How much would I be looking at spending to get significantly better than what I have?

[idiotdogbrain]

Morning all, hope everyone's having a good week?

So, a little while ago I posted up about returning to the game, which I have done, and the bewildering choice of clubs when you don't know what you're looking at...! So I got myself up and running with the following set:
Wilson Deep Red Maxx driver, 10.5 regular
John Letters T8+ iron/hybrid set; graphite shafted 3H and 4H, 5-SW, steel shaft
John Letters TP Series 56° forged wedge
John Letters Silver Swan Elegance putter

Having played with them for a while, I got the feeling that the irons were a little short, so I measured them and yup, seems they are - 7i comes in at around 36.5-36.75" - and I'm 6'. I haven't had a huge amount of issues playing them though, and I have read several articles saying that higher handicappers (I generally shoot high-90s) often do better with slightly shorter clubs.

But I've got a hankering for shiny upgrades - but only if I can get something substantially better and newer (in similar or better condition - mine have maybe seen <20 rounds in their life!) to make it worth changing. My question is, how much would I need to spend to do this? £300? £500? £800? No idea of my swing speed btw, but ball speed on driver is around 130-135mph (or so the range tracker says!). If replacing, I'd want to get a full new set as my existing clubs would go to a family member as an upgrade on theirs.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice!

 

[Orikoru]

Depends what you want. Golfbidder is a good indicator for second hand stuff (although usually the same stuff can be gotten through Ebay for a little less than their prices). For example a Ping or Cobra driver from 4 or 5 years back is probably £150-200. Maybe £120 on Ebay if you get lucky. Set of decent irons, again 4-5 years old maybe 300 to 400 quid.

If you want to go brand new though, the cost is pretty huge these days. Only have to look on American Golf to see them. Talking 400-500 for a driver now.

 

[Bdill93]

Id just build a new bag slowly and hand over the retired clubs as and when I change my own.

As Orikoru said - new clubs are not cheap and good used clubs also dont come cheap.

Build the bag slowly and dont rush into a package set that you'll want to replace again!

Id start with a new set of Irons and take it from there.

 

[idiotdogbrain]

Cheers for the input - I don't think I'll be looking at brand new clubs tbh, as it seems like I'd have to spend a fortune to get anything better enough to make it worth my while, and I just don't get to play enough for that!

I find it really confusing that it's so difficult to tell what year clubs are from, and to know whether they're any better or worse than what I have now - I wouldn't want to get anything older or worse condition just because they're from a "better" brand, if you see what I mean?

In the mountain bike world that I frequent, the general rule of depreciation is a drop of 40-45% in the first year, then 10% every year after that - which makes a 2017 bike that cost £2000 worth around £6-700 now - is there a similar depreciation curve with clubs?

 

[Orikoru]

Cheers for the input - I don't think I'll be looking at brand new clubs tbh, as it seems like I'd have to spend a fortune to get anything better enough to make it worth my while, and I just don't get to play enough for that!

I find it really confusing that it's so difficult to tell what year clubs are from, and to know whether they're any better or worse than what I have now - I wouldn't want to get anything older or worse condition just because they're from a "better" brand, if you see what I mean?

In the mountain bike world that I frequent, the general rule of depreciation is a drop of 40-45% in the first year, then 10% every year after that - which makes a 2017 bike that cost £2000 worth around £6-700 now - is there a similar depreciation curve with clubs?

Depends on the brand. Well known names like Ping, Callaway, TaylorMade etc etc hold their value a lot better than the lesser ones. Around the lockdowns sort of time there was a surge of people playing golf, which meant the price of second hand clubs went up as well. I actually sold a few for more than I'd bought them for. Even this week I sold a Ping hybrid for £52 when it cost me £67 three years ago, so barely even lost anything on it.

I already mentioned Golfbidder but another thing they are useful for is having the year of release next to every listing. I often use them as a reference point for when certain clubs came out.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

If you google the clubs you are looking at and state review, eg Callaway Rogue Irons Review, then you will see the date clearly shown on the magazine, online etc reviews. They seem to have been released in 2018 by the way. There may be a few months leeway but it is a fairly simple way of discovering the year of release.

 

[idiotdogbrain]

Ah, that's good to know! Having run a few rough sums looking at used clubs, it looks like spending anything less than £500 to build a bag (driver, fw, hybrid, irons, couple of wedges plus a putter) doesn't really get me significantly better than what I have now, which cost me £80! If I'm going to spend over 6x what my current setup was, I'd want to know it would feel massively better to play with and I'm not sure that would be the case?

 

[Orikoru]

Ah, that's good to know! Having run a few rough sums looking at used clubs, it looks like spending anything less than £500 to build a bag (driver, fw, hybrid, irons, couple of wedges plus a putter) doesn't really get me significantly better than what I have now, which cost me £80! If I'm going to spend over 6x what my current setup was, I'd want to know it would feel massively better to play with and I'm not sure that would be the case?

