JoeMal

I just bought an XTD driver for 60 and a 4H for 30 on eBay brand new. Both from same seller and he discounted shipping. Pretty good if you ask me!

Thanks everyone. The pictures were all from a decent way away so no close ups to really see details. And he aligned the clubs such a way that the two areas mentioned were hidden I did clean up one of the clubs and they look much better. I will clean the rest tonight

Here's one he didn't disclose either. 4 iron. Nice gouge in the middle of the club face. Should have known better buying from a new user on eBay. He did include pictures but did a slick job hiding the defects. Think this will hit negatively? [IMG]http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t232/jomal206/20150813_220937_zps1czshcib.jpg[/IMG]

I'm a business analyst for the city I live in. Work 10 minutes from home and don't have to get on the highway which a lot of people don't get to say in Dallas

Should I use something between the club and hammer to act as a buffer? I guess I'm afraid to make it worse than it is

Hey there. Looks like a nice bag to begin with. I'm a newbie too and just getting started. Lots of knowledgeable people here. Welcome

Really? What's the best way to do that? Or just literally hammer it directly on the bump? The seller did offer to reimburse me for the club if u wanted to keep it

I bought a set of G10 irons on eBay. There's some damage to the 8 iron that wasn't disclosed in the listing and I'm unsure if it will impact the play-ability of the club. I did know it had the big gouge at the bottom, and I specifically asked if the damage crossed into the club face also. Seller said no. However, upon visual inspection, it seems there's a small hump where it looks like the club deformed. It's close to the heel, so I'm not sure how much will really impact my hits. Unsure if I should send these back over this or not. Thoughts?

Congrats OP! Keep it up

As a beginner myself, I hear this touted over and over again. Yet I've gone to three different 'big box' golf stores and haven't received any of the treatment above. Maybe I need to specifically ask for it. But in all cases, I'm telling them what I want to hit instead of them using their "experience" and "knowledge" to help me. YMMV OP And WUTiger, I'm certainly not discounting what you said as I'm sure there are good experiences to be had at local golf stores. I just haven't found one myself.

Thank you for the tips on equipment to look at. I am planning on spending some quality time with putters to see what I like. The driver choices are massive so it's nice to hear Ping has a good model.

If you have to ask... You probably already know the answer!

My dad plays G5s and really likes them. I went to 3 separate stores looking at clubs and Ping "G" clubs were recommended at all. I think they will be a good forgiving beginner club and also allow me to grow into them. Looking forward to hitting with them

Well I had a moment of weakness today on eBay Got a set of Ping G10 +1" yellow dot for ~$150 shipped (4-PW). The price seemed pretty good so I went for it. Ping will adjust the lie angle if yellow doesn't work for me for $30 total which is very fair IMO. I took my first lesson tonight and learned a lot. My trainer recommends hitting on a lie board once I get a solid swing down as my swing will change a lot through training. At that point I can look into getting the lie angle adjusted. But for now I've got some decent clubs to hit. Now onto a driver, wood, and putter...thanks everyone for your help

I've got a line on Ping ISI-K irons 3-SW that are +1" for $175. It's about an hour drive for me though. Would these be a good deal? Price seems a little high to me

Cool story :)

I'm looking for my first set of clubs to get me started golfing. I'm 6'6" and it's not always easy to find +1 clubs on the shelf at my local stores to try. There's a nice set of i3 osize clubs online I've thought about picking up as they are +1" white dot which is what PING suggests I need on their website I think the standard i3 are a blade which wouldn't be good for me but does the osize tell me they're game improvement?

OP; as a newbie as well I also find myself inundated with information out there. When I'm hitting golf balls, it's very easy to overthink it and you spend so much time worrying about each little mechanic that they all fall apart. Jack of all trades, master of none if you will. If I slow down and relax, I almost immediately notice a difference in my game.

Thanks also to mvmac for the information.

I didn't specifically ask for a fitting so maybe that's what I need to do next time

Oh...yeah that email I didn't read...... You couldn't have given me this guy?

I did not make my avatar. I logged in tonight and this avatar was on my account but I did not upload it. I have no idea who those people are. Is that normal? How did someone else assign an avatar to my account?

Well I had a very underwhelming experience at a PGA Superstore today. I went around 6:45pm; they were pretty slow. Walked up to the practice area and there were 2 guys behind the counter. Told them I was new to golf, a beginner, and wanted to try out some clubs to see what I hit well. A younger guy walked me over to the Ping booth and handed me a standard length, blue dot, G30 club. Keep in mind I'm 6'6". He also brought me a Callaway club...X something maybe...He activated my session and walked away. My first 5 or 10 swings honestly weren't bad with the Ping. The Callaway I didn't hit very well. Then I started going downhill from there...a lot of slicing and a lot of topping. My session ended and I had to go find the youngster to reset my session. I also asked if I could get a longer club. He put the blue dot head on a +1" shaft, reset my session, and walked away. I honestly didn't do any better with the +1 than I did with the standard length shaft. I know I need lessons...I'm just inconsistent. I would hit about 1 decent shot out of 10. The 9 bad ones were topped or a 50 yard slice using a 7 iron. My good shots were 120-50 yard, nice and straight. An older gentleman walked by and I asked that he change my clubhead to a white dot as this is what Ping 'fitted' me as on their website. He told me it wouldn't make any difference in my results, but he'd be happy to swap the head out (you could tell he hated his life). But you know what? He was mostly right. I noticed that I did much better when I swung SLOW. Slow backswing, slow downswing got me the best result. So slow that it almost felt awkward to swing that slow. But when I would look at my club speed on the "slow" swings where I hit nice 120+ shots, I still had a 70-80MPH swing. Unsure if that's fast or not, but it seemed fast to me considering I felt like I was swinging slow. When I would swing what felt like noticeably faster, it still wasn't much faster according to the machine. It was weird. All the experienced customers (the guys hitting 300 yard line drives) had a PGA rep in their booth the entire time they were there. And these were just walk up customers. I did see one 15ish year old kid getting lessons, but the other guys came in after I did and got personal attention. I was "the new guy" and everyone seriously acted like I wasn't even there. I had to inconvenience the staff to reset my machine and change my club head at my request. Nobody asked me if I wanted help or if I wanted to try any other clubs. So I hit balls for about an hour by myself and left. They did have 2 sets of Ping Eyes and 1 set of Eye 2s on the used shelf for under $100 (at least I assume the $79 price tag was for the whole set...) but I didn't feel like going through the hassle to ask someone about them or if I could try them on the machine. There are a few other golf stores around me that I'm going to try. Feeling somewhat dejected, both by my performance and by how I was treated. I really just need to get some lessons but feel I need my own clubs for that...is that the right way to think? Or lessons first then clubs? My only fear is what will I use in my lessons? Standard length stuff? Anyway...it's a start I guess

Thanks for the great information. I'm not sure I'm ready to post my swing just yet but maybe after a few lessons and I gain some technique.

Well they both are +1, but maroon is 4.5* where white is 3* I'm guessing the white may be more accurate since I measured myself at lunch and may not have done a very good job..