Best beginner complete golf set

[gordholio]

Everyone's evaluation of the 3 golf sets you posted at the first post will be different.
One way to find out for yourself what set to buy is to go into a sports store and try 3 or 4 different sets out (in the store). Just take them out and give the clubs a basic practise swing and see how the weight feels, etc.
If the clubs are priced within a certain close range, I doubt there will be much difference between them except how they feel to you.

[pompey_play_up]

If I could offer advice. This would be my suggestion, stay away from the driver and sand wedge as a beginner. Don't spend too much money and remember if you enjoy the game and get better you'll want a new set in a couple of years anyways.

High Handicappers Bag

• 3-wood
• 5-wood, 7-wood
• 5-iron through 9-iron
• Pitching wedge
• Putter

Most high handicappers cannot hit a driver, no matter how badly they want to. Drivers are especially dangerous in the hands of high-handicappers because many view distance as the quality they most want to have off the tee. So they spend several hundred dollars on an oversized titanium driver that most of the time will only put them farther off the fairway, not farther down the fairway.

If you need to own a driver - just practice with it on the driving range, and leave it at home when you hit the course.

The Mid-Handicapper's Bag

• Driver
• 3-wood, 5-wood, 7-wood
• 4-iron through 9-iron
• Pitching wedge
• Sand wedge
• Putter

Intermediate players may also be better off hitting 3-wood off the tee rather than driver, but certainly have a better shot at controlling the driver than high handicappers.

Mid-handicappers who are strong in their short game might consider adding a lob wedge or gap wedge to this assortment, but most will probably be better off with the lofted fairway woods rather than long irons.

Low Handicappers Bag

• Driver
• 3-wood
• 2-iron through 9-iron
• Pitching wedge
• Lob wedge
• Sand wedge
• Putter

Scratch golfers will carry the same bag with one exception: Substituting a gap wedge for the 2-iron.

The better you are, the more specialized your game becomes. And that specialization for the best players leads to a concentration on the short game. Most top players hit the ball far enough that they rarely use a long iron, hence the ability to bypass 1-irons and 2-irons in favor of adding more wedges.

The lob wedge and gap wedge simply increase a great player's options around the green.

Remember: No matter what your skill level, hit clubs you are comfortable with. If you are a high handicapper but you can keep your driver in the fairway, then by all means carry a driver. If a 1-iron is a club that you have mastered, carry a 1-iron.

[gheart008]

But you've dismissed the one valuable piece of advice given in this thread: buy a quality used set first.

I understand that it's great advice to get a good used set, but that's the same argument tryig to convince someone to buy a used car over a new car. I just really want a new set and I"ve thought about it already extensively. I have my own reasons.

Well, then don't bother asking the difference between the three sets. There isn't any.

Again using car examples, that's like saying all cars in the same price range are identical and have no difference at all. That's just plain wrong. They are similar yes, but out right saying there isn't any difference has no value at all.

Nobody has actually bought and played all three beginner sets, so nobody would actually know.

When people ask about comparisons of different cars that they're interested in purchasing, people who give opinions surely haven't purchased and driven all the cars in question, but yet they're still able to give meaningful opinions like brand preference or what they've heard from friends.


I appreciate all the info posted in this thread so far, and I thank those who have posted, but to out right tell me don't bother asking defeats the entire purpose of this discussion forum.

[PennyArcade]

gheart, I suggest you ask if you can try out the sets at the store. Take a friend who has played a bit to get a second opinion.

[fly]

My recommendation is none of the above..

As a beginner, you won't notice a difference between most of the clubs. So, go to a custom golf shop and buy the Pitching wedge, 8, 6, 4 irons. or P, 9, 7, 5, 3. Depending on your selection below, you can get most clubs for $20 each, so looking at around $100. Forget about a driver until you learn to hit properly with irons. There's no glory hitting a tee shot with an iron while your friends are hitting drivers but you won't lose a ball into the forest after a wicked slice.

To select your golf club, you need to know your swing speed. If you used to play baseball and swing like you're hitting a home run, then you should go for a stiff graphite or steel shaft.

The head is important too. As a beginner, you'll want one with a thick base and probably an oversized face. That'll give you more room for error and the thicker base will loft the ball more. Look for Callaway imitations.

Most custom golf shops will have demos for you to hit and an area to measure your swing speed and should be able to recommend something for you. When you get better and find that you actually enjoy the sport (yes, it's a real sport), then upgrade to something more expensive. By then you should know what you should buy.

Good luck! FORE!

[Ojam]

Forget about a driver until you learn to hit properly with irons. There's no glory hitting a tee shot with an iron while your friends are hitting drivers but you won't lose a ball into the forest after a wicked slice.

I good piece of advice that I was given once is to learn from the green back.