AT Golfers: Help a newbie!

[murphy55d]

Hi guys. Recently, myself and 2 of my friends have been going to the local golf course for fun, and I'm starting to really enjoy it. (despite the fact that I am not very good yet ) It is only a 9 hole par 3 course, but it's still a lot of fun. Anyway, I don't have any of my own clubs, so I usually end up borrowing my friends driving iron, and use the rented clubs they give you. Quite simply, they are garbage. Anyway, I was browsing fogdog and some other sites that sell clubs, and I came across this:

Text

Includes EVERYTHING... woods, irons, putter, bag, sleeve of balls, head covers, etc. Now, for someone who is just getting into golf(and we plan on going to a larger 'normal' course once we all get a little better... one of my friends has been playing for awhile, and my other friend is like me, just getting into it)..would that be a good purchase? I also plan on getting a driving iron. It says #3-SW, what EXACTLY does that contain? I assume the 3 iron through the 9 iron, plus a SW, but which is the other club? PW? Seems like a pretty good deal, but as I said, I am a bit of a newbie to this. I looked at the places around here that carry golf clubs, but they are all far too expensive(no real 'budget' complete sets, most everything is $400+), and I'm not real big on looking around for a used set.

What are your thoughts on that set... and maybe do you have another recommendation for a "COMPLETE" set at a similar or lesser price?

Really appreciate any help you guys might have.

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

Well, at first blush I'd say they're kinda crappy, but if you're just starting out and you're on a budget, I'd say they're pretty good. The only thing I'd suggest is that you shop around at places like Costco, Sam's Club, Gart Brothers, etc. and see what they have as far as complete sets. Also, wait for some more opinions...I'm not up to date enough for club shopping.

 

[murphy55d]

Originally posted by: TheBoyBlunder
Well, at first blush I'd say they're kinda crappy, but if you're just starting out and you're on a budget, I'd say they're pretty good. The only thing I'd suggest is that you shop around at places like Costco, Sam's Club, Gart Brothers, etc. and see what they have as far as complete sets. Also, wait for some more opinions...I'm not up to date enough for club shopping.

I've already been to Sam's and I wasn't impressed. I don't have a Costco or Gart brothers around here.

I also found these 2:

Text
Text2

Are either of these more crappy, or less crappy, than the first set? The Golden bear ones are $50 more, but are they a better brand? I know WHO the Golden bear is obviously but I don't know what sort of quality it may be... and I'd rather not spend $250 unless they are significantly better, and for someone of my current skill level, I'm not sure I'd take full advantage of them anyway. Would they be better long-term?

 

[DrumminBoy]

Most any "complete set" will do you fine for a few years, until you get really serious about the game. If you can get some with graphite shafts, do so, they'll be somewhat lighter, and you'll find you have a smoother swing (I did anyways). Any of those sets you're looking at should be fine.

 

[z0mb13]

Originally posted by: murphy55d
Hi guys. Recently, myself and 2 of my friends have been going to the local golf course for fun, and I'm starting to really enjoy it. (despite the fact that I am not very good yet ) It is only a 9 hole par 3 course, but it's still a lot of fun. Anyway, I don't have any of my own clubs, so I usually end up borrowing my friends driving iron, and use the rented clubs they give you. Quite simply, they are garbage. Anyway, I was browsing fogdog and some other sites that sell clubs, and I came across this:

Text

Includes EVERYTHING... woods, irons, putter, bag, sleeve of balls, head covers, etc. Now, for someone who is just getting into golf(and we plan on going to a larger 'normal' course once we all get a little better... one of my friends has been playing for awhile, and my other friend is like me, just getting into it)..would that be a good purchase? I also plan on getting a driving iron. It says #3-SW, what EXACTLY does that contain? I assume the 3 iron through the 9 iron, plus a SW, but which is the other club? PW? Seems like a pretty good deal, but as I said, I am a bit of a newbie to this. I looked at the places around here that carry golf clubs, but they are all far too expensive(no real 'budget' complete sets, most everything is $400+), and I'm not real big on looking around for a used set.

What are your thoughts on that set... and maybe do you have another recommendation for a "COMPLETE" set at a similar or lesser price?

