So I have been golfing a little this summer. I have taken the sport up mostly as a business skill. I'd like to take clients out for a round of golf and talk about some business throughout the day.


I have been golfing with rentals but want to buy a set of clubs. Not sure what to look for or how much to spend. I'm sure there are a pile of golfers out there and I'd love to hear your oppinions.


I'd like to buy a more or less complete set with bag and he whole bit.

 

I just went yesterday for the first time in 7 years - no kidding!

I have been using the same set of Ping knock offs for the last 20 years. My friend let me try a few swings with his clubs, which happen to be from Vulcan Golf. I am going to head on to the golf shops and do some looking around and question asking before I buy a set, but these are going to be on the top of the shopping list.

BTW - have you seen the appliance commercial on TV where the dude is busted by his wife by saying something to the effect of "Honey, if I buy these clubs you can have anything you want." It's a riot and my significantly better half reminded me of this yesterday evening!

Have fun and good luck!

 

Try out a few sets at your pro shop then go to ebay. I can't believe some of the deals on outdated, but still sweet clubs. I got an entire set of persimmon Titleist woods, 1, 3, 4, 5 for 50 bucks and they are awesome....yes, I still use wood baseball bats too, why, because I can! Many of the iron sets were very expensive in their day but can be had for less than a hundred and fifty bucks, ie Ping, Wilson Tour Blades, Titleist Tour, Ram Tour, many decent oversized iron sets too.

 

If you're just starting out, look into the "game improvement" sets. They're much easier to hit than what the PGA tour players are using. Look for something with a good bit of the clubhead weight low and to the back. Here's a link to Golf Digest's Hotlist. http://www.golfdigest.com/equipment/...Hot_List_index

Don't forget about a really good putter. 1/3 to 1/2 of your shots are with a putter. Try a few out in the store, pick 3 or 4 and go back in a couple days and pick the one that works the best for you.

Get your swingspeed checked so you can get the right flex shafts. If there's a custom clubfitter around, go see him. Even if you don't buy his stuff, get whatever you buy adjusted for you.

Beware though, golf is as addicting as bombing your truck!

 

Thanks for the advice guys, I need to find a god pro shop locally so I can hit a few at the driving range or something. I'm finding I'm doing very well with my irons, but my driver has a horrific slice to the left. If I back up to a 3 wood or something it's much less pronounced.

 

Golf is something you get instant feedback from. If you don't swing right, you know it right away because your ball isn't going straight. I bought a set a few months back. I went all out and bought good equipment. I spent over $1000 on equipment. Almost everything I have is Taylormade except for the putter (Odyssey) and my shoes.

One thing I recommend is lots of practice at the driving range. Or if you can't get to the range, you can do what I did. I bought a home driving range (a 9' x 7' net) and practice with it. Only downside with the net is I can't tell if the I hit a slice or hook, since the net is less than 10' in front of me. It is great to practice your swing and form (espescially with a camcorder and tripod). I also recommend lessons. I took lessons when I first started and it helped immensely. My instuctor helped correct my swing (was horrible when I started), really helped fix my bad slice, taught me sand and pitch shots. It really helped and took a lot of frustration away from me trying to learn on my own. As my instructor told me, "with golf, it is easier to learn to swing the right way when you start then trying to fix your wrong swing later". With my game I am focusing on accuracy and shot placement, rather than power. I may not hit the long ball (my furthest drive is somewhere between 240 and 250 yards) but its typically straight and on the fairway.

Just like berner said, golf can be addicting. But it is very enjoyable.

BTW hook is to the left, slice is to the right. Aslo www.golf.com has some good articles, and instructional videos if you have a hi speed internet connection.

 

you will get varying opinions but two guys in their 80s that were both PGA professionals and instructors that still shoot their age and one of them RUNS the **** golf course when he plays between swings. Oh, and he has a pacemaker....yeah, ***.

Anyhow he said if you are a beginner....enjoy it but not sure you want to spend a lot of money but want quality gear you got two options in HIS opinion:

1: Buy a set from a friend or from the used Callaway Club store so you know what you are getting and then have them fitted for you...still gonna cost you $400-500 a set but a good set of 3-4 year old clubs will last a while.

2. Or you can go to www.pinemeadowgolf.com and buy a set of high quality clones of Callaway, Ping, Cleveland, TaylorMade, etc for about $150 for irons and maybe $250 for an entire set of driver, woods and irons in a bag. If you do well and want to get name brand in a year or two then you have not lost any money really. If you stick them in the corner then you are still down less than what you will pay for a new Driver and 1/3 to 1/5 what you will pay for good irons. He said to read the website for myself and that you wont find better irons.

What he actually recommended to me was to go to pro shop.....let them do a swing analyzer to get my speed and such...and buy a USED driver from them. Then he said He would use the online fitting and order a set of irons from PineMeadow....and then find a good putter on Ebay. After I have played a while I can look for a used or new Hybrid or Fairway Woods and some wedges on Ebay or in the same ProShop.

So I bought a used Nike Sumo driver for half price that was only hit 5 times....they even regripped it for me. Bought my wedges and putter on Ebay....Mizuno and NeverCompromise respectively for total of $150...and ordered a set of the PineMeadow irons that are the clone of Callaway X-20s with my height, wrist to floor, swing speed, etc all taken into account. Finally just got a 4W and 7W off Ebay that are Adam RPM woods.

Some brand snobs will turn up their noses but there is a difference between a company that makes clubs and tweaks them to be their interpretation of equal or higher quality.....and a company that does a knockoff and tries to trick you in name or labeling to believe it is the same thing and the hosel breaks on first swing. Of all the clones or knockoff companies out there I have only seen two that always have great reviews and little to no negative comments. Cant remember other brand but could likely find it again if something you want. My 2 cents though as shown above. For the record no less than 8 people I work with or live near have gotten rid of their old clubs that were hand me downs or mismatched or did not fit them...and ordered from PineMeadow. All but one are very very pleased with quality and playability. The other guy sucks at golf and was blaming the club because he kept topping the ball....not accepting he was rocking badly during swing and raising his head and spine angle at impact. So of course he is blaming equipment....then again he sucked with the set he bought from his brother that we determined were a ladies set by the shafts.....LOL.

Been hitting this setup all year and love them. I have buddies with 8-12 handicaps swinging Ping, Wilson, Callaway, Mizuno, etc...you name it. Every one of them said they love their clubs but would definately look into the Pinemeadow irons next time but, LIKE ME, would still buy drivers and wedges and putters from pro shops or ebay. They told me they could replace their irons every two years and still not spend 1200 dollars for 6 revisions or 12 years.

Just a thought and in the end it is you that has to spend the money and play with the clubs....but can tell you that you will not be disappointed with the Irons or the Wedges. I cannot speak for the drivers and putters and woods....but used my brothers 60* Lob wedge and it was very very nice club but I got my Mizuno MP T at 60* for only a little more than he paid but mine was well used and his is brand new. So once again it is choices. here is website
http://www.pinemeadowgolf.com/

 

Thanks guys appreciate theinfo and ideas. I bought a complete set of mid range clubs that were reccomended to me by a few different sources. I figure they wil do me well while I am learning, I will likely tweak and replace clubs as I go. They were about $400 on sale.