Beginner golf club advice

[Ross1988]

Hi all,

I recently took up golf, well I say golf, but mainly the driving range. The clubs I have used have not been mine, and now I am looking to buy my own clubs.

I am wondering what is the main difference between a driver and a fairway wood?

Also can anyone recommend any decent woods/fairway? Price needs to be minimum if it can be helped.

Thanks in advance.

[BarnatosGhost]

Don't bother with a driver. It'll cost you 10 times more shots than it saves you.

A learner golfer with a driver is like a learner driver with a GT2.

Some oversized cavity-back irons and a modern 5 wood or rescue wood will set you off on the right path. Don't spend a lot.

[BarnatosGhost]

A driver is a 1 wood. Longest shaft and steepest face in the bag. Hardest club to hit properly, and the greatest negative consequences of a bad hit.

You honestly don't need one until you're playing off c.8 or better. I.e. pretty good.

[BarnatosGhost]

One more thing - shafts are more important than clubheads. Get the pro at the driving range to give you a clue as to your swing speed.

Stiffer shafts for faster swings. Generally.

[BarnatosGhost]

One more - grips are as important as shafts. Make sure they're in good nick or you'll have to hold on too tight, and everything will go to st...

[BarnatosGhost]

General rule - if it's glitzy and expensive, it's probably not important and you probably don't need it.

If it seems boring and peripheral, it's probably crucially important.

90% of golfers with a £300 driver can't use it to save their lives, and carry it for vanity purposes. These same guys could probably cut 5 shots off their handicaps if they spent £300 on lessons, but they think that's too expensive.

[prg1]

I would tend towards a mid range set of irons and a three wood.
I found a large improvement to may game, first when i upgraded to better clubs and then secondly, with some lessons with a pro. You'll save more shots per round with £100 on lessons compared to an extra £100 on clubs.

[Zaxxon]

Are you tall? Have orangutan arms? Or are you short and stubby ? If your not standard proportions you may need custom fit shafts.

Most important thing is pay for about 4-5 lessons. Get your posture right, how you adress the ball and your swing will naturaly fall into place.

Oh, and never ever take advice from fellow golfers during a game, they are usually wrong. If you are advisedon something, try it out onthe range, changing your swing mid game is a recipe for high scores.

But as a rule of thumb, if you have not learnt it from a golf pro, ignore it.

[Juffled]

you could try a large headed 3 wood such as the ping raptor, bigger head will help your confidence, otherwise some nice hybrids will do a very similar job to a fairway wood and probably be easier to hit.

as has been said dont get sucked in to buying an expensive driver for £300, you can buy a decent set of clubs 14 from golfbidder for that!

Pretty much all the major brands have decent clubs (ping, taylormade, callaway, cobra) typically stay away from titleist unless your good although may not hold true now.

I like my ping rapture 3w, use it off the tee, would recommend it but everyone is different

[BoRED S2upid]

prg1 said:

You'll save more shots per round with £100 on lessons compared to an extra £100 on clubs.

This. Best piece of advice on here.

I was taught to play by a pro next door neighbour as a kid im not very good but my swing is technically ok and I can hit it straight a guy in work has Taylor made clubs the fancy ones where they make them to fit you they cost 5 times what my council golf set cost he should have saved his money bought a starter set and spent the rest on some professional tuition.

[Ross1988]

Thanks for all the replies, much appriciated, I've been doing my research, I'm 6ft1 and the clubs I have been borrowing are a wee bit small.

I've been looking on golfbidder.co.uk and it looks like a bargain is to be had, but I think I'll ask the pro at the range, and for some lessons!

[gmh23]

you can buy mine if you want.....