Really appreciate any help you guys might have.

dont buy those crappy clubs... if u do, u will be stuck with them since no one else will buy them from you...

be smart and buy used clubs from ebay... I suggest getting a set of callaway irons that will cost you about 300-400 (good condition), callaway irons dont depreciate much, so in a year if youre bored with golf (or if you want to upgrade ur irons) you can always sell the irons back at ebay for the same amount. Get the callaway x14 irons (graphite shaft will cost a bit more).

usually (in America) a set of iron runs from 3-PW, which means 3-9 irons + pitchhing wedge.
3-SW simply means 3-9 + Pithcing wedge + sand wedge

for a beginner, get a set of irons (3-sw or 3-pw is fine) + one putter. I suggest to buy the putter from a retail store, since you really need to test it (there are bazillions types of putter), the price difference from retail to ebay for putters are not that great.

I dont think driver of fairway woods are a good idea for beginners, since firstly they are harder to hit that iron, and second you need to practise using the irons first anyways

go to a drviing range, and practise your mid irons first (5-sw). 3 and 4 irons are VERY hard to hit for a beginner.

The price for the set that u have seems like a good deal, however you will be stuck with that set FOREVER, since no one wll buy it from u in the future.

bags can be had from ebay for around $50 (cheap used ones)

 

[murphy55d]

z0mb, thanks for the post.

However, $400 for a set of irons is out of my price range. I simply can't afford that/can't justify it, regardless of the resale value they may have. Like I said above, I didn't really even wanna drop $250 on a whole set. Until I get better and we play more often than just on the weekends, I don't feel comfortable spending that much on clubs.

thanks for the tip on the putter- regardless of what I get, i will probably go to a local place and pick one up.

also, one more question. what club is a driving iron comparable to? what makes it different than a normal iron?

 

[hopeless879]

I'm no pro golfer or anything. But as far as my experience goes, it's not so much the clubs as it is the golfer. I actually bought most of my golf clubs from a discount grocery store (Marc's). Don't ask me what they were doing there. But they were selling all the irons for $5 a piece and $6 for woods. I said what the hell and bought a couple considering I was in the market for a new set. While not nearly the best clubs in the world, I can still beat most of my friends who have they're complete set of brand name clubs. But I'm sure if I was more serious about the game these clubs would not suit me.

 

[waylman]

Originally posted by: murphy55d
z0mb, thanks for the post.

However, $400 for a set of irons is out of my price range. I simply can't afford that/can't justify it, regardless of the resale value they may have. Like I said above, I didn't really even wanna drop $250 on a whole set. Until I get better and we play more often than just on the weekends, I don't feel comfortable spending that much on clubs.

thanks for the tip on the putter- regardless of what I get, i will probably go to a local place and pick one up.

also, one more question. what club is a driving iron comparable to? what makes it different than a normal iron?

a driving iron is a 1 or 2 iron. Stay away from these if you are a beginner!!! They are the hardest clubs to hit. What makes it different is there is practically no loft on the club, thus allowing the ball to be driven further.

If you're just starting out all you need is a 3,5,7,9,3W and putter.

 

[murphy55d]

Originally posted by: waylman

Originally posted by: murphy55d
z0mb, thanks for the post.

However, $400 for a set of irons is out of my price range. I simply can't afford that/can't justify it, regardless of the resale value they may have. Like I said above, I didn't really even wanna drop $250 on a whole set. Until I get better and we play more often than just on the weekends, I don't feel comfortable spending that much on clubs.

thanks for the tip on the putter- regardless of what I get, i will probably go to a local place and pick one up.

also, one more question. what club is a driving iron comparable to? what makes it different than a normal iron?

a driving iron is a 1 or 2 iron. Stay away from these if you are a beginner!!! They are the hardest clubs to hit. What makes it different is there is practically no loft on the club, thus allowing the ball to be driven further.

If you're just starting out all you need is a 3,5,7,9,3W and putter.

