Jonathan Davies

The variety of opinions on golf equipment should be clear now, if nothing else.

Try them if you can, and get what you feel comfortable with. That's a big factor in a mental game like golf.

My tuppence: I like steel over graphite, even though my swing speed isn't blinding, because I can feel where they are better during the swing. Don't get on with graphites and I intend to use what I like, regardless of what someone says is "better". The best clubs for you are the ones you play well with.

I do like a big-head driver though. I was poor off the tee with woods for years, although I could hit a 2-iron all day, but buying a deep-face driver transformed my tee shots. Again, try some different styles and see what feels good. My Cobra driver felt right immediately, and gave me the confidence to hit better and better. My 3 regular golf mates all bought one, cos they couldn't take how well I was hitting the ball.

Listen to advice by all means, but buy the ones that you feel most comfortable with.

Recaro

just returned from American Golf. They dont do price match on the internet stuff, but they knocked off £20 for me (I'd seen it on the web for £30 less)

It was really good, the guy who helped me was a pro who did lessons. Pointed out my mistakes, made me feel very uncomfortable but I hit the ball alot better.

Definately going to be having some lessons with him

Luan Pra bang

I use graphite shaft taylor mades and compared them to the cheap **** £150 set a friend has. I hit exactly the same distance and accuracy with both but the graphite was a lot lighter and easier to swing and carry.

messiah

My advice is get lessons ASAP.

As long as the clubs are cavity backs you'll be alright, you wont get much benefit from more expensive clubs until you start getting down to a low handicap - same goes for *****, dont bother with the Titleist Pro V1's just yet - cheapo top flights will do.

Only bit of kit I'd recommend is a good putter - the Oddysey 2 ball jobs can be got quite cheap these days, and they are superb.

If you're just starting out, you probably wont hit a ball further with a driver than you can with a 6 iron - but if you really feel you must buy a "big dog" why not try a TaylorMade Rescue club? you can get them off ebay for £40 and they're a lot easier to hit - plus the kudos of having a TaylorMade product in your bag...

B9GLY

Right heres my opinion mate!

as long as the clubs you have at the moment have decent grips and the clubs arnt bent or badly damaged then stick with them! there is no point spending on a set of clubs until you know what you want to get out of them.

I would advise you to take a 7iron and a pitching wedge to the driving range and hit *****. Dont stand there pounding ***** nonstop just say 30-50 ***** a visit is plenty, dont stay there all day hitting 1000 *****. your better off going 3 times a week to the range and hitting 35 ***** each time, then play 1 round of golf a week and keep your scorecards, you will then have something to beat each week and see how you are improving.

The aim is to get to the point that you strike the ball well 8/10 times, doesnt matter where it goes(at the range) just so you hit the ball pretty solid.

at this point you need to have a lesson or 2 with someone who knows what they are doing(a pro or v good player that you know) and they will then point you in the right direction of things to work on.

once you have done this say over the winter months you will then be ready early next year to decide how seriously you are taking it and what products you want to look at buying! This way you wont have wasted money on a begginners set and you could go out and buy a set of irons from a top brand company and get them custom fitted for your new swing!

as a begginner you wouldnt notice any difference at all from the clubs you have now to a new set of callaway X-18's!!

At the range just take your time, make sure you warm up before hand and stretch first, then just keep your eye on the back of the ball and swing at a comfortable pace to get started!

baz69birds

ive got a FULL SET plus extras for £100, (cost me over £300)
if intrested.
HIPPO. come with all clubs CHIPPER,SANDWEDGE,LH SANDWEDGE, TEE'S BALL'S TOWEL, TROLLY, HOOD,ETC.. EVERYthing..





Baz
p.m me if intrested, ive had these 1 year & was told these are a great beginners set!!
BAD BACK has forced sale

carl

LOL at the brush tees. These are great for extra distance, but they seem to be engineered to snap off at the base. Either that or the brush spreads out and won't hold the ball. It's not in a tee manufacturer's interest to make an everlasting tee.

I also tried the tees with a little rubber crown at the top (less resistance on the ball). They're also great, and being polycarbonate I thought they'd last forever. However, they fly almost as far as the ball so I've ended up losing the lot. I reckon they've deliberately made them wing-shaped so you lose them and have to buy more.

Another warning: playing golf will not do your back any good. It requires you to twist your back in an unnatural fashion, which is why so many pros have back problems. Jack Nicklaus almost had to give up playing.

baz69birds

DID my back in about 14 months ago, off w**k for ages,
got married last month, wanted to sell clubs before then, but never got around to it, as 3 days before the wedding i COUGHED & my back went spent 1 day in hospital unable to move, had wedding with many pain killers & DEEP HEAT patchs on
So dont want to risk it any more, they have to go
Baz

B9GLY

golf doesnt do any harm at all to your back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you dont warm up it could cause injury, swinging poorly and swinging to hard maybe, but if you have correct posture and swing in a controlled manner then you will be fine!

carl

So why do so many tour pros pull out due to back problems? Do a google search for "golf back problems" and you'll find hits relating to Monty, Fred Couples, Hale Irwin, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, etc.

