Need some golf club buying advice

[Tokitoki]

I haven't golfed in about 14-16 years. I forget what year it was, but I remember when it was if that makes sense.

Anyway, I live about 5 minutes from a public course and driving range now. A friend of mine wants to go golfing more often, his brother also golfs, 75% of my office golfs and even goes to the course I live near, golfing is good for business relationships, etc. My wife has encouraged me taking it back up to some degree. I'm not sure she realizes how long a round of golf can take, depending on the course and how many people are playing that day, but we'll cross that bridge later.

I used to have a set of Junior's clubs by Fox or something like that. It doesn't seem like the brand exists anymore. I was pretty good at the time, I was hitting 150 yds with a 5 iron when I was about 13. My drives were up around 200 when I got good contact, but I was not so great with the driver.

With that as the background, I've been trying to find a set of used clubs that are decent enough that when I get back into the swing (HA) of things I wont hate them, while still be relatively cheap. Various sites recommend the "Callaway" Strata complete set, but I noticed that Callaway doesn't actually have their brand on them anywhere and there are a decent number of reviews and pictures showing that the club heads become damaged or fall off after several range visits or rounds. One of my coworkers said he got a set of Top Flite from Dick's for $150, but again, they're cheap and I'm afraid that the quality will annoy me once I get back into it.

I've been watching craigslist for a couple months now, while I was still working at the old job, and haven't found much that interests me. There are some super cheap used sets, but they are well worn and some of the clubs I recognize from when I still played. I've been reading articles and reviews of various brands, sets, and deals and have learned there is apparently a large counterfeit club market where they pass off these fake clubs as used and collect a tidy profit from shit quality. This made me think eBay is likely a bad idea.

My next step was looking at the Certified Pre-owned programs that the brands themselves offer. TaylorMade seems to run their program through Global Golf now, Global Golf also carries various other brands, Callaway runs their own program and also carry other brands that people trade in to them.

After that wall of text, does anyone have any recommendations for clubs they like? Whether you've just demo'd them, own them, or borrowed a buddy's? Callaway seems to be running the best deal atm with 30% off orders over $300. I put together the following set for myself. I chose all Callaway because I figured if they're reselling them on their own site, with their brand name on them, despite them being used they should be of a good enough quality they're willing to put them back out there.

Diablo Edge Irons set - 5-PW Standard length and flex, Diablo steel shafts.

Big Bertha Alpha 815 Driver - Standard length and lie angle, Stiff flex, Fujikura Speeder Evolution II graphite shaft

Big Bertha Alpha Fairway Wood - standard length, 16deg, stiff flex, Aldila Rogue Silver graphite shaft

Odyssey White Hot Pro 2.0 #1 Putter - 34in shaft length (correct for my height), steel shaft, Superstroke grip from an outlet (may be a demo club is my guess)

Any help, recommendations, or other insight would be appreciated.

[chazzyphizzle]

for just getting back into it those diablo irons look fine, i wouldnt recommend trying to hit a 3 or 4 iron anyways since you are just getting back into it. if you were hitting it around 200 or so yards with your driver make sure you put a regular flex shaft, not stiff, and around 10 degrees of loft. most drivers now are pretty similar, i'd get a 460cc head that pleases your eye and graphite shaft of some sort. would also recommend a fairway metal, either 3 wood or 5 wood, would probably get more use out of a 5 wood. i've never thought putter matters much, if a white hot double ball helps you line up your putts best go with that, or go with a standard blade if that tickles your pickle

[Tokitoki]

Those two ball putters look crazy. I was scared of them. I chose a standard blade because that's what I had used previously.

Thanks for the tips, going to look at some of what they offer that matches now.

[Tokitoki]

Came up with the following.

Drivers:

Big Bertha Alpha 815 standard flex and length, 10.5 deg loft, graphite shaft

X2 Hot standard length and flex, 10.5 deg loft, graphite shaft

XR standard length and flex, 10.5 deg loft, graphite shaft

Didn;t see anything with just a 10 deg loft for whatever reason. Also didn't see where I could choose head size as you mentioned 460cc.

Fairway 5 woods:

Big bertha Fusion 5 wood, standard length and flex, 18deg, graphite shaft

X2 Hot 5 wood, standard length and flex, 19 deg, graphite

Rogue Fairway 5 wood, standard length and flex, 19 deg, graphite

Not sure it makes any real difference between those. I'll see if I can find some more reviews.

[chazzyphizzle]

i think 460cc is just industry standard nowadays, i've had my current driver since like...2005 so its a little smaller than today's giant fuckers. 10.5/reg flex is a good start point, go 19 degree for the 5 wood, 18 is a little strong

[Boyiee]

eBay dude. I just replaced my entire set with new clubs (1-2yr old models) for 1/3 of the price of a new set. Some clubs were still in plastic, the putter was used on one course. Perfect conditions.

