Driver choice for complete beginner

[NimbleNeil]

Hello all,

I have become interested in golf within the last 2 months and all of my clubs are purchased second hand from eBay for under £30. They are as follows:

Dunlop DG3 putter
Tour proven blades, PW - 3I with Dunlop "Bob Charles" 9I and Ping S57 7I
Unbranded 5 Wood ( dogs face logo?)
Canterbury Jumbo 3 wood
Pinseeker Jumbo 1 wood

I am assuming these clubs are all quite out-dated, and am thinking of replacing my driver as the club face is noticeably smaller than all others I have seen which I think results in me finding it difficult to hit the "sweet spot". It also has a steel shaft which I don't see very often all when peeking at other peoples gear on the course, it's quite heavy feeling.

Would you advise upgrading to a decent beginners club now, or learn the basics with my patchwork set and replace gear once I have improved?

If the prior, could any of you advise an affordable entry level club?

thanks,

Neil

 

[MadAdey]

Personally I would go on eBay and get some decent second hand clubs, depending on your budget. Something like the Mizuno MX irons can be picked up reasonably cheap and they are a club that you could play with for years. I would never advise getting a cheap brand new beignets package, as the Mizuno are something you can always move on Ebay if you decide to upgrade.

A good choice for for driver that can be picked up cheap is the Taylormade Superfast, but make sure you get plenty of loft, something like 12 degrees.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

K15 is very forgiving

 

[One Planer]

K15 is very forgiving

Affordable Phil :smirk:

Ping G10.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Affordable Phil :smirk:

Ping G10.

You can still pick them up very cheap on Ebay

 

[One Planer]

You can still pick them up very cheap on Ebay

Not as cheap as a G10 :ears:

 

[NimbleNeil]

Thanks for the suggestions guys,

I picked up everything I have for next to nothing so I'm not too worried about re-selling what I currently own

Would any of you advise the Callaway Diablo edge Driver?

There's one on Ebay for £45 with an RRP of £200

 

[Imurg]

Thanks for the suggestions guys,

I picked up everything I have for next to nothing so I'm not too worried about re-selling what I currently own

Would any of you advise the Callaway Diablo edge Driver?

There's one on Ebay for £45 with an RRP of £200

Good driver....as is the Hyper X
Ping G5 come fairly cheap and many say its as good a driver as there is.

 

[MadAdey]

Thanks for the suggestions guys,

I picked up everything I have for next to nothing so I'm not too worried about re-selling what I currently own

Would any of you advise the Callaway Diablo edge Driver?

There's one on Ebay for £45 with an RRP of £200

When getting a driver you need something with 12 degrees loft on, trust me when I say loft is your friend as it will be a lot easier to hit consistently. But any of these lines of drivers will be good with plenty of modern technology to help you and should be findable for around the £50-£80 mark.

Taylormade RBZ, RBZ Stage 2, Superfast, Superfast 2.0, R11, R11s
Callaway Razr Fit, Diablo, X series,
Nike VR series
Ping G5, G10, G15
Titleist 909, 910

 

[Foxholer]

Add Benross to that list

And remove R11 (and probably R11s) as not particularly forgiving - though great if they suit!

R5 and R580 are also forgiving and very reasonable, though can be non-compliant (which may not worry a 'beginner'). Compliant ones have 2 rings of 'grooves' on face; non-compliant ones only one (and may have 'Max' near toe).

Cobra also specialise in forgiving kit. Again, older ones may have 'Hi-CoR' indicating non-compliant or 0.830 indicating compliant.

 

[duncan mackie]

If the prior, could any of you advise an affordable entry level club?

thanks,

Neil

Are you left handed?

 

[sawtooth]

thinking of replacing my driver as the club face is noticeably smaller than all others I have seen which I think results in me finding it difficult to hit the "sweet spot".

Yeah but imagine how good you would be later with a modern driver and fairway woods having honed your skills first with that lot! Again the irons are not very forgiving but you can use that to your advantage. One of my first sets were blades passed down to me from my brother. Its not necessarily a bad thing that the club tells you that you missed the sweet spot.

My advice would be to run with what you have but dont skimp on grips, make sure they are in decent condition. Old clubs tend to have nasty shiny grips which will encourage you to grip too hard.

Then go and see a pro and learn how to hold the club properly (uber important) before you do too much else. Then stick with the grip, never change it.

Good Luck.

 

[garyinderry]

honest answer is any driver that's been released in the last 5 years or so will do. talk of added forgiveness wont help all that much in the grand scheme of things. a more forgiving driver might have a sweet spot 1cm bigger. you still have to attempt to find the middle of the bat. on top of that at impact, you need the face to be pointing in the right direction and the path somewhat matching that. seeing a pro will assist you with this. or watch the multitude of youtube videos on face and path.



you haven't told us what your usual shot shape is with your current driver. do you tend to slice or hook?

 

[Smiffy]

Best driver I ever owned was a Ping G10.
You can pick these up cheap on the 'bay nowadays as this quick search shows.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_f...Ping+G10+driver&_nkw=Ping+G10+driver&_sacat=0

Go for at least 10.5 degrees of loft, which are the most common, but if you can find one with 12 degrees, so much the better.
Unless you have got a really fast swing, a regular shaft would suit you best, the Ping TFC being a good one.
That's my recommendation

 

[NimbleNeil]

Are you left handed?

Yes, I am!

I tried playing with right handed clubs twice but just wasn't having any success and felt very unnatural.


thank you all for the advice, i'll be keeping my current irons as I think it's good to learn with an unforgiving set so as not to develop any flaws that wouldn't have been noticed with something more forgiving.T he issue with the driver is that it has a 3 wood sized face, extremely out-dated and is just quite battered really , I'm seeing G10 pop up the most so i'll see if I can try one out somewhere.

Thanks again,
Neil

 

[duncan mackie]

Yes, I am!

Neil

shame you are so far away - I've a shed full of LH gear inc 5 sets of irons and a lot of drivers,woods and hybrids.

stick at the game and, if you are looking for a next level set at some point next year give me a pm

 

[NimbleNeil]

will - do!

 

[garyinderry]

thank you all for the advice, i'll be keeping my current irons as I think it's good to learn with an unforgiving set so as not to develop any flaws that wouldn't have been noticed with something more forgiving.

This is a little silly. You will still develop a funky swing no matter what irons you use. In fact, you may develop an even more funky swing using ancient iron as you struggle to make them work.

I play with slightly older irons but I do it for fun. I certainly wouldn't learn the game using them.

Buying even a half decent set of irons ill benefit you greatly in the long run and make the game more enjoyable in the present.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/mens-left...Leisure_Golf_GolfClubs_JN&hash=item35dde8de08


Could do worse than winning these.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I have picked up most of my gear through Ebay, it is the golfers friend. Plenty of good advice already but to throw my opinion in you generally cannot go wrong with one of the big boys, Callaway, Taylormade, Ping etc. Get nice cavity back irons to help you out, regular flexes on all clubs and good loft as has been mentioned. Anyone of the clubs offered by the big names, following these points, will be a mile ahead of what you have. A 3yr old Taylor Made driver will be better than brand new Dunlops. Think in terms of cars, a 3yr old Audi A6 or a brand new Dacia. Once you find a brand you are comfortable with then you can start to expand a little.

The joy of going for a brand name is that you can always re-sell them and if you do a good enough job with your pictures you will be amazed how much you get back for them.

 

[Snelly]

Any Ping will do.