Interesting on the DI. Didn't realize that about the loft. Think I will scratch that off my list of wants.

hopeless- i think it may be more the golfer as well, which is why I was looking at those complete sets of 'off brands' or whatever, because no matter if i spend $400 on used callaway irons or $200 for everything, it still all comes down to how good i am. i'm really leaning towards that first set and then going to get myself a putter. that way once i get good enough to worry about drivers and woods, then i will at least have them. still gonna look around for some more deals, though.

any other thoughts are still welcome of course

 

[DuallyX]

Come on now boys, keep it in the Anandtech family..

 

[Izzo]

Even though the above posters were correct about drivers and long irons being hard to hit, the worst thing you can do is develop a "stigma" about a club and think that you cannot hit it well. I remember that my dad and brother always told me to hit a 5 iron instead of a 3 iron so I did. It took a lot for me to get over this habit of thinking that I couldn't hit a 3. Once I learned, the 3 iron became one of my best clubs to hit. So I used that off the tee and had this stupid fear of using my driver because I knew I would slice it. Well I finally gave up my 3 iron for tee shots and started using a driver no matter what. And I am a lot happier with the results. In retrospect, I wish people hadn't told me which clubs are hard to hit because that severely limited my game. You just have to keep practicing on the driving range with all of your clubs. You'll learn to hit all of your clubs well (hopefully )

 

[murphy55d]

Originally posted by: Dual700s
Come on now boys, keep it in the Anandtech family..

Wow. Lookin better.

Dual, do you have any experience with these? I notice these are steel irons, rather than graphite... how much of a difference is there? Seeing as how I've never used a graphite iron to begin with, does it matter? The irons in the first set I linked to are graphite. Of course, being $50 cheaper, that would leave me some room to buy a nice putter in addition to this.

Oh yeah, another thing I wondered... how much difference do balls make? Any recommendations for a beginner?

 

[vi edit]

Honestly, I don't know if you'll notice a significant difference between a $400 driver and a $40 driver. My drivers came with my starter set and are worth about $10 for the three of them. Just this weekend I was outdriving guys with $200-$400 big bertha and ping drivers with all the bells and whistles. All the big driver does is make a bad shot much worse than it should have been, and maybe give you a bit more yardage on a perfect shot. Most novice golfers won't be able to control the club and haven't perfected their swing well enough to get everything out of the club.

As for irons, stick to cavity back (open backs) and you should be fine. I started out with graphite irons but had such a high swing speed they didn't suit me well. I switched over to a used set of Ping irons with steel shafts and hit much straighter now. I gave up a smidge of distance, but the accuracy was worth it.

If anything, I'd look around some of the golf courses in the area in the used section of the pro-shops and see what they have. I bought my Ping Eye 2's (3-SW) at one for ~$240 at one.

 

[DuallyX]

Originally posted by: murphy55d

Originally posted by: Dual700s
Come on now boys, keep it in the Anandtech family..

Wow. Lookin better.

Dual, do you have any experience with these? I notice these are steel irons, rather than graphite... how much of a difference is there? Seeing as how I've never used a graphite iron to begin with, does it matter? The irons in the first set I linked to are graphite. Of course, being $50 cheaper, that would leave me some room to buy a nice putter in addition to this.

Oh yeah, another thing I wondered... how much difference do balls make? Any recommendations for a beginner?

If you are me, it makes no difference at all, because I suck either way. It really comes down to personal preference. I highly recommend visiting a local proshop, particularly one with a hitting room/range and trying different shafts out.

I can tell you that we have 1084 of the right handed sets in stock tho.

 

[Wolverine27]

I would say that set should be fine for a beginner. Although, just browsing at Fogdog, I would recommend that you look at these or these. The first set is 3-SW and 3-woods...the second set is 3-SW. Both are made by RAM which I know has been in the golf club business for a while...I've never really heard of Orbiter before (although that doesn't mean they are bad clubs).

At any rate, find yourself a decent starter set for a good price...and use the money you save on some basic lessons. The lessons will help you much more than any $400 driver or $700 set of irons will.

Good luck to you, have fun, and hit 'em straight!

-Wolverine

 

[DuallyX]

All the big driver does is make a bad shot much worse than it should have been, and maybe give you a bit more yardage on a perfect shot. Most novice golfers won't be able to control the club and haven't perfected their swing well enough to get everything out of the club.