Back problems are the most common injury in golfers, and I'm not sure you could accuse any of the above of swinging poorly or too hard.

http://www.sportsinjuryhandbook.com/...book/back.html

B9GLY

they hit thousends of ***** every week! they are striving for perfection and also trying to get the most out of there swing to win mega money!

dont play tennis you may hurt your elbow! dont kick a football you may break a metetarsal!, dont play chess you may die of bordem!!!

better not get out of bed i may pull a muscle!!!!!!

but your right, i couldnt ever say Tiger swings too hard could i??????????

the point im making is if you prepare yourself properly and play within yourself then you stand a slim chance of getting injured! its just the same as breaking a leg playing football, it does happen but when you compare how many times it happens to how many people play football then it is a very small percentage!

its not somthing that you need to warn someone about when they wish to take it up!

Gav

Right here we go,

Some good advice has been pointed out on this thread by obvious keen golfers, which is good to see (maybe a SN tournament is on the cards??)

Carl, when you said hybrids i thought you meant including the 3-4-5 irons and not the 2 iron equivalent which many pro's use but unfortunatley may be getting banned. No offence meant to you on my part

Allllll rightey then, get lessons off a pro for a start who will get you set up with the basics of Posture, Stance and Grip (the most important) and you will be able to play from this. The perfect way to teach a novice is to start with putting and work your way back to a driver (although most do it the other way round!) This getting the most important part of the game gelled in first, PUTTING. It is vital to be a good putter and can save you so many shots it's a joke! And it's the easiest to practice as you can do it at home on the carpet!!!!!!!!!! No excuses!!!

Back problems, this is a major problem in golf as your asking the body to do an un-natural move over and over again. All you need to do is stretch and be loose before you go out and you will be ok. And Tiger changed his swing not because of his back but because of his right knee.

An old **** set will not do you any favours for improving, they might feel good to start with but soon as you try a more "modern" set you will see a massive difference. My advice is to get the best set you can afford and go from there. And as far as a putter goes, who said it has to be expensive to work for you????? Nick Faldo won majors with a £20 wilson TPA blade putter because it felt right. I use a £40 Ping Answer 2 putter and wouldnt change it for anything. It's all about feel!!!

I know i've probably missed out loads but i've had a bottle of Fastino V wine

gav..

carl

Indeed, and a lot is about fashion. I don't doubt that those Odyssey two-ball putters work well for a lot of people, but I've tried one and I didn't get on with it. Seem to get better results with my Ping Zing 2F which is a very traditionally-shaped putter. What I can't suss about putters is whether they've changed the rules recently. You can get them where the shaft enters the centre of the putter head now. Surely any idiot can make a balanced putter if the shaft is in the middle? I thought the whole point was that it was banned, so you ended up with putters with big weights at the heel and toe to reduce the moment of inertia.

messiah

Ditto the comments about putting - practising on the living room carpet has certainly paid off for me, although the wife keeps taking the putter off me saying "give me a go! I can do that!"

When my boy's old enough the first thing I'll get for him is lessons - I'm not even gonna try and teach him or let him figure it out for himself like I did - I'll try and get him into good practice's from day one.

Putting and chipping are the easiest, they're basically the same stroke, and when starting out I'd concentrate on getting the distance right when putting, if you're unlikely to get it down on one, make sure you can do it in two.

Drive for Show & Putt for Dough...

fitzscoob

I'd completely agree with Gav as above really.

Get yourself a set and get comfortable with them.

Personally I wouldnt reccomend going down the range and teaching yourself how to play as when you do eventually go get some lessons the first few will be trying to unlearn what you have taught yourself.

Get a couple of lessons under your belt, then practise on what you have learnt.

No one stops learning in this game, not even the pros.

When you do eventually venture out on the golf course, make sure you get someone to explain course etiquette to you, and buy your ***** from fleabay - anything will do for now as long as they are round.

carl

Don't do as I did and put them in the dishwasher to clean them -- they'll come out oval

lawson101

I used Wilson Deep Red 1's, bought a few years ago, and at the time iirc they were rated as one of the best clubs for beginners as they are very forgiving.

Saying that I still cant hit a ball for love nor money!!

Bought to start playing again I think as a new job is going to give me 7 days off out of every 21

Recaro

I'd agree with this. Had this idea that I would go down the range a few times and then have lessons.

