Golf forum

Hi All

I wonder if anyone has any suggestions with this one:

I've just started playing golf; played a few rounds and had a few lessons. I have a set of Trilogy T4 irons and putter but tend to borrow woods which I'm now looking to buy.

At this point, my budget is about £40 but there seems to be little in the used market ANy ideas (the Benross V6 is £40 at onlinegolf).

Thanks for your help.

Phil.

I have a Taylor Made 580 Driver and matching three wood, £60 the pair if you are interested. Both in very nice condition.

I also have a Callaway steelhead 111 Driver and a matching five wood for the same price, both in very good condition.

Hi Philip

If you are desparate to get a driver in your golf bag - I would suggest that you go for the Benross V6 as its as good a budget driver as you are likely to find in the price range and persist with it and see how things pan out.

But my general advice for a 28 handicapper looking to purchase a driver is - don't even try, you are better off purchasing a reasonable 3-wood and get use to hitting it consistently - it is a lot easier to hit well because of the added loft and isn't far short of a driver in length.

I hope that you find this useful, and every success in the future. 

hi philip,

maybe a little late on this post but a good choice would be the hippo itx2 driver, i have been using this club for the past two years and love it, i have had in the past big bertha, mcgregor and mizuno all nice clubs but i seem to hit the hippo longer and straighter than anything i have used before.

Jon T, I agree that as far a sbrand is concerned there is no such thing a "Beginner Driver", but I would suggest that the spec of the driver could err it towards being more for a beginner.

I am guessing that with your 10.9 handicap you are not using a regular flex 12 or 14 degree driver with an offset.

I am no expert but to my mind a beginner needs all the help they can get, which will if nothing else inspire confidence and keep them interested in the game.  Giving a stiff flexed 8.5 degree driver to a beginner will only lead them to spending a lot of time in the bushes and a lot of money in buying balls.

I would suggest to Philip that you looks for a 12 degree, regular flex, with offset (I assume that you slice), from the best manuafactuer you can for the money.  As a 28 handicapper 3 or 4 year old technology is not going to make a huge amount of difference, however, a 3 year old Taylor Made is going to be a hight technological and material spec than a Slazenger from JJB.

The Benross V6 is an excellent Driver (its predecessor the V6 Compressor was my first driver) and from memory they did a 12 degree (the Max I believe is 14 degree) and I doubt you could go wrong. 

If I played with a fairly big but controllable slice off my 11 hcap, like I used to do off my 6 hcap, then maybe I'd play with an offset driver. Would that still be a "beginner driver" in that instance? No it wouldn't. There is no such thing as a beginner driver, simple as that. You can buy any driver in any spec, so a Nike SasQuatch or Callaway FTi can be bought with a soft flex shaft for a slower swing speed (80-90Mph maybe), any loft between 9 and 10.5 or 11 degree, and can then be doctored to be made longer or shorter (within the rules), have the lie adjusted, or have the grip changed. Is this still a "non-beginner club"? No. It's a club that matches the beginner's needs.

It's all relative. Anybody can play with any club, as long as it suits them. And that's the key, it has to suit them. If that beginner has a faster swing speed, and doesn't slice the ball horrendously, then maybe my 10* Ping TiSI Tec driver with a Tour-S Aldila shaft may suit him/her. But because I use it with my 11 hcap, and me not being a beginner, doesn't mean it is a driver for experienced players. I'm sorry, but I can't agree with your justification about beginners. It's their needs that need adressing, and any golf company can do that for them, but it costs more than the £40 budget that Philip has.

Don't ge me wrong, what suits is always the way to go, however I feel that a beginner with a budget of £40 should err on the side of caution.  If possible you should always see a pro, hit different clubs and shop around.

What I was trying to get across is that the make and model is not as important as the spec of the club.  Ping, Taylor Made, Callaway, Mizuno, MD, Benross, Ram, Slazenger does it really matter as a beginner ?  The correct flex, a bit of offset, loft ; these are the improtant issues.  This thread was throwing brand names at a beginner, without stressing the importance of the clubs specification.

Personally I don't believe in 'offset' as this is a backward step IMO.

It is no good introducing a fault to correct a fault, far better to learn the correct way in the first place. The shaft is the most important of the components that go to make up a golf club, get that right and everything else will become that much easier.

Having read many of your past comments on offset I will propose to agree to differ with you John as our view obviously are diametrically opposed.

However, I am sure you will agree spec is the key not brand.

Prior to my post no one had mentioned spec only brand.  To my mind a beginner needs guidance toward a clubs specification not who put it together.  Loft, flex and (dare I say it) possibly offset can help.

I 100% agree that the shaft is the engine behind any club head and requires experimentation and careful selection, but with a £40 budget you have to deal in generics. 

My post was intended to offer some simple start points in finding a club that will offer a beginner the biggest bang for his buck.

With a £40 budget I would be looking no further than a good secondhand driver off ebay.

Specification will be well outside the understanding of a beginner, so it is obvious that he will be looking for recognised brands.

hi philip,

i,m also a little late with this post, but if you look on ebay at the moment i have a ping si-3 driver for sale. r/h. orange dot code, good nick, its at £19 at the moment,

its just a thought if your interested let me know!

Can I be the voice of reason: 

As a 28 handicap, forget the driver and stick with either your 3-wood or a 3-Rescue.  You will get better accuracy and consistency off the tee.  Only think of a driver when your handicap drops to the low 20's.

There is nothing that says you should use a driver off the tee, if fact many do not.  It is better to be 200 yards up the middle of the fairway, than 240 yards in the trees. 

Trust me, since I stopped using a driver my handicap has been progressively dropping as I encounter less trouble off the tee now.

Cheers

Keith 

You do have a valid point there Keith, something we all seem to have overlooked there. It's a good rule to start with, but as you improve you will learn that the only difference between a driver and 3 wood is about an inch or so in the shaft, and a couple of degrees of loft.

People say this about leaving the driver, but surely it depends on the person.

I'm a high handicapper, and I'd say that my driving is usually the best and most consistent part of my game.  Obviously when I get it wrong I tend to get it very wrong, but I have that playing my 4 iron off the tee as well, but without the same distance, and often without the same level of consistency.

Bizarre, I know, but I just seem to get on with my driver, so I don't think telling people not to use it at all is always the best route.

I have seen some good reviews about the Hippo XXL, you can get it with a 12* loft which I am given to understand is easier to keep straight for mid to high handicappers like us. You can find these around for under £50.

Whilst I am on, I have a big headed Maxfli driver I got with a set but when I try it everything sails off to the right (the dreaded slice), I recently tried my old Donnay Pro 1 driver, much smaller looking head 12*loft and steel shaft and it went straight but only about 150+ yards, I have just purchased a Ben Sayers M1 offset with 12* loft, it is starighter than my Maxfli but has a tendancy to now go left but goes longer than the Donnay but the Donnay is the straightest. Any advice would be much appreciated.

I also must agree re the 3 wood, on the range I can the majority of the time hit my 3 wood longer than my Maxfli driver and straighter, probably because it is lighter and easier to swing.

I agree with the people about the 3-woods, instead of drivers.. but if you can hit the driver HIT IT!

If not, hit your 3-wood until you get confident then get a driver. Work with it, persivere.

I'm thinking of leaving my driver out my bag - not needed - my 3-wood goes about 10 yards less than my driver, and i get more accuracy with my 3-wood.