12 Tips for Starting Golfers when Buying Golf Clubs in 2024

• Posted on 17 July 2024
• By Gvido Lukasevics
• Posted in beginners golf clubs, best golf clubs for beginners, golf clubs for starter, what golf clubs to buy
• 0

Over the past 30 years, golf club design has improved enormously. Even aerospace research has influenced the development of modern golf clubs. For the largest target group in Europe, loving amateur golfers with handicap 54 to 20, all this technology often makes buying golf equipment difficult and confusing. As a 'light in the darkness', we have 12 tips for you that you can use as a guide to help you make the right decision.

Imagine you are a novice or somewhat advanced golf enthusiast and are looking for new golf clubs. What should you look out for to avoid making a bad purchase? What suits your handicap and how do you find out? The advice from a typical salesman in a regular golf showroom is usually very ''coloured''. More often than not, the products with the highest profit margin will be offered instead of something that will really help you improve. Therefore, we don't think it's wise to trust a salesman blindly. A little bit of research can't hurt! In this blog, we will give you 12 golf tips to provide you, as an amateur golfer, with "insider information" so that you will not be sold for lemons!

Tip 1: Starting with golf? Don't buy old, second-hand clubs!

Just started with golf and looking for your first golf set? Don't make it too difficult for yourself. Many people consider buying an inexpensive (old) set of golf clubs because they do not yet know whether golf is fun or not. Our advice: don't do it! To be able to play golf well with old golf clubs, you really need to know how to play golf. Old golf clubs tend to be less beginner-friendly (less forgiving). As an inexperienced golfer, you won't hit the ball cleanly enough to be able to play well with it, and hitting with old clubs will end in a disaster and potentially ruin your enthusiasm for golf. It makes much more sense to buy a new, perhaps not-so-expensive, beginner's golf set. Golf clubs from a newer complete ''boxed'' golf set are much more forgiving and designed to keep the golf balls that don't hit cleanly reasonably "inside the lines". This makes the introduction to the beautiful golf sport much more exciting. 

Tip 2: Choose irons with a thicker sole

The sole is the lower part of an iron with which your iron 'rests' on the ground. A wider sole adds extra weight to the lower end of the club head, creating a lower center of gravity. This makes it significantly easier to give your strokes a nice high, predictable ball flight. A wide sole also reduces the chance of the club stopping in the ground if you accidentally hit a little too far behind the ball. Therefore, we recommend choosing irons with a slightly wider sole and avoiding irons with a sole thinner than one index finger width.

Tip 3: Choose hybrid clubs (rescue clubs) instead of long irons

Unfortunately, over the past decades, golf manufacturers have lowered the loft of their iron 3 and iron 4 (and, to a lesser extent, iron 5) clubs. Great for more advanced golfers as this results in lower, longer golf strokes, however, for the average golfer, this makes hitting the ball cleanly a lot harder. To solve this problem, it is smart to replace your long irons with hybrid clubs: iron 3 becomes hybrid 3, iron 4 becomes hybrid 4, etc. As a result, achieving longer distances becomes a lot easier.

Tip 4: Saving? Buy golf clubs from the previous collections!

Many brands replace their product lines every year in light of new technological advances. This means that completely new golf clubs from last season's collections are sold at a high discount. These clubs will be more than adequate for many amateurs and may often save you hundreds of Euros compared to buying the latest golf clubs. Highly recommended, unless you want the very latest innovations and price is secondary for you.

Tip 5: Choose the right shaft

When it comes to buying irons, you can choose between graphite or steel shafts. If your swing speed is slower, then the lighter graphite shaft can help you generate a higher swing speed and therefore more distance than a steel shaft. Graphite shaft golf clubs are ideal for women and senior golfers. Steel is cheaper and sturdier than graphite. Also, steel is heavier than graphite irons and generates more vibration or resonance on 'mishits'. This is more appealing for experienced golfers to have more feedback.

Tip 6: Make sure the shaft flex fits your swing

The shaft flex refers to the amount of bend when a swing is made. At the start of your swing, the shaft bends and when the club hits the ball, the shaft must be back to its default form for best results. A shaft that is too soft or too stiff for your swing speed will cause you to lose distance and direction. Therefore, it is important to determine the right amount of flex for your swing. About 80% of men's amateur golfers play with regular flex, but if you have a (very) fast swing, you may have to choose a stiff-flex shaft. Around 95% of ladies amateur golfers play with a ladies flex shaft. Roughly speaking, if you hit 90 to 145 meters with your iron 7, regular flex is recommended. Some brands use the term Uniflex for shafts that adapt to your swing speed in terms of flexibility. Also a great option for starting golfers. 

Tip 7: Club fitting is not necessary

Unless you are very tall or short, for a starting golfer, club fitting is far from necessary. More than 85% of new golf clubs are manufactured in standard (unfitted) versions. Manufacturers target 'the average golfer' with these standard models, so this is often more than fine. Club fitting only gets interesting for the more advanced golfer who wants to get the most out of his equipment to lower his/her handicap (even if by a margin). For beginner and intermediate golfers with more or less an average body, the focus will be more on hitting the ball cleanly, which is hard enough on its own in the beginning. Your stance behind the ball is not yet a 'given', so club fitting will hardly add any value. For example, if you do get fitted and do so with three different club fitters, you will more than likely get three different results. So how valuable is club fitting in the end? Read more about club fitting here.

Tip 8: Beginner? Choose irons with an ''oversized'' club head

Are you a beginner golfer and are you looking for new irons? Then opt for an oversized club head design with hollow ('cavity back') heads. Large, oversized club heads offer you an improved sweet spot resulting in more distance and forgiveness. As your game improves, you can opt for clubs with smaller heads, sacrificing some forgiveness for more feel and control.

Tip 9. Start with the essentials

If you play golf, you may use up to 14 clubs. As a beginner, it is not necessary to have every possible golf club in your bag. If you want to save money, consider starting with the basics: a putter, sand wedge, pitching wedge, hybrid club, and some irons. A driver is also possible, of course, but it is quite tricky to get ahold of at first. Getting used to just a few clubs will ensure you get the ball in the air with ease. This is great if you want to improve your game. Once you are past the beginner phase, you will know for sure whether you like golf enough to invest more in the sport. Then a set of 14 clubs is definitely recommended, as you will have the right club for every distance.

Tip 10: Choose clubs with a high loft

Golf clubs with a higher loft make it easier to get the ball in the air and reduce 'mishits'. Hitting the ball well is already difficult at first and lower loft clubs only make it more difficult. Choose a driver with at least 10/10.5-degree loft. For fairway woods, at least a 17-degree loft is recommended. Clubs with a low loft are more suitable for experienced players or for beginners who have played a lot of "stick and ball" sports, such as tennis or hockey.

Tip 11: Consider drivers with adjustable lofts

Most modern drivers offer adjustment options. It certainly is worth considering which adjustable options will improve your game. Many drivers (but also fairway woods or hybrids) offer the possibility to adjust the loft, and thus the departure angle of the ball, to suit your swing and preference. If this makes it easier for you to hit the ball cleanly and/or create more distance, that's a great bonus. Some clubs even have the option to change the weight distribution and balance in the club so you can adjust the ball flight, but that is more interesting for more advanced golfers.

Choosing the correct loft

Determining the right loft for your swing can be the most important decision when choosing your new driver. The most common misconception is that drivers with a lower loft hit higher distances and have longer drives. Sometimes this is true, but for a lot of golfers, the opposite is true. Yes... that's a bit of a shock! Below is a simple, indicative chart that can help you select the right loft for your driver.

Driver swing speed

80 km/h - loft: 15-20°
95 km/h - loft: 14-18°
110 km/h - loft: 12-15°
125 km/h - loft: 11-14°
145 km/h - loft: 10-13°
160 km/h - loft: 9-12°
175 km/h - loft: 8-11°
195 km/h - loft: 7-10°

Tip 12: Use quality golf balls

In today's modern golf game, the right golf ball is important. Investing in good quality golf balls can therefore pay its dividends. A better, softer golf ball provides low spin when using a driver and much higher spin when using a wedge. The majority of golfers benefit from a ball designed to create more distance, rather than spin. If you are still losing a lot of your balls as a beginner, then it may be too early to invest in better golf balls but once your game has improved, it is time to invest more in buying high-quality golf balls. If you find new golf balls too expensive, have a look at 'Lakeballs'. This can also be a great option.

Final Remarks

Golf is a tricky sport. Even for people with a lot of 'aptitude' or experience with other sports, it is not a given that they can hit the ball straight away. We hope the information above will help you learn the sport a little faster. Even though we have a lot of knowledge about golf equipment, it is up to you to interpret it in your own way so that you can benefit from it. With that, we wish you a lot of fun! Golf is a wonderful sport... we keep shouting it!