Been going for about a month and I can hit the ball straight which I thought was good.

Pro watched me hit yesterday, My grip was incorrect and so was my swing. I wished I had gone to lessons first. Going to sign up to a course of 6 lessons with the Pro. Just a few pointers from him and I could feel the difference. Swing was smooth and the ball had good distance/flight

Gav

I see you've still got the ESC Society champion tag on Fitzy Tiny not got his revenge yet??

And Carl, putting your golf ***** into the dishwasher I've heard of people wanting to warm thier ***** up for extra distance in the winter but your taking it to a whole new level might be tough putting with an oval ball though

Just had to re-read what i wrote last night, had a bit to drink I played in the Open reginal qualifying yesterday, was going like a train after the front 9 at 2 under (should have been -4 at least) but trippled 16 and doubled 18 to miss the mark. Felt like **** last night so a few drinks was on the cards

gav..

fast bloke

The clubs you buy wont influence your day to day game as much as you might expect. Get your pro to let you try as many different clubs as you can. Eventually you find a set that just feels right. Don't worry if they are graphite or steel or blades or cavity. When I started playing everyone had steel shafts, wooden woods and blades. Blades are certainly harder to hit consistantly, but learning with cavity clubs allows you to learn bad habits. Don't worry about the distance clubs. If you can hit a 5 iron a reasonable distance but always straight, you should be able to get near most par 4's in 2, leaving you a chip and a put for par. Hitting a driver 350 yards may look impressive, but after you look for the ball in the rough for 15 minutes and then go back to hit another one, the monster drive loses some of its shine. I'm sure Gav will back me up - it is really difficult to have a triple bogey on the 16th if you don't stray from the fairway or green

fitzscoob

Tiny has finally been cut to 18, still getting anywhere between 38 and 42 points though

Next one is coming up in kent on the 19th - should be interesting.

If I could master chipping around the green it would be single figures for me, just waste too many shots on poor approach / finesse shots

Gav

I was let down not by my driver but my baby, my (usually) reliable club, The Callaway 2 iron which spent the night on the back garden as punishment The one hole you dont want to hit left and i did lost the ball and the rest is history!!!

Fast Bloke make a good point about not hitting driver everywhere but a long iron or 5 wood to keep on the short stuff. i garantee i could save the average club golfer 5 shots at least a round due to course management which is also a massive part of the game.

as Massiah said, Drive for show, putt for dough

B9GLY

I wasnt meaning teach yourself, i meant just so you can hit the ball and strike it well, i also did say get someone(maybe a pro but doesnt have to be) that knows what they are doing to set you up first!

Course management is one of the biggest factors in playing good consistant golf!

Drive for show, putt for dough!

this statement that seems to have been in golf for years is somthing that i dont believe in! putting is extremly good for saving strokes if your good but lets face it, if you stand on the tee and slice ***** out of bounds, it doesnt matter how good you are at putting if your putting for tripple bogey!

I think that golf is the most skillfull game in the world and the fact is you need to be good at everything! your ball needs to be in play off the tee, have good iron play, be good at scrambling and putt well to compete!

fitzscoob

The biggest problem is that if you cant putt then you wont score well at all.

You can get away with a bad drive (oob is a different kettle of fish), you still have a shot in, but its no good being on the GIR and then taking 5 putts, you may as well not turn up.

I dont have the correct statistics to hand but something like 85% of all shots are played around the last 70 yards to the pin.

Gav

B9GLY your right to an extent about driving but what about Tiger who's been missing more fairway's than anyone and still winning tournaments. Or Phil Mickleson who hit 2 fairways in the final round of this years U.S open and still found himself with a shot lead going into the last hole???

you dont have to hit every fairway to score well but you HAVE to putt well to score. Anything from 100yards in is the most important and being good with the flat stick is vital

gav..

Reality

Once played a short hole with a mate who was just using his putter - he beat me.

That was all the proof I needed about the importance of putting

Gav

Ted Maul

nah, Golf World is where its at!

pacenote

That happpens tho does'nt it. Many years ago think it was 1984 Royal St George's Open championship friend of mine was leading championship after 9 holes of first round. As he was an amateur the word quickly got around and be the time he got to the 10th there where people everywhere - concentration went and that was that, missed cut eventually.
Incidentally where was the qualifer - have'nt been to Hoylake for years should be interesting to see how it performs as an open venue for the modern game.

at the Callaway 2 iron spending night in garden - mind you at least it made it home

scoobyjimbo

Dont bother with cheap cheap clubs as in 6 months you will want to change them, believe me..

I would set yourself a budget of around 250 and that will get you a decent branded beginers set, Personally after trying around 5 different makes i love mizuno - you cant go wrong IMHO

J