6 Amazing Golf Clubs That Aren’t Expensive

Let’s be honest, golf can be an incredibly expensive sport, and if you head to your local pro shop and purchase a bag full of the newest clubs released this year, you’re looking at spending thousands of pounds.

However, the reality is, you don’t need to break the bank to find proven performance, and pre-owned golf gear is a great way to go if you’re looking to take your game to the next level on a budget.

Today, we are looking at six amazing golf clubs that won't break the bank, diving into the second-hand market with our friends at golfclubs4cash. We're talking about tour-validated, major-winning technology that has aged like fine wine, and you can now grab it at a smidge of the price of clubs released this year.

To see just what performance is on offer from these iconic clubs, I put them to the test on a Foresight Sports GC3 Launch Monitor to compare them against some modern-day giants. Let’s kick things off with the big stick.

1. Ping i25 Driver – £159

First up on the tee, we have the Ping i25 Driver, which was released back in 2014. This driver was an absolute beast in its day, and during my testing, I found it still holds its own against modern drivers when it comes to finding fairways.

Ping built this driver to be low-spinning and highly forgiving, which is a bit of a unicorn combination. One of the things that caught my attention straight away with this driver is the 'racing stripes' on the crown. You’ll notice the lack of Turbulators - a controversial topic when looking at some of their most recent releases - and instead, we have these rather prominent ‘go faster’ stripes on the crown.

Unfortunately, these don’t in fact give you a significant speed boost, however, they help frame the golf ball and align your clubface perfectly at address. During the i25’s prime, Ping staffers like Lee Westwood and Bubba Watson had one of these drivers in the bag due to that perfect blend of workability and raw power.

When we put it to the test on the GC3 launch monitor, the i25 produced a highly respectable 157 mph ball speed, launching at 11.9° with just 2,378 rpm of spin. This resulted in a total carry of 279 yards, which did fall slightly short of one of the most talked-about drivers released this year - the TaylorMade Qi4D. The modern tech outpaced the i25, with 165 mph of ball speed and 294 yards of carry (launching at 12.5° and spinning at 2,218 rpm).

While it wasn’t as long, the i25 seemed fairly forgiving thanks to the rear weighting system, boosting the MOI, making it perform well on mishits. The fact the i25 was still pushing on the 280-yard carry mark for just over £159 is simply phenomenal value. If you’re looking to get more from your game from the tee and want to save up to £400 on drivers released this year, the Ping i25 is a superb forgotten gem.

2. TaylorMade SLDR Mini Driver – £171

Next up, we have a club that helped start one of the biggest trends in golf right now - the TaylorMade SLDR Mini Driver.

The Mini driver is ideal for those who struggle with accuracy from the tee with a normal-length and lofted driver and want to hit more fairways, or for those who want somewhat of a boosted 3-wood. It sits right between a standard driver and a 3-wood length and typically has between 11.5° and 13.5°, although this SLDR Mini Driver boasts 14°, making it even more playable off the deck.

The SLDR range was known as being some of the longest products on the market, helping with high launch and low spin, and while this was relatively true, I found it exceptionally easy to turn over from right-to-left during my testing.

On the launch monitor, the SLDR Mini delivered a ball speed of 151 mph, launching at 13.1° with 2,684 rpm of spin, translating to a 246.7-yard carry. Compare that to the modern Titleist GT280 Mini (£459), which carried 264 yards off a 157 mph ball speed (14.5° launch, 2,890 rpm spin), and it’s clear the SLDR is still packing a serious punch for the price. At around £170 from golfclubs4cash, this club is an absolute steal given how popular and in-demand mini drivers have become over the last year, and the one I tested was in superb condition!

3. TaylorMade Qi10 3-Wood – £169

Now, number three is somewhat of the modern exception, but the performance for the price was far too hard to ignore.

The TaylorMade Qi10 fairway wood is only a few generations old and is still in the bag of world number 1, Scottie Scheffler, as well as many of the other top professionals in the world. If you looked at the bags of non-contracted tour players over the last year or so, it felt as though you would have spotted this fairway wood in more bags than not. It features TaylorMade's 'Infinity Carbon Crown,' which basically means they took weight out of the top of the club and pushed it lower to increase MOI and pull the CG back for more forgiveness and a higher launch.

The numbers it produced during my testing were fairly impressive considering this club hasn’t been fitted for me and the shaft was a touch on the light side. The Qi10 produced a ball speed of 147 mph and launched at 12.4° with 3,445 rpm of spin, carrying 234 yards.

While the brand-new Callaway Quantum Ti pushed a little further on those numbers, carrying 259 yards with 154 mph ball speed, 16.4° launch, and 3,029 rpm of spin, the Qi10 still provides extraordinary, top-tier performance and looks superb down behind the ball. If you’re lucky enough to find one of these from golfclubs4cash for just £169, I would snap it up without a second thought.

4. Mizuno MP-25 Irons – £229

Now you cannot talk about amazing, classic irons without bringing up Mizuno and specifically, the Mizuno MP-25. These are forged players' cavity irons tailored towards the lower handicapper, but they are so iconic and certainly pass the test of time! Elite ball-strikers like Paul Casey and Vijay Singh gravitated toward these irons because they offered the perfect middle ground between the look of a blade and the forgiveness of a cavity back.

For decades, golfers have said that ‘nothing feels like a Mizuno,’ and the MP-25s are special because they were one of the first irons using Boron Steel and a thinner face to make the clubface quicker and boost ball speed.

When hitting the 7-iron on the GC3, the MP-25 clocked a ball speed of 118 mph, a launch angle of 17.6°, and 6,217 rpm of spin, carrying exactly 165 yards. To put that into context, the ultra-modern Mizuno Pro 243 only carried 6 yards further at 171 yards, with a 120 mph ball speed, 17.9° launch, and 6,569 rpm of spin. If you want to look like a ballstriker and grab some irons that feel superb without spending £1,200 on a new set, hunt down a used set of MP-25 irons.

5. Titleist Vokey SM5 Wedges – £59

When it comes to the short game and wedges in particular, there is one name that dominates on tour, and that is, of course, the Titleist Vokey wedge. At number five, we have the Titleist Vokey SM5 Wedges released back in 2014. The short games of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth were on full display using the SM5s when they each respectively broke out on the PGA Tour, with Spieth using a full set of SM5s to win five times in 2015.

The SM5 (Spin Milled 5) was a massive leap forward for Titleist, featuring deeper grooves designed to channel away dirt and grass, meaning you get maximum backspin even when hitting out of the rough. One thing Vokey has done well is keeping the design fairly simple and consistent throughout each iteration of wedges, although I do miss the little spin-milled logo you can see on these older wedges as I just think it was so iconic!

I tested a 50-yard pitch on the GC3, and the results were fairly eye-opening. The SM5 delivered a ball speed of 51.2 mph, launching at 30.1° with a staggering 7,037 rpm of spin to hit that 50-yard mark perfectly. The brand-new SM11 performed almost identically on the same 50-yard shot, giving us 51.7 mph ball speed, a slightly lower 27.3° launch, and 7,213 rpm of spin. Ultimately, I saw a little more spin and a touch lower flight out of the wedges that were 12 years newer, but if you can find some SM5’s in brilliant condition for around £60 like I did from golfclubs4cash, I would take full advantage of them.

6. Odyssey Versa 2-Ball Putter – £85

We’ve finally reached the flatstick, and there aren’t many more iconic than the Odyssey 2-ball. The 2-ball Versa is one of the slightly more modern versions of this putter, releasing in 2023 with the brand’s dual colour alignment technology, while still boasting that famous white-hot insert.

The 2-ball design is ideal for centering the ball for the best chance of perfect contact, and Versa technology helps with alignment as well as squaring the face to the target at address, making this the ideal putter for those struggling for confidence on the greens. The 2-ball is a putter is one of the best Odyssey Putters ever released and has won countless victories in the professional game, used by the likes of Padraig Harrington and famously for Shane Lowry’s 2019 Open Championship victory.

Putting is all about confidence and alignment. This putter will drastically help those struggling, particularly with shorter putts, and the feel off the face is still one of the best on the market even among all of the latest releases. I genuinely think it’s one of the best value options on the second-hand market for dropping your scores, and you can pick one up for just over £80.

And there you have it! Six incredible clubs that prove you don't need a tour-player budget to play tour-quality equipment. When looking at the launch monitor data, it became clear that you may sacrifice a few yards when purchasing older equipment, but the cash you’ll save while doing so will more than make up for it!