I gave up a smidge of distance, but the accuracy was worth it.

This is pretty much it. You can learn to hit well with pretty much any set of clubs. Once you can control the ball well, then look at moving to a more expensive club to gain those extra few yards, and that extra bit of control.

First learn to shoot with the rifle, then worry about the machine gun.

 

[Ynog]

When you have graphite shafts, you have to worry about swing speed.
If you have a fast swing speed you need a stiffer shaft. I assume the
orginal sets has a regular shaft, which probably would be good.
But there is nothing wrong with steel. Tiger uses steel irons.

I have swung graphite shafts and steel shafts. There was no difference.
Also graphite shafts are more expensive the steel.

As for a beginner golfer, balls will make no difference, any cheap ball will do.
Whatever. When you are a beginner equipment will make no real difference. You need
to develop a swing. If you cannot swing right with a 50 dollar club, the 400 dollar club
won't fix it.

 

[hopeless879]

If you have a Play-it-Again Sports store or some similar used sports equipment store around you they usually have pretty good deals on single and full sets of clubs.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: hopeless879
If you have a Play-it-Again Sports store or some similar used sports equipment store around you they usually have pretty good deals on single and full sets of clubs.

This is what I was going to recommend. It's better to have a second hand set of great clubs than some new crappy or subpar clubs. I picked up a set of Hogan Irons, Apex drivers(Titanium 1W), putter and a bag locally for 50 bucks. He had alot nicer, but since I was just getting started I did not feel the urge to splurge on a set of Calloways or Ping's

 

[Farmall]

you can slice just as far with a $400 driver or a cheap one from a $200 complete set. Buy the cheap set and when you get good enough to move up to nicer clubs donate the others to charity.

Practice your irons and get fairly consistent with them and golf will be a lot more fun.

edit - don't bother with a driving iron, your 3-5 wood will be a lot easier to hit and will go just as far. for starting out I'd buy either one of those sets in your link they will work just fine.

 

[bunker]

Here ya go Matt

I worked at a pro shop for 3 summers while in college. The head pro there always recommended this company's clubs for those starting out as a good quality inexpensive set of clubs.

It includes everything you need to get started.

 

[SethK28]

As my father in law has always said , Its The Indian and Not The Arrow meaning that a $1000 set of clubs wont do squat for you if your game is not sound. Buy that $150 RAM set and practice practice practice. Learn your swing as everyone has a different one. Take some leasons if you have the $$$ or have a friend that has been playing for awhole. Once you notice your scores are getting better you will outgrow those Clubs and then you should go to a golf shop and demo some other clubs and figure out which ones "feel" better to you. As you are just starting you have no "feel" for the game and will not notice the difference between a $150 set and a $1000 set.

 

[OREOSpeedwagon]

If you're looking for a driver, there's no better than a Titleist 975J, except maybe the 983 series.... I love my 975J and got it for $150 on ebay. (BTW I bought my irons from Sam's and I usually shoot around 40-42 on 9 holes)

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: SethK28
As my father in law has always said , Its The Indian and Not The Arrow meaning that a $1000 set of clubs wont do squat for you if your game is not sound. Buy that $150 RAM set and practice practice practice. Learn your swing as everyone has a different one. Take some leasons if you have the $$$ or have a friend that has been playing for awhole. Once you notice your scores are getting better you will outgrow those Clubs and then you should go to a golf shop and demo some other clubs and figure out which ones "feel" better to you. As you are just starting you have no "feel" for the game and will not notice the difference between a $150 set and a $1000 set.

I agree totally.

Buy yourself a cheap set until you think new clubs will actually make a difference. I'd say the *MOST* of the time it's not the club that's causing you to be good or bad, it's just you.

I bought a set for $180 all graphite. It's been a nice set except the shaft on the driver has too much flex. I can knock the crap outta the 3wood, though.

amish

 

[Liviathan]

Buy a cheap set now...you'll be fine. What if you stop enjoying the game?? Then you feel like you wasted your money.
And if its only $150, when you get good and want to upgrade you can just give them away...