Tips on Buying Golf Clubs: Getting Started

At the Start

From writing this beginners section, one huge mistake we hear from the beginner golfer is the tendency to rush out and buy the most high spec top of the range clubs (or bling bling clubs as I like to call them 🙂

While they are pretty and nice to look at, they’re not always what the beginner (who’s only just begin learning to play golf) needs. For instance, we are all of different sizes and different physical abilities and clubs cater for these instances with lot’s of varieties in their clubs.

Since you’re just a beginner yourself, there’s a very good chance that you won’t have the first idea of what type of club would fit you best.

The clubs may make you look like a good player while in actual fact you’re the exact opposite. Just picture this, you head down to your driving range with some gleaming expensive clubs, you then get your clubs out and start to hack away at the balls, only to duff every single shot.

Trust me the smirks and the sniggers in the background are all aimed at you and your expensive looking clubs, it’s not worth the embarrassment! Once you spend a wad of cash on a set of clubs that are completely wrong for your style, you’re stuck with them until you can get rid of them at a loss.

If you want to find out which clubs maybe best for you, I suggest you check out the article on choosing the best clubs for beginner golfers on this site.

There is also the option of trying before you buy. For instance, many driving ranges offer clubs for hire, so you can test a few different club types out there. Or you can borrow clubs from a friend and test theirs out. Try to get hold of a short iron or a wedge, a 9 iron or a sand wedge would be best as they are easier to hit and they will give you a better feeling.

Remember, you’re only just learning how to play golf, you should not buy any expensive clubs at this stage.

The best places to buy clubs

Most golf shops, club shops, and driving ranges sell second hand clubs for the beginners. If you ask, they will be able to offer you some advice on what clubs you would need, and they will even let you try some clubs out I’m sure.

Make sure you try before you buy your clubs. You can even ask people at the driving range and I bet the majority of them have another set of clubs at home because they made the same mistake as I mentioned earlier.

If you shop around you can get them for a very good price. Or, alternatively, you can try advertising for second hand clubs in the newspaper or on sites in the wanted section. You can also try several auction sites as they frequently have clubs up that are going at very cheap prices. Also, make sure you take a look at our article on choosing the correct golf clubs.

Having said all this though, the one advantage of buying a brand new sparkly set of bling bling’s is the confidence boost it provides you with if you’re only just learning to play golf. It can make you more committed as well compared to a second hand pair of clubs.

So, if you would like a brand new set of clubs I would suggest you take a look at clone clubs from manufacturers like Pinemeadow, who are in my eyes the best manufacturers of clone clubs around. You can pick up a full set of clubs for as little as $150, which include a custom fitting option as well. The quality of the clubs they produce is comparable to some of the more well known brands, but the prices they sell at are a hell of a lot more realistic.

However, if you’re into brand names then Austad’s Golf have thousands of branded clubs available at knock down prices.

The custom fitting for your clubs is so simple and straightforward, as places like Pinemeadow golf offer a web based fitting service know as “the club fitting wizard”, which is a dab hand if you are starting out learning how to play golf.

Once again, this beginners guide to golf must stress that you must read up on what club is best for you, before you commit yourself to purchasing any clubs. Don’t buy expensive brands at this stage.

Getting Started the Right Way

It’s important as a beginner to always start off on the right foot in golf. One mistake from the beginning could turn into a very difficult problem to remove from your game later on down the line. This is why you should be reading the golf lessons on this site and perhaps even get a one on one lesson from a professional golf instructor. If you want to learn more on golf lessons make sure you read this article on choosing golf schools and golf instructors.