Buying Used or New Golf Clubs For the Beginner

By Lawrence Bredenkamp

I pondered hard and long about writing about buying used or new golf clubs for the beginner.

First off I would like to say that I spent some 27 years of my life as a financial adviser and have always believed in prioritizing my spending. You need to take this article with a pinch of salt as I am rather cynical about simply spending money for the sake of spending it.

With that said would I buy new or used golf clubs if I was a beginner?

I think that would all depend on where I was in life – age for stage. I mean am I a recent school leaver, recently married, a new father, recently divorced, retired etc.? Do I have a lot or a little bit of money? Will I use the game to network for business? Am I going to play the game full time or do I want to just have a hit out every now and then?

I think all these questions would influence the beginner’s decision as to buying used or new golf clubs.

Personally with my scrooge background in financial planning I should think I would be reluctant to buy a new set of golf clubs to start off with, just as I would probably be reluctant to spend money on joining a club until I knew for certain whether or not I was going to take the game seriously.

So assuming that I was going to go for second hand clubs what and where would I buy them? Well first off I would look around to see what other people were using and by doing this it would soon become obvious that there are a lot of brand name clubs out there – (Titleist, Callaway, Taylor Made, Hogans, Nike, Cleveland, etc.) – the list is endless, and with any of these you shouldn’t go too far wrong.

Certainly with the knowledge I now have I would select a second hand putter that feels good for me. What does feel good mean? Well I selected my putter, a Scotty Cameron, purely by accident. I was due to play a game of golf and had a bit of time before teeing off. Whilst standing in the queue to report to the starter I picked up a putter in the pro shop and a few hundred dollars later I walked out. That putter was made for me and even today I do not regret that impulsive decision.

The next thing I would do is read up as much as I can and try out some good quality second hand wedges. Often times you can get good brand names for very cheap as some of the better players off load these clubs for no apparent reason except that there is a newer model out there. Take advantage of these situations.

Having selected a putter and 2 or 3 wedges I would then try and pick up a good quality set of irons that have been traded in. I would wager that for 99,9% of beginners this would be more than sufficient for at least the first year and, if you pick them up for a good price, you won’t lose too much when you are ready to move on to your second set – which will no doubt be a new one.

So for my money I would spend as little as possible on the best available and use the money I saved to play the game. It is likely in the first year that you will not join a club so playing would be a little bit more expensive than if you were a member. Alternatively use the savings towards joining a club and getting involved.

I hope that I have helped you in deciding on buying used or new golf clubs as a beginner. Whatever you decide - welcome to the most wonderful game in the world.

As a qualified EGTF golf professional teacher I get great pleasure in helping people improve their game. Why not head over to Better Golfing and take up my challenge to reduce your golf handicap by 25% within 6 weeks?

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