if he keeps things up. Jack went the distance and Tiger is just beginning so it is too early to call.

Currently starting out so sticking to the local Par 3 which is Highlands Colony Links in Holderness, NH. White Mountain Golf Club in Ashland, NH is right down the street and will likely be my "home" course once I have progressed enough to play a full course.

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