If you are thinking about getting into the game of golf, it’s not as difficult as you may think. GOLFRSA has some great starting tips.
Where to start
The driving range is a practice facility where you can work on your game without the fear of hitting fellow players, losing golf balls or totally embarrassing yourself.
It is not, however, golf – golf is played on a golf course. One of the advantages of the driving range is that you don’t necessarily need to have your own equipment.
Unlike golf on the course, it’s perfectly acceptable to share your mate’s clubs at the driving range, and we suggest grabbing something between a 6- and 9-iron to begin with. If you don’t have any golfing mates willing to share their clubs, most ranges will have some clubs that you can rent out for the session.
Equipment
You’ve got a number of choices when it comes to buying clubs, but a lot depends on your budget, how seriously you intend on playing the game and how talented you are at hitting a little white ball around a golf course.
Top-of-the-range clubs can be very expensive, and while your better players will happily cough up their hard-earned cash for any extra advantage that these weapons may bring, any beginner would be well advised to ease their way into the game with a comprehensive set of easy-to-hit clubs.
Box sets
These are packaged sets where all the clubs in the bag are from the same manufacturer. A lot of these sets would be produced by smaller brand names in the golfing business, but still provide great value for money. As an introductory set of golf clubs, a box set is ideal, although you might consider keeping some cash aside for a new putter as this is arguably the most important club in your bag and you might prefer a different design to what they offer.
Second-hand sets
If you know what you are looking for, a second-hand set can turn out to be a real bargain and your local pro is a great guy to turn to for advice when it comes to purchasing someone else’s old clubs. Chances are your pro will have some trade-in sets for a good price, so maybe check with him before blowing the budget on a brand-new set.
Last summer’s winners
These days, many club manufacturers produce a new range of clubs every year or so, and when they do this the older sets – the top-of-the-range clubs last summer – need to make way to create space on the shelves. Cue massive discounts for clubs that still make use of pretty much all the modern technology that the latest models enjoy.