It's hard to say. John Letters are not really a popular brand nowadays, I'd imagine the ones we've mentioned would definitely be better kit. However, whether you'd actually notice the difference or not - hard to tell. You'd probably more likely notice the difference between a good branded driver with plenty of forgiveness over the Wilson Deep Red thing though.

 

[jim8flog]

The biggest change has got to be the driver. Drivers have progressed a long way since that Wilson. Heads have got bigger and lighter, shafts have got lighter.
No need to go new virtually anything from the past 5 years should get you a fairly big improvement.

When it comes to irons, very much depends on your swing speed the big change in recent years has been the tendency to lighter weight shafts.

The iron shaft in the T8 was True Temper's cheapest shaft used in a lot of cheaper end clubs and you might see some improvement by having a better shaft.

 

[idiotdogbrain]

That's the driver - I honestly didn't think it was that bad but if I can gain some forgiveness by getting newer then I'm absolutely up for that!

That's interesting about the shafts and weights - I have noticed that the T9+ irons from the same year use a Rifle steel shaft, and are supposedly forged as opposed to cast heads.

 

[KenL]

Taller people don't always need longer clubs.

 

[SimonC]

You can sometimes get lucky and bag yourself a bargain. My brother has just got back into the game and was after a set of clubs so I had a look over the next week to see if I could find anything
A set of Callaway X Hot irons, XR16 driver & 3 wood, X Hot 5 wood, Ping 4 hybrid and a TaylorMade Ghost putter popped up on ebay as a 1 day auction as the seller was going on holiday and was obviously after some quick cash for spends. I ended up making an offer and picked the lot up for £330, I had a look on Golfbidder and if you was to buy the same set from them they would have cost £710. What I'm saying is you can pick up a good cheap set but you may have to be patient and/or lucky.

 

[clubchamp98]

Try Callawaypreowned.com
I have bought Callaway from them they are like new clubs.
But first you need to find your swing speed.
Tbh if your going to spend a shed load a full bag fitting is a must imo.
It might stop some expensive mistakes.

 

[idiotdogbrain]

... if your going to spend a shed load..

That's the thing, I can't afford a shed load! I'm just trying to get an idea of what my outlay would be to get a set up that is enough of a noticeable improvement on what I have now to make it worth changing.

Buying used, it appears that the minimum I'd need to spend will be in the region of £500 or so:
£150 iron set
£75 driver
£40 hybrid x2
£40 wedge x2
£80 putter
Plus a bag if possible.

Do those figures look about right for the entry point of decent used kit?

 

[Orikoru]

That's the thing, I can't afford a shed load! I'm just trying to get an idea of what my outlay would be to get a set up that is enough of a noticeable improvement on what I have now to make it worth changing.

Buying used, it appears that the minimum I'd need to spend will be in the region of £500 or so:
£150 iron set
£75 driver
£40 hybrid x2
£40 wedge x2
£80 putter
Plus a bag if possible.

Do those figures look about right for the entry point of decent used kit?

If you're looking at ten year old gear and get lucky on Ebay, then yeah.

 

[clubchamp98]

That's the thing, I can't afford a shed load! I'm just trying to get an idea of what my outlay would be to get a set up that is enough of a noticeable improvement on what I have now to make it worth changing.

Buying used, it appears that the minimum I'd need to spend will be in the region of £500 or so:
£150 iron set
£75 driver
£40 hybrid x2
£40 wedge x2
£80 putter
Plus a bag if possible.

Do those figures look about right for the entry point of decent used kit?

Yes but imo you should just get a driver and irons for now.
Some Ping or Callaway then add the others as you go.
This lessens the shock and allows an upgrade spec.
Get used to them before buying anything else.
It’s your money but a whole new set and bag just isn’t nessesary imo.
Most golfers chop and change the odd club but few change the whole bag in one go.
Good luck.

 

[idiotdogbrain]

That's great advice all - thanks, I really appreciate it!

 

[Barking_Mad]

Obviously if you want new clubs and price isn't an issue then go that route. I couldn't afford them and spent £150 on a set of Srixon Z355 clubs*. At the time that was a really expensive purchase for me as money was really tight. I still have them 5 years later and I've gone from high 90s to low 80s and the restricting factor is still me, not the clubs ?.

*I got a steal as they're still going for over £150 on eBay. Edit just checked and a set went for £249 this month with one less club than mine.

 

[idiotdogbrain]

Doubt anyone's interested ? but I picked up a full set of hardly-used graphite-shafted Benross Hot Speed 2, plus a 60° and Casino putter for £200. Not hugely newer, or a quantum leap forward in quality, but they definitely fit and feel better so I'm happy for now!

 

[Bdill93]

Doubt anyone's interested ? but I picked up a full set of hardly-used graphite-shafted Benross Hot Speed 2, plus a 60° and Casino putter for £200. Not hugely newer, or a quantum leap forward in quality, but they definitely fit and feel better so I'm happy for now!

Benross do make excellent equipment and its great to hear you're impressed with your new clubs!

Whats next? Driver?