Get something super forgiving, you want game improvement irons with regular flex.

You can Google "best game improvement clubs 2017" or super game improvement and get lists of the best clubs for that year then find them online for dirt cheap.

[Tokitoki]

Mind if I asked what you paid?

I looked at eBay this morning and didn't see anything that looked any better than what I picked out. With the X2 Hot driver and wood rather than the Big Bertha Alphas I'm looking at $344 shipped.

The Diablo irons are game improvement I believe.

[Boyiee]

Check out eBay and rockbottom golf.

Do not buy anyway with the word "blade" in it's title/description.

[chazzyphizzle]

trying to hit blades after not playing at all for 14 years would be hilarious

[Boyiee]

I bought a nice set brand new 4h-Pw for $400 shipped the current model is $1299 in stores.

Reddit has a good source of info too but really you shouldn't spend more than 35-75 each on driver/sw/woods and definitely sub 300 on irons.

[Tokitoki]

Yeah the guys at my old job talked about the blades. One guy loved them, and the rest hated them.

[chazzyphizzle]

the guy who said he loved them was probably lying, or he's a scratch golfer

[Boyiee]

Don't forget, golf clubs used to be wood. It doesn't matter how much the clubs cost if you are new returning or terrible. Don't spend a lot, once you start breaking into the 90s regularly then maybe buy some nicer clubs.

We went to an outing and the local pro was on a par3 and if you got closer to the pin than him you won a free round, he got to use any club we wanted. Friend gave him his left handed iron and he was 10ft from pin, clubs don't matter.

[Boyiee]

Also I second everything chazzy said. Definite 10 degree or better driver (10.5-12 would be great) do not get anything under 10.

[Tokitoki]

I think one of my hang ups is that Callaway is running that 30% off deal. I'll see if I can find new, old model year clubs on eBay though.

I looked at rockbottom and found that while the prices were similar to others I've seen, they aren't running that discount that Callaway is.

[Tokitoki]

I'm going to hold off for a little bit and keep an eye on ebay, but it looks like for the budget I'm going for the Callaway 30% is just killing anything on ebay or elsewhere right now. That set of irons I linked goes from $217 to $152 and I can't find anything to match that of a similar quality whether they're new or used. The sale ends Monday so I'll see what happens between now and then. My other worry is the shit I have in my cart is sold.

[Tokitoki]

Two guys at my new office are trying to sell me on the Top Flite set for $150. They say they haven't had any issues the past year they've been using them, but I don't know if I trust the club quality.

On the flip side, with your input I brought the price of a set down to $330 from Callaway for Irons 5-PW, Driver, 5 Wood, and putter.

[Tokitoki]

Just going to keep bumping, don't care!

Saw these go up this morning on eBay.

Used Cobra Baffler XL 4H-PW for $160 OBO. Graphite shafts on the hybrids, steel on the irons. Seem to be fairly nice clubs, with the added benefit of the hybrids which the other sets I've looked at don't have. Not sure how the hybrids hit, I've never swung a hybrid, but it seems to be the new trend for the longer irons.

Used Cobra S9 4-PW, GW for $170. These are all graphite shafts. I'm not sure steel v graphite will make much difference to me, other than the steel would obviously decrease swing speed a bit, but also likely help me find the right groove for my swing since the swing speed will be lower.

Callaway Big Bertha Fusion 4-PW $160 graphite shafts, standard everything

Trying to keep a 5 iron or hybrid in the iron set, where a lot of the ones I see on eBay are 6-PW(SW, GW may also be in there) I assume due to hybrids becoming popular.

Disadvantage, again, with going with eBay is I lose the 30% discount from Callaway Pre-owned while not necessarily getting better clubs.

This is hard, guys.

[chazzyphizzle]

all i'll say is i hate how graphite shafted irons feel, much prefer steel. graphite hybrids are probably pretty ok though

[Tokitoki]

That's what I was wondering about irons. I had graphite when I played, but I was young so it made sense to have a lighter club. I figured with steel I'd develop a better swing and I'd be able to feel where the ball is coming off the head a little better.

Graphite would keep the swing speed up and and a few yards maybe. I say maybe because I'd have to hit it correctly and not shank it.

I'm strongly considering the Cobra set with the hybrids which is killing me because 3 hours ago I was pretty set on completing my purchase through Callaway as the X2 Hot driver was purchased by someone else last night and the original set of irons I picked out was purchased yesterday morning or the day before.