New To Golf? Here’s Why Second Hand Clubs Are The Perfect For Beginners

Golf is an addictive sport. Sometimes all it takes is one good shot, one straight out of the sweetspot, and you’re hooked. Golf can also be expensive, which is something beginners realise the moment they decide to look into buying their first set of clubs and play the game more regularly.

For some, it will be too much of a barrier, especially at a time when our disposable incomes are being squeezed. It can be difficult to justify spending hundreds of pounds on a new hobby, one that you can’t be totally sure that you’re going to stick with (remember when you took up snowboarding for a week?).

We wouldn’t want to advise anyone against buying new clubs completely. If you’ve worked out your budget, you’ve done your research, and you know what clubs are suitable for your game, go for it.

However, if you’re on a stricter budget and you want to proceed with a bit more caution, the second hand golf equipment market is a fantastic option. Here’s why…

Choice

golfclubs4cash, Europe’s largest retailer of second hand golf equipment, has a constantly rotating inventory of 40,000 clubs. In other words, you shouldn’t struggle to find the brand or model you’re after.

Although golfclubs4cash currently has two stores - one in Warrington and one in Edinburgh - there's another opening up very soon in Milton Keynes to cater for golfers based more south. But if these locations still don't work for you, the website and app is easy to navigate, and the search function helps to narrow down your hunt for the perfect club(s).

So, just because you’re not in a pro shop or high street retailer that has all the latest equipment, you’re not limited; in fact, the sheer number of listings on any given day means you have far greater choice than pretty much anywhere else.

Affordability

The most obvious benefit with buying second hand golf clubs is the money you’ll save. This is why most golfers buy used clubs, not just beginners. Brand-new golf equipment has become very expensive. Quite simply, new clubs, even those in the mid-price range, are too much of an outlay for a lot of people.

As much as we champion the latest technology, just because you’re buying golf clubs that are several generations old, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to miss out on any significant performance benefits. In fact, some of the best players in the world play with clubs that are several years old, which tells you everything.

Your standards change

Let’s say you’re a beginner and you spend £1,200 on a new set of irons, maybe as much as £2,000 with a full set of woods and wedges. You’re a natural and soon find that the clubs you bought are no longer suitable.

This happens: beginners get better, perhaps via some lessons. The opposite happens, too. Caught up in the excitement of starting a new hobby on the back of a few enjoyable range sessions, you go and buy a set of clubs that are more suitable for professionals - and you struggle!

You can spend a significant chunk of cash on a new set of clubs only to find that, because you’ve got better/worse a few months later, you need to make a change. Buying second hand means you can experiment and keep your spending down until you’ve reached a more consistent level. At golfclubs4cash, you get a set period of time to try a club that you've bought and if you're not getting on with it, you can return it - no questions asked.

Further down the line, maybe in as little as six months or a year - perhaps when you’ve joined a club, got a handicap, or simply increased the number of rounds you’re playing - you might know exactly what you need and you’ve saved enough to buy new. Or, you might continue to buy second hand because, well, it’s more friendly on the bank balance.

Invest In Your Game Step-by-step

Not all beginners want to go ‘all in’ straight away. Just because you’ve decided you want to play more golf, it doesn’t mean you’re about to play two or three times a week and need the full 14 clubs.

Playing golf isn’t just defined as playing 18-hole rounds, either. Maybe you’ve started to enjoy hitting balls at the range on your lunch hour or as a means of unwinding at the weekends - in which case a driver and a couple of irons and/or wedges is really all you’re looking for.

The beauty of buying used clubs is that you can pick individual clubs one at a time, and build a bag (golfclubs4cash even has a new Build A Bag feature) at your own pace. This means there’s no big initial outlay and you have all the time you want to add clubs as and when you want, and, again, as you start to understand your game a little better. And if you're unsure what you need, a friendly member of staff at golfclubs4cash will be happy to help, either on the phone or in person.