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New golfer here. New golfer period. Some family took me out for 9, then 18, and now I want clubs ^_^ .

Question: Should I get a half set with good shafts -or- whole set without.

Looking at: 12° Driver, 18-19° fairway wood, a 24-26° hybrid, 6, 8, PW, SW, mallet putter. 8 clubs.

Shopping around gigagolf or pinemeadow I could put that together around $300-350 upgraded to TT sensicores or royals on the irons and graphite for the woods/utility clubs.

Or I could scoop some Adams Tight Lies Classics Complete Set, for the same dough.

I have been to the driving range quite a bit lately. I seem to hit pretty straight for the most part. I have no putting skills yet. The rental clubs never feel 'the same' even when I request the same set. I am looking forward to having my own. Logically, the half set seems like the best route, but I am interested in your opinions. As a new golfer less clubs to learn seems less intimidating. Plus, my style will grow and I won't be married to a set and end up with unused clubs.

I will look into lessons later in the year.

I'd recommend getting just the full iron set with good shafts to start. Once you learn to hit the irons well, go out and play a nice 9 hole par 3 course a few times. Then when you can score well on the par 3 course, buy new woods and driver. I have a real nice set of Gigagolf irons, and they are very good clubs.

I guess that is a third option I hadn't considered. Anyone else think I should forgo the woods as a new player?

OH YEAH... defently.. start on short irons and work up before touching a driver or fairway wood - gotta craw before you can walk! Good luck!

Rake; I bet if you ask around, you can find dozens of golfers with an extra driver sitting around not being used. I bet you could either buy one real cheap or borrow one from someone you play with. If you were near me, I could let you borrow one no problem, might even give it to you if you paid for a beer after a round. Ask around, I'd be surprised if you can't find one to borrow until you decide to buy one. Until then, practice with a set of irons until you can hit the ball pretty well and play the par 3 courses near you. It's a great way to learn to hit your irons and work on your chipping on those holes you miss the green off the tee. When you can shoot a 30 or less for 9 holes of par 3 golf, you're ready to play the full size courses, and you'll be surprised how well you'll play them.

Okay, you have convinced me. Now I need more wisdom

I am looking at 6-9 irons
gigagolf: p2 (G5/10 clone heads) + Rifles + Winn Soft grips

3-4 hybrids
gigagolf: p2 (G5/10 clone heads) + Rifles + Winn Soft grips

5 ?
decide later if I want an iron or a hybrid

Wedges:
decide later if I want p2 wedges or a different brand wedge set

Some questions:

>Should I get the hybrids with a matching Rifle shaft or go graphite?

>>What about my decision to go High Launch heads and Low Launch Shafts... bad idea?

I'm not really stuck on the p2's but from what I have tried I think I want toe weighted cavity irons. I am also keeping my eye out for used, real G10's but man are they expensive!

I am going to guess, from the sound of crickets in this thread, that gigagolf P2's are a horrible embarrassing decision. Extreme game improvement + not even the real thing, at that. Am I correct?

Mostly, I don't want to get clubs I will regret (but not for that reason). Am I going to want new clubs in a year anyway if I get super game improvements? I was thinking that I would just want new heads/grips and I could keep the shafts. Or would I move on to stiff someday anyway?

Ideally, I would like to get clubs that will allow to me grow for 3 years (even if that means a little harder start). I am also looking at some older model TaylorMades. They are pretty cheap and still have a few of the features I am looking for (larger offset, etc.,).

If my approach is wrong, set me straight, please.

I wouldn't recommend you get ANY hybrids right away. just the 5-PW for now. The reason I say this is you may not be a golfer that hits hybrids real well. I don't like them at all. I much perfer to play higer lofted fariway woods. I cary a 3W, 5W, 7W and a 9W. For me and some others, it's much easier to hit a high loft wood than a hybrid.
The GigaGolf irons I have are the forged Pursuit irons. They are excellent irons, and I'd recommend you look into them assuming GigaGolf still sells them. If all you want is a set of irons that will be easy to learn with, then let me know and I'll tell you what I'd recommend getting. The irons I'd be recommending would be easy to hit, nice high and straight ball flight, and plenty long. And not very expensive. I have a set and so does my wife. Excellent set of irons for 95 % of amatuer golfers.

The grips are probably the difference in feel. Some are older some are new. Aside from that they should play the same way.

If you are truly serious about playing, you can start out with lessons, have the pro assess your set and have him or her make recommendations based upon your abilities. You can even get fitted for a custom set through a master clubfitter. I would seriously plan on a set that you want to play for a long time (unless you have a lot of disposable income).

Clones, in general, do not last or perform like their genuine counterparts. if you're playing poorly, it would be hard to say if it's the arrow or the indian (although it's usually the indian). It is a game of confidence and you should commit to a set that you really want. There is little perceivable difference between game improvement and super game improvement irons from what I tried - except for the all hybrid sets.

Trial and error of buying and trying is not cost effective and impractical for most. It set me back a year and about $1k.

I opted for super game improvements personally (MX-900s). That's a personal decision and at the time I was struggling with the $hank$. I couldn't even get a wedge airborne. I am hitting solid now but I am just working on distance.

Now, for most high handicap players (that's probably an oxymoron), you are better off with a higher lofted driver (10.5 or even higher), replace convnetional long irons with hybrids (3 and 4, definitely - some say to get a 5 or 6 hybrid but that seems extreme), and look at fairway woods that work for you.

As a beginner some advocate using the 3wood off of the tee due to less sidespin but with the bigger headed drivers and appropriate loft, I don't think that is valid advice anymore.

Offset FWs and drivers are a crutch, and I admit to using them when I started but they tend to diminish the slice.

So I tried some stuff out. Here's what I ended up with. Feel free chime in and tell me I messed up

For $208 bucks I purchased 11 used clubs from the 2002-ish era. All of them are TT Dynamic Gold R300 regular flex, standard length/lie/loft.

3-PW Irons: Mizuno MX-11 (game improvement hollow design)
15° Wood: Mizuno MP-001
18° Wood: Mizuno MP-001
21° Hybrid: Mizuno Fli Hi w/sensicore

I really like these Mizunos. Probably more than I'd have liked the P2 clones. I wanted to get Graphite in the woods & hybrid but I had to save some $$$ for a putter and bag (still unpurchased).

No Driver yet (will probably wait, as suggested). Thanks to all who replied.

Sounds like a sound buy to me. Mizunos are an excellent brand and all you need to concentrate on now is going out and enjoying the golf.

Don't get caught up in the 'I must get new clubs after a year' saga. The clubs you have chosen should be good for easily a few years, it doesnt matter whether they are game improvement or not, loads of pros use game improvement irons. Just go out and enjoy

Rake; I think you got some really nice clubs there, Nothing wrong with any of them, and for $208, you did quite well. Now, think about taking one or two lessons, and hitting a lot of balls at the driving range. Buy a cheap $15 putter and you're all set for a long time. Once you are hitting all your irons pretty well, find a nice 9 hole par 3 course and play it until you know what you're doing. Then and only then find a wide open full size course to play. Pick up a light stand bag and you're on your way. If you like to walk the course, you can get a 2 wheel pull cart for around $20 to go with your stand bag. The money you'll save on cart rentals will pay for some lessons or more green fees and range balls.
Good luck with your new clubs and let me know if you have any more question, just make them easy ones as I haven't had my second cup of